ECA Review 2022-08-04

6 August 4'22 HANNA/CORONATION/STETTLER, AB. ECA REVIEW
OPINION
The opinions expressed are not necessarily
the opinions of this newspaper.
EDITORIAL
No friend of women
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Published by
Coronation
Review
Limited
Brenda Schimke
ECA Review
Danielle Smith, leadership candidate
for the UCP party, seems to be parroting
Jason Kenney’s leadership
campaign strategy by focussing almost
exclusively on the male-dominated,
far-right, libertarian faction of
the party. But will fiscal conservatives,
socially-conscience conservatives,
urban conservatives and women conservatives
be there to support her
when a general election rolls around?
Smith shares Kenney’s disdain for
public education. During her 770
CHQR radio
show on Mar. 7,
2018, she said,
“maybe every
independent
(private) school
needs to be
fully-funded and
we need to
phase out every
government run
public school.”
Her lack of
empathy for the
homeless was on
full display in
October 2012,
when Smith
tweeted that
properly cooked
tainted meat (
with E.coli bacteria) could feed the
homeless.
She claims to be this great fiscal
conservative warrior, yet she doesn’t
understand that providing affordable
housing for the homeless would save
three levels of governments billions of
dollars each year in health care, criminal
justice, social services and
emergency shelter costs.
Her self-righteous attitude that personal
health is a lifestyle choice lacks
empathy and understanding.
Obviously unaware that poor health
outcomes are most often related to poverty,
genetics and corporate greed that
relentlessly push unhealthy junk food.
So, it should not come as a surprise
that out of the mouth of Smith came
the hurtful comments that Stage 4
cancer victims were responsible for
their own predicament. That they had
complete control to stop cancer in its
tracks if only they had taken better
care of themselves.
Like all populous leaders every time
their truth is caught on tape and it is
unpalatable to the general public—out
comes the “I’ve been misunderstood”
line and a culprit is served up to take
the blame. Her most popular culprits
are mainstream media and Justin
Trudeau. Kenney’s favourites as well.
Her conspiratorial comments on
July 15 accused Alberta Health
Subscriptions:
$52.50 in Canada; $98.70 in US;
$183.75 Overseas.
“
Like all populous
leaders every time their truth
is caught on tape and it is
unpalatable to the general
public — out comes the “I’ve
been misunderstood” line
and a culprit is served up to
take the blame.
Services (AHS) of deliberately sabotaging
the Kenney government during
the pandemic by falsely claiming the
system was near collapse to bully
MLAs into accepting vaccine mandates
and passports. In fact, without
enhanced health restrictions, AHS
was already preparing to ship patients
out of province for care, as had conservative
governments in Saskatchewan
and Manitoba.
The promotion of such mis-truths is
indeed a ‘red flag’ for any Albertan
who still wants a functioning public
health care system.
Janet Brown, a respected Alberta
pollster, found in
an April 2021 poll
that those who
scored Kenney
lowest were
women (59 per
cent); middle
income earners
who earn between
$60,000 and
$120,000 (59 per
cent) and residents
of Calgary and
Edmonton (56 per
cent). Brown’s poll
showed an
alarming loss with
those groups that
Rachel Notley had
won to defeat the
Jim Prentice/
Danielle Smith ticket in 2015.
Danielle Smith’s campaign is particularly
anti-woman. Undermining
public health care, public education
and seniors’ care, and attacking the
new child care program affects women
more than men. Women are the ones
who pick up the pieces when the aforementioned
systems are starved by
government leaders who lack reason
and empathy.
It is also women who make up the
majority of the work force in health
care, education, senior’s care and
childcare, and more often than not,
these women are the primary breadwinners
for their families.
She may wear a ‘skirt’, but Danielle
Smith is no friend of working women,
single-parent women, women who care
for aged parents, indigenous women,
immigrant women or grandmothers
raising grandchildren.
Smith is parroting Jason Kenney’s
successful leadership campaign—
uncompromising, all-knowing and
“it’s never my fault”—clearly forgetting
how poorly that strategy served
Kenney as premier.
If polls are correct, UCP members
seem ready for another go at this type
of leadership. The true test will be next
year’s general election and whether
Albertans are ready for more of the
same.
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FROM THE BLEACHERS
Money making noise
in world of sports
by Bruce Penton
If you have a child and
like money, groom him or
her to be a sports star.
Sports is where you’ll find
the real loot.
Money has become the
talk of the sports world
lately, and here are a couple
of examples:
— Juan Soto, a baseball
player of considerable talent
for the Washington
Nationals, said thanks but
no thanks to a contract offer
of $440 million over 15 years.
C’mon, he’s got a family to
feed. Soto thinks that was
an insulting offer, considering
it averages out to less
than $30 million per year
and some of his fellow major
leaguers, whose stats don’t
measure up to Soto’s, are
already making in excess of
$30 million.
Another mitigating
factor? Soto is only 23 and
two-plus years away from
free-agent eligibility, so he
has a couple of hundred
games to put up even more
impressive stats before some
team (probably the Yankees
or Dodgers) pushes his offer
to a cool $500 million for ….
oh, 12 seasons.
— The Saudi Arabian
money pit that has thrown a
wrench into the world of
professional golf is on the
verge of winning the battle
because players can’t say no
to offers of life-changing
riches.
Could you turn down $90
million, as was reported to
have been offered Cameron
Smith, winner of the Open
Championship at St.
Andrew’s in Scotland?
JOYCE WEBSTER
Publisher/Editor
publisher@ECAreview.com
YVONNE THULIEN
Marketing/Digital 403-575-9474
digital@ECAreview.com
Is there a chance Phil
Mickelson would have said
thanks, but no thanks to
$200 million showing up one
day in his chequing
account?
If you were Richard
Bland, Kevin Na, Pat Perez
or Taylor Gooch, would
guaranteed millions of dollars
for fewer ‘working’ days
be attractive enough to say
‘sayonara’ to the PGA Tour,
as Japanese star Hideki
Matsuyama is expected to
do one of these days?
The catch-phrase slogan
about money being the root
of all evil may have some
legitimacy, but money can
also be the root of a great
deal of happiness.
Just ask lottery winners,
or Michael Jordan, whose
net worth is $2.2 billion, or
soccer star Lionel Messi,
who pulled in $130 million
last year, $75 million for
playing soccer, and $55 million
from off-field income.
LeBron James made twice
as much ($80 million) off the
basketball court than he did
on it ($40 million) while
aging tennis star Roger
Federer pulled in only
$700,000 last year for his
tennis accomplishments, but
is keeping creditors at bay
thanks to $90 million in offcourse
income.
And then there’s Tom
Brady. He’s 44 years old, still
playing quarterback in the
toughest league in the world
and making $84 million in
on- and off-field income. And
his net worth of $250 million
ranks second in his family.
His wife Gisele Bundchen,
one of the world’s highest
BRENDA SCHIMKE
Editorial Writer
JUDY WALGENBACH
Marketing 403-740-2492
marketing@ECAreview.com
STU SALKELD
LJI Reporter 403-741-2615
reporter@ECAreview.com
SHEREE BAILLIE
Marketing 587-990-4818
contact@ECAreview.com
paid supermodels,
has a net
worth of $400 million.
It’s safe to
say Tom and
Gisele can afford
extra butter on
their popcorn
when they take in
a movie.
SLAP
Shots
• RJ Currie of
sportsdeke.com:
“According to Orange
News, a farmer
who built his
own submarine
tested it by diving
to the bottom of
a nearby lake. He
christened it the
Cincinnati Red.”
• Super 70s
Sports, on Twitter,
recalling a line
from former Houston
Oilers coach
Bum Phillips, after
Earl Campbell
failed to complete
a one-mile run in
practice: “When
it’s first and a
mile, I won’t give
it to him.””• Greg
Cote of the Miami
Herald: “Steph
Curry will host The
ESPYs . . . poor guy
is finally getting
some attention!”
DANIEL GONZALEZ
Reporter 403-700-9460
news1@ECAreview.com
LISA MYERS-SORTLAND
Graphic Artist
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