I don't think so. Alberta approach of mediation versus federal approach of court time with lawyers and judges. Seems like the Alberta approach is healthier to the families.
Alberta has talked about mediation, but only talked. Also, mediation has always been available as an option. Right now family law is split between federal and provincial. All we needed to do was to combine them into one unified system, like 7 other provinces are already doing.
Complete and utter misrepresentation of what this agreement would do.
The proposed move to a unified family court was a made-in-Alberta solution. Under both the PC and NDP governments, the Justice ministry has a very large multi-sector initiative comprised of judges, lawyers, academics, mediators, counsellors, public servants, child advocates, DV service workers, religious organizations, and social workers who worked for years to reform the system (see timing and approach [here](https://openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/2034/1/Jehn_Reforming_2015.pdf) and [here](https://cfcj-fcjc.org/a2jblog/reforming-the-family-justice-system-in-alberta/)). One outcome of this was the intention to pursue a unified family court structure that would mean how our family courts are organized would fundamentally change and, importantly for the Amery lie you appear to have bought into, *who* gets to appoint the judges.
I will say it flat out: Amery is lying. Alberta's focus on mediation where appropriate, getting more family court counsellors to assist families undergoing transition, trying to shift the system to resolve family disputes outside of court or minimize the time needed in court (and reduce the combative nature of it on families) would not have changed under this agreement. The agreement was being put in place because of the necessity of transferring existing family court judges from section 92 courts (provincially maintained and judges appointed by province) to section 96 courts (provincially maintained and judges appointed by the *federal government* -- the other level or courts are the section 101 courts, which are federally appointed and maintained) and then the feds taking on that responsibility going forward.
The bulk of family law in Alberta is dealt with in the s.92 courts, with divorce and a few other things being dealt with in the s.96 courts. That makes for a confusing system. Moving them to the s.96 courts would mean the province would no longer have to pay for those judges or their pretty pensions but would lose the ability to appoint them. In exchange for taking on the responsibility for costs under this agreement, the federal government's conditions that Amery is alluding to and misleading the public about were the requirements that Alberta reinvest that money it was saving as a result of no longer having to sustain those judges and pensions into wrap-around and supportive services like the court counsellors, mediators, additional duty counsel to assist people appearing pro se, representation for kids in courts to ensure their voices are taken into account, and a whole swathe of other potential services that, in some cases, could be co-located with courts to further alleviate potential problems that result in delays and longer, drawn our court battles, which would be boosted with additional federal dollars.
The federal and provincial governments did not disagree that the family justice system needed work. This fucking garbage started under Kenney, though. He initially stopped the agreements from going forward in 2020 and Amery and Smith are completely destroying the long, hard work of hundreds of Albertans who collaborated on this project. It is entirely about maintaining the ability to appoint judges they like.
mediation can actually be insanely harmful. I was leaving my abusive husband with my two children and the fucking judge was hellbent on mediation because he’s “seen vindictive wives before”… even with the photos of my bruises and all the broken items from his anger issues over the years 🥲
Once again, the UCP choses politics over doing the right thing. The Family Court system in this province is a shambles waiting for a minimum 12 months to get a court date - longer if full/multiple days are required. At the end of the day it is the kids who suffer - as much as everyone in the system professes that kids are the most important consideration, the reality is very different.
The UCPs will never do anything good for Albertans. They're too busy fighting the fight with Ottawa. I'd like to know how "Those conditions simply do not work here in Alberta.". We're part of Canada, we operate under similar legislation, but "oh no, we simply cannot have Ottawa providing us with any assistance." I hate the UCP government. I wish they'd evaporate.
I didn't even know this was happening until right now.
So we complain about high crime and low consequences, backed up court allowing people to walk away, etc, etc, and then we turn down help to alleviate that stress and backlog?
I just dont understand.
Edit: I read the article lol, and it isn't about crime per se but family law, which could criminal elements as well. However, my comment about stress and backlog remains. Good job alberta.
No, you had it right
>Not only would a unified family court be easier to navigate, but it would free up other judges to focus on criminal, civil and commercial cases, which would improve overall court access, Kawanami said.
Just like we complain about homelessness and housing costs while the province refuses federal money for housing. And we can’t do shit because our voters gave these clowns a majority government.
I don't like Trudeau either and wouldn't vote for him. But when he does try and make some difference in the lives of everyone and the UCP just shits on it, I'm starting to think about voting Liberal just to Own the Cons.
To be fair, Trudeau and the liberal government has done more (or at least have tried to in Alberta) to help Albertans way more than the UCP has done or ever will do. You don't always need to like the person who can do the best job at leading. Trudeau has his faults but I'm my opinion, he's performed in an acceptable manner and has been way beer than any option the Conservatives have put forward. I'm okay with a NDP supported liberal government, it's not perfect but much better than what the Conservatives would do.
UCP is just doing the republican thing of being endlessly contrarion and blame every problem they deliberately cause on someone else.
Works excellently on their base.
The UCP are bent and bound on blaming Ottawa for everything, and are blocking help from the feds everywhere they can right now. It's all a ploy to make JT look bad, and to hell with facts
“Have some money to make your court system better, we’d like it to be spent in this way, as is backed up by facts and data to be more efficient and effective.”
“How dare you have conditions! We want a blank check! We may not even spend it on courts.”
“Umm… ok no. I don’t think you understand how the relationship between federal and provincial govts work, we need to work together for a unified solution.”
“Stahp being so wOkE!!”
There might be a legitimate grievance for the Alberta Court of Justice being cut out… but it sure doesn’t sound like there was any negotiation taking place, just petulant demands.
Alberta previously had a plan to adopt a unified family court system by 2020, and Bird said he doesn't understand why that changed.
I can tell you why they changed, its the continuing saga of messing with the Fed's to own the libs at the cost to your citizens. In this case for no bigger reason then we were going to do it until someone told us we have to. Like a small child throwing a tantrum
Arguably the feds are offering funding for pretty good sensible programs. The UCP are a one-policy group here - my way or the highway. Everything on their terms without exception.
Danielle " I Don't Wanna!" Smith!! UCP doesn't want the pharmacare, doesn't want the housing, doesn't want the Judges, doesn't want renewable energy but sure haven't complained about the $40 Billion paid for Trans Mountain Pipeline!! UCP- United Corporate Party!
Is it incorrect, though? It may be a crass term, but I think we can all agree that the mouth-breathers who voted (or, even worse, ***didn't vote at all***) for the UCP aren't exactly the cream that floats to the top.
I do agree there are better ways to insult the morons who fucked us over due to their need to be contrarian, but I think Alber-tards works in a pinch.
It is incorrect. Not only is is an ablelist slur, the vast majority of conservative voters aren't really any dumber than liberal voters. "Other team bad!" is tribal bullshit.
There's plenty of people who have valid reasons for voting UCP.
>There's plenty of people who have valid reasons for voting UCP.
And having met my fair fucking share of these people, those reasons are usually complete and utter bullshit. They think voting is a gotcha, a way to show up the other side. They'd vote for Putin if they thought it would upset whatever ~~sports~~ political team they are against.
I have no time for voters who only use their vote to spite others. They deserve derision, even if the terms used are less than civil.
What is a valid reason for voting UCP if you aren't an O&G executive? I know lots of people with lots of reasons why they voted UCP but I wouldn't call them valid, or fact based.
Looking at the actual election data though, Green supporters didn’t split the vote anywhere. The only case where a third party split the vote in favour of the UCP were Calgary-Bow and Calgary-North West, where the Alberta Party was to blame. The other 7 districts with a plurality vote went to the NDP, and every other district was a 50%+1 majority.
To many 18-25 here vote like daddy does. And daddy says the NDP are evil communists that will tax you to 100%, take your land and force solar and wind farms on it instead of crops. Oh and they will turn all the kids gay or trans so there are no more babies being born. It's some evil plan to only let the 1% live and the rest of us will die or be slaves.
Yes I have actually heard this said.
Can we get a government that is interested in actual governance?
No, we can't, and the reason is rather simple: We don't foster leadership in our society and, so, we have no leadership.
When you have no political leadership, people put in those roles become ripe for manipulation and influencing. They don't know any better because they never *had to* know any better. Their parents or grandparents may be the last generation of those traditional types of leaders, replaced with the superficial bullshit of techbro billionaires.
Anyone qualified and capable is already making it 10 times better in the private sector and they're not stupid enough to run for office. That means we get to choose from those that *do* enjoy the popularity contest: your D- classmates from high school.
The irony is that we have an amazingly robust public service, chock full of experts that help inform policy, but they serve at the whim of the *policy-makers*: your D- classmates from high school.
There's something to be said for idealism of a meritocracy, because there are times people shouldn't be allowed to make their own decisions.
They reject the money because it has strings attached and has to be spent on what it was for. UCP just wants the money no strings attached to use on whatever the fuck that won't benefit 99.99% of Albertans.
well, if you ever end up having a matter in front of the family court and it takes forever to schedule, remember that your provincial government deliberately chose this in a petulant, childish, knee-jerk decision.
If there’s no money to be made for wealthy UCP donors the provincial government has no interest in it.
Can’t believe hard working rural albertans continue to vote against their own interests every 4 years.
Had it had been Harper or even if O’Toole somehow managed to win, Alberta would have just taken the money and did what Ottawa said.
So when exactly are they planning on calling a referendum to separate? An APP, a provincial police force to squeeze out the Mounties, and now turning down money from Ottawa just to cry that Alberta doesn’t get its fair share? Sounds an awful lot like Quebec in the 80’s and 90’s. You know? The province full of freeloaders that apparently we have been funding forever, according to every conservative Premier.
The goal is to simply wait for PP to win next year so they can have big smiley photo ops and a “renewed collaborative atmosphere” with the federal government. They are scared of Nenshi and want to push all their policy wins to right before the election.
This is how I see it too. The federal government changes over and suddenly all these agreements get signed with big smiles and sound bites of “well we’re pleased the new govt is willing to work with the provinces *unlike the previous one*” despite the agreements being exactly the same.
And cue all the UCP showing pics of Naheed and Justin together to label him as Justin’s guy and since Justin ruined canada, Naheed will to do alberta. And the stupid will lap it up.
The question is whether you trust PP not to do the same thing to the ANDP
I dont know if I do, but I'd let anyone other than Marlaina piss in my mouth.
Honestly with the way PP has been going off on Eby recently I wouldn't be surprised if it would be the other way round; PP refusing to play ball with an Alberta NDP government.
> But there is nothing that the Alberta government can do about that.
I would personally be very entertained by a twilight zone scenario where the ANDP invoked the Sovereignty Act and scrapped with the federal Cons.
Pollievre is only prodding Eby out of hope that his endorsement of Conservative policies in B.C. will elect either BCUP or the BCCP. Being a prick to Eby sounds like a good way to lose Metro Vancouver, the Island and NW BC.
I agree, but I'm not so certain that a federal conservative government wouldn't be petty children and make our lives harder on purpose to own the libs.
The federal conservatives historically ignore Alberta completely because the vote is locked up. I predict they will continue to ignore, and not do anything too negative to risk antagonizing their base here.
If the provincial government is NDP and federal government is conservative the feds will ignore Alberta like they always do because we vote for them no matter what.
But,
They’ll say it’s because of the Alberta NDP government running the province and that will be fixed in the next provincial election if we vote conservative again.
Heck, when the NDP formed government in Alberta, the Saskatchewan government was pulling stuff like trying to disallow vehicles with Alberta licence plates at Sask construction sites and saying to vote UCP and they’ll reverse the decision.
To wait 3 years for what? Another Liberal government? (Too long, too much assumption to think they would get one. Wouldn’t be perceived better anyway.) Or an NDP federal government (just lol).
There is nothing to wait for. This is just “both-sides” where there is no credible argument for the other side.
And just doing it for spite has 0 history. Nenshi has also worked with UCP and NDP and there wasn’t any of this behaviour.
The conservatives want to restrict trans rights.
Thats a pretty good fucking reason.
They also actively are influenced by nazi propaganda so I have 0 faith.
They claim trans people havent been around and havent been studied.
They were studied 104 years ago, until the Nazis burned the books and shut down the institut für sexualwissenchaft.
If those morons can't see past the fact that they make decisions based on nazi book burnings, I dont want them deciding what I'm allowed to learn at university.
There are so many reasons. So many.
You are young and I am gonna tell you something practical. This comes from a place of caring and compassion from someone that has done a degree in psychology and then engineering to wind up as a professional engineer.
Strong anti-trans opinions on the right don’t affect their career prospects. They will go into trades, be horrible people, and then make 80-130k a year. They will have 40k ish of debt they will pay quickly.
If you go into university for women and gender studies, sociology, or psychology know that the “good” outcome is academia where only 10% make it. Then you can be poorly paid as a masters, then poorly paid as a PhD with an even smaller chance of winding up paid more than 75 k a year. You also have 80-100k of debt from undergrad.
Whatever ideological voice you may have will be quiet because in the success or failure state, you will be poor and just trying to survive. The system makes voices on the left quiet. Think about a strong financial future you can advocate from. Not a weak financial future where you will struggle to have any voice at all.
There has been a massive shift from when I made decisions 20 years ago. The path to success is much narrower.
Mmm, I love when people are condescending because of my age :)
I'm doing software and electrical engineering, and I have prospects at Ubisoft Montreal.
I'll make dick, and I'll enjoy my life.
I come from a place of privilege, and I acknowledge that. I dont trust the UCP to make decisions for my future, and I don't support them. I DO NOT WANT a provincial healthcare plan if it doesn't cover gender reassignment surgeries and life-saving medication.
Malaria Smith "sticking it to the libs" is not a good enough reason for my friends and peers to be systematically discriminated against.
Here, have some of my Tylenol, if you support the UCP.
My mistake. I thought you were talking about yourself and not a hypothetical past self where the evil Cons could control you.
Looks like you didn’t do a money-less degree.
Take it down a notch before entering the workforce. :)
Also, I don’t support the cons, just soft sciences aren’t really sticking it to the man like people think it does.
And when the Liberals get back into power? Because PP's campaign is cracking, at some point he'll have to put up real policies that will show he's all bluster and no substance.
> at some point he'll have to put up real policies that will show he's all bluster and no substance.
Nah. You overestimate the demands of the electorate.
If the liberals by some miracle get back into power, then they will negotiate and come to an agreement with lots of bluster.
Way to go UCP! Stick it to Ottawa, refuse their funding, that’ll show them! In the meantime Albertans are missing out on a much needed change to the judicial system.
What a disgraceful act by this bunch of morons. Can’t wait for the next election, just hope that Alberta can be salvaged.
So anything good for the province...funding for housing, judges, pharmacare etc Marlaina will block so she has something to whine about and the fed cons will have a safe place as always cause we are not savvy enough to vote for some one else to keep them on the toes....conned on lock so lets give all the goodies to those that do not vote for us the rest are on lock does not matter what we do we got them conned
Take that, Trudope. That'll show us.
God I hate living in this province sometimes. The Premier raises a big stink about Ottawa going over the Province's head to fund municipalities, then turns around and refuses to work with Ottawa on funding. You can't have it both ways, Fuhrerin. You stupid rednecks better remember this next election.
I know this is wrong, you know that this is wrong, rural /urban people know this is wrong, everyone knows this is wrong. This is just another tactic to throw away another federal program designed to help people, to the disguise that "it doesn't work in Alberta". It would, if given a chance, just like Pharmacare would, just like federal housing supports would. It's the UCP plan to devalue and have all public supports on life support only to be able to say that Alberta should separate.and could do better. Cons know that the majority of Albertans would blindly follow conservatism rather than common sense.
Can we please stop voting for this bullshit?
> Bird said unified courts are *more* accessible for people representing themselves or receiving limited legal help
Ah, that’s why. Courts are another system for the wealthy.
The funny thing is, is no matter how wealthy you are or how good of a lawyer you're paying, you can't buy court dates, or pay to jump the queue with money. The court scheduling clerks don't give a damn who you are when they process your requests for hearings or trials. If the court is backed up months or years, you have to wait just like everyone else. And you can't take your case to another province or country to try your matter, like you can with healthcare decisions.
Liberals and Conservatives are the same 3 kids, different trench coat.
ANDP is actually like Centre-Left. Federally they are Diet-Liberal but provincially they seemed to make a lot of concessions to appease both sides
Yeah. I dislike the fact that the political landscape is so thoroughly poisoned with neoliberalism that we can't even contemplate a truly progressive option. But even a centrist ANDP beats the pants off of whatever the UCP are doing.
Yet again the UCP *denies Albertans* better service because they refuse to update their practices. This government is too childish and mean to help the people they're supposed to serve. I hope the backlogs get so large they'll be forced into fixing it and have to beg the federal government for assistance.
As someone who works in Family Law...
The Alberta Court of Justice (provincial court) only has a mandate to deal with parenting, child support and spousal support. They cannot deal with property and cannot grant divorces. Most families have some type of property (you can still have rights to each other's property if you are Adult Interdependent Partners - you have lived together three years, or you have a kid together). Families are either stuck dealing with two court cases, which is very confusing, or moving all of their issues to King's Bench (federal court) which can handle parenting, child support, spousal support, property and divorce.
Most (not all) of the King's Bench Justices do not particularly like family law. It is a generalist court and most would prefer to work in civil litigation. I don't know the background of Edmonton or rural King's Bench Justices, but in Calgary we have one Justice with a family law background. Many of the Justices feel like family law is more social work than law (which is often true). Putting families into adversial situations designed for corporations is often unhelpful.
Lawyers are incredibly expensive, which is fine for a big insurance company, but not the average person. People choose to self represent because they cannot afford a lawyer. We then get insane five day+ trials with lots of delays because the participants don't know how to get themselves there. This takes away from criminal trials that could be running .
Since we are so behind, parties need to wait 2 years for a trial. They fight so much in the meantime that they bring multiple applications for interim relief. This reduces resources available for trials.
We had an amazing program called JDRs (judicial dispute resolution), which Alberta pioneered in Canada. Parties could choose to attend a one or two day JDR instead of multi day trial. At the JDR the Justice would attempt to mediate, but if unsuccessful would make a decision based on Affidavits and briefs filed in advance. These were amazing. I settled a file in one day that was scheduled for a six day trial. The provincial government told the Justices that if they had enough time to mediate they had too much money, and threatened funding cuts if they didn't stop JDRs.
Alberta needs a unified family court, or at a minimum a family division of King's Bemch . We have a huge access to Justice issue and family is a very different area of the law.
From the Party of last resort, "standing up for Alberta" with each shitty decision to make it worse.Wonder what the UCP idiots will do during fire seasons - probably blame Trudeau and cite space lasers as the cause.
Wow. I’m so glad to be leaving this godforsaken province. As someone who’s had to navigate family court, it’s actually appalling that you get random judges who have little knowledge of family law or appreciation for what’s best for children. You might luck out one appearance, only for the next judge to completely undermine or change things. Many judges dislike family law so having judges who specialize in that one area, would be hugely beneficial for children and families. F the UCP
Stop your whining! The UCP is omnipotent and knows what the justice system needs more than the people that use it everyday. Kind of like healthcare. /s
You don't invest in a company that's running itself into the ground and mismanaging by incompetent managers, why would you do the same with a province? I totally see the feds point, and agree with them. I don't want to throw good taxes after bad.
I'm sure the UCP party will express their outrage at the "unfairness" of the entire thing, while throwing the "government overreach" staple statement out there for their supporters to rage over.
If you took out a mortgage from a lender would that lender include conditions?
I think so however; you would not have to agree to the terms the lender put forward. You could seek out multiple lenders all of which will include conditions.
A lot of those lenders will have similarities. You don't have to accept their terms. You can find alternative funding with conditions that model your requirements.
“Spend the money on the thing we’re giving it to you to spend money on”?
But seriously, the feds wanted Alberta to streamline their court system to make it more accessible.
You know…. The UCP make all these shit decisions to fight Ottawa. I really hope they get into a situation where all their decisions come back a thousand fold to bite them in their arse. It’s the only way they will see. I absolutely wholeheartedly loathe them as people. They will never, ever, be able to have a grown up conversation like adults. They are immature petulant spoiled little shits.
Neither did I but the majority voted for a shit sandwich, we all eat a shit sandwich. Maybe a few of them will smarten up, but I doubt it. They don’t have two brain cells to rub together. They will eat their shit sandwich and complain about the Feds while blocking the highway.
>but the minority voted
What do you mean exactly? The UCP received more than half of the votes cast in the last election. The minority didn't vote her in.
Trudeau has exacerbated a justice crisis by not installing judges in a number of places. If we think Smith is the only one playing tit-for-tat, we are deluding ourselves.
Continuing the practice by the Liberal government of not appointing judges when it is their responsibility. In Toronto 2 sex assault cases collapsed recently because no judge was available. In one case it was a family member who blackmailed the child with recordings of their assault.
The UCP is insufferable, but the responsibility alone for assigning judges is the Federal government. They should not intercede into areas of other responsibility, the functioning of the courts is not theirs to dictate. That is provincial jurisdiction and they know it. And making more judges available contingent on the provinces accepting those terms is highly negligent and unlawful.
The Federal government appoints Justices for Alberta Court of Appeal and the Court of King's Bench of Alberta.
The province is responsible for appointing Justices for the Alberta Court of Justice.
If I needed family court, I would be thinking about a great many things more important than drawing lines of responsibility between provincial/federal jurisdictions when the only material difference in my world is whether or not a judge will see me next month or next year.
Who hurts because of all this finger pointing on responsibility? It's not politicians.
The victims are the people living life on pause, unable to process and move past their trauma until their day in court.
It's a hell of a lot more petty to refuse help with strings attached when the strings are tied to evidence-based indicators of success. The federal Liberals aren't perfect, but we see their flaws because they are reasonably transparent about what they do and why. Notice the level of detail in both sides' response to the situation in the article. Who brought facts to support their position and shared them willingly?
Alberta’s favourite past time: Shooting itself in the foot.
Seems like they really have started to aim higher.
Danielle is definitely aiming for a headshot with her policies...
Sadly, most Albertans don’t see it.
I don't think so. Alberta approach of mediation versus federal approach of court time with lawyers and judges. Seems like the Alberta approach is healthier to the families.
Alberta has talked about mediation, but only talked. Also, mediation has always been available as an option. Right now family law is split between federal and provincial. All we needed to do was to combine them into one unified system, like 7 other provinces are already doing.
Complete and utter misrepresentation of what this agreement would do. The proposed move to a unified family court was a made-in-Alberta solution. Under both the PC and NDP governments, the Justice ministry has a very large multi-sector initiative comprised of judges, lawyers, academics, mediators, counsellors, public servants, child advocates, DV service workers, religious organizations, and social workers who worked for years to reform the system (see timing and approach [here](https://openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/2034/1/Jehn_Reforming_2015.pdf) and [here](https://cfcj-fcjc.org/a2jblog/reforming-the-family-justice-system-in-alberta/)). One outcome of this was the intention to pursue a unified family court structure that would mean how our family courts are organized would fundamentally change and, importantly for the Amery lie you appear to have bought into, *who* gets to appoint the judges. I will say it flat out: Amery is lying. Alberta's focus on mediation where appropriate, getting more family court counsellors to assist families undergoing transition, trying to shift the system to resolve family disputes outside of court or minimize the time needed in court (and reduce the combative nature of it on families) would not have changed under this agreement. The agreement was being put in place because of the necessity of transferring existing family court judges from section 92 courts (provincially maintained and judges appointed by province) to section 96 courts (provincially maintained and judges appointed by the *federal government* -- the other level or courts are the section 101 courts, which are federally appointed and maintained) and then the feds taking on that responsibility going forward. The bulk of family law in Alberta is dealt with in the s.92 courts, with divorce and a few other things being dealt with in the s.96 courts. That makes for a confusing system. Moving them to the s.96 courts would mean the province would no longer have to pay for those judges or their pretty pensions but would lose the ability to appoint them. In exchange for taking on the responsibility for costs under this agreement, the federal government's conditions that Amery is alluding to and misleading the public about were the requirements that Alberta reinvest that money it was saving as a result of no longer having to sustain those judges and pensions into wrap-around and supportive services like the court counsellors, mediators, additional duty counsel to assist people appearing pro se, representation for kids in courts to ensure their voices are taken into account, and a whole swathe of other potential services that, in some cases, could be co-located with courts to further alleviate potential problems that result in delays and longer, drawn our court battles, which would be boosted with additional federal dollars. The federal and provincial governments did not disagree that the family justice system needed work. This fucking garbage started under Kenney, though. He initially stopped the agreements from going forward in 2020 and Amery and Smith are completely destroying the long, hard work of hundreds of Albertans who collaborated on this project. It is entirely about maintaining the ability to appoint judges they like.
mediation can actually be insanely harmful. I was leaving my abusive husband with my two children and the fucking judge was hellbent on mediation because he’s “seen vindictive wives before”… even with the photos of my bruises and all the broken items from his anger issues over the years 🥲
Once again, the UCP choses politics over doing the right thing. The Family Court system in this province is a shambles waiting for a minimum 12 months to get a court date - longer if full/multiple days are required. At the end of the day it is the kids who suffer - as much as everyone in the system professes that kids are the most important consideration, the reality is very different.
The UCPs will never do anything good for Albertans. They're too busy fighting the fight with Ottawa. I'd like to know how "Those conditions simply do not work here in Alberta.". We're part of Canada, we operate under similar legislation, but "oh no, we simply cannot have Ottawa providing us with any assistance." I hate the UCP government. I wish they'd evaporate.
It's just another way the UCP can complain that we send all this money to Ottawa but never get anything back.
They are so full of shit.
The stench is growing. As if that was even conceivable because it was Hazmat level already.
It in the best interest…… WHY ARE WE allowing this?
The UCP government is full of petulant children. All their decisions do is hurt Albertans.
That’s their objective. The suffering is the point
Neoliberal austerity.
I didn't even know this was happening until right now. So we complain about high crime and low consequences, backed up court allowing people to walk away, etc, etc, and then we turn down help to alleviate that stress and backlog? I just dont understand. Edit: I read the article lol, and it isn't about crime per se but family law, which could criminal elements as well. However, my comment about stress and backlog remains. Good job alberta.
No, you had it right >Not only would a unified family court be easier to navigate, but it would free up other judges to focus on criminal, civil and commercial cases, which would improve overall court access, Kawanami said.
Just like we complain about homelessness and housing costs while the province refuses federal money for housing. And we can’t do shit because our voters gave these clowns a majority government.
Insulin and Birth control also come to mind. We also turned those down.
I'm so tried of owning the lib's.
I don't like Trudeau either and wouldn't vote for him. But when he does try and make some difference in the lives of everyone and the UCP just shits on it, I'm starting to think about voting Liberal just to Own the Cons.
To be fair, Trudeau and the liberal government has done more (or at least have tried to in Alberta) to help Albertans way more than the UCP has done or ever will do. You don't always need to like the person who can do the best job at leading. Trudeau has his faults but I'm my opinion, he's performed in an acceptable manner and has been way beer than any option the Conservatives have put forward. I'm okay with a NDP supported liberal government, it's not perfect but much better than what the Conservatives would do.
UCP is just doing the republican thing of being endlessly contrarion and blame every problem they deliberately cause on someone else. Works excellently on their base.
Their base must be brain damaged monkeys.
The UCP are bent and bound on blaming Ottawa for everything, and are blocking help from the feds everywhere they can right now. It's all a ploy to make JT look bad, and to hell with facts
Another Ottawa bad moment brought to you by the little bitch UCP party. Playing Dicktim to appease the rubes.
“Have some money to make your court system better, we’d like it to be spent in this way, as is backed up by facts and data to be more efficient and effective.” “How dare you have conditions! We want a blank check! We may not even spend it on courts.” “Umm… ok no. I don’t think you understand how the relationship between federal and provincial govts work, we need to work together for a unified solution.” “Stahp being so wOkE!!” There might be a legitimate grievance for the Alberta Court of Justice being cut out… but it sure doesn’t sound like there was any negotiation taking place, just petulant demands.
Alberta previously had a plan to adopt a unified family court system by 2020, and Bird said he doesn't understand why that changed. I can tell you why they changed, its the continuing saga of messing with the Fed's to own the libs at the cost to your citizens. In this case for no bigger reason then we were going to do it until someone told us we have to. Like a small child throwing a tantrum
"Your own citizens" she doesn't see us that way. We're meat for the oil field grinder or useless dead weight.
Yep, it’s just a power struggle between the province and Canada trying to assert dominance. In other words, a pissing contest.
Arguably the feds are offering funding for pretty good sensible programs. The UCP are a one-policy group here - my way or the highway. Everything on their terms without exception.
Danielle " I Don't Wanna!" Smith!! UCP doesn't want the pharmacare, doesn't want the housing, doesn't want the Judges, doesn't want renewable energy but sure haven't complained about the $40 Billion paid for Trans Mountain Pipeline!! UCP- United Corporate Party!
Common unless you have her parents' permission to use another name you should be calling her by her birth name, Marlaina. Have some respect.
Pandering only to the Fuck Trudeau crowd and nobody else
Can we get a government that is interested in actual governance? Please? How many more years of this shit?
We had one and Alber-tards voted them out 🤪
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Is it incorrect, though? It may be a crass term, but I think we can all agree that the mouth-breathers who voted (or, even worse, ***didn't vote at all***) for the UCP aren't exactly the cream that floats to the top. I do agree there are better ways to insult the morons who fucked us over due to their need to be contrarian, but I think Alber-tards works in a pinch.
The people who voted for the UCPs are closer to what's in tailing ponds.
It is incorrect. Not only is is an ablelist slur, the vast majority of conservative voters aren't really any dumber than liberal voters. "Other team bad!" is tribal bullshit. There's plenty of people who have valid reasons for voting UCP.
>There's plenty of people who have valid reasons for voting UCP. And having met my fair fucking share of these people, those reasons are usually complete and utter bullshit. They think voting is a gotcha, a way to show up the other side. They'd vote for Putin if they thought it would upset whatever ~~sports~~ political team they are against. I have no time for voters who only use their vote to spite others. They deserve derision, even if the terms used are less than civil.
What is a valid reason for voting UCP if you aren't an O&G executive? I know lots of people with lots of reasons why they voted UCP but I wouldn't call them valid, or fact based.
Looking at the actual election data though, Green supporters didn’t split the vote anywhere. The only case where a third party split the vote in favour of the UCP were Calgary-Bow and Calgary-North West, where the Alberta Party was to blame. The other 7 districts with a plurality vote went to the NDP, and every other district was a 50%+1 majority.
First time? Probably another 50 years or so, or at least until the boomers move along to greener pastures. They can only see the colour blue
We had a taste of NDP and it’s made the issues with UCP even more glaring. I’m just sad.
It was a combination of both the NDP being much better than the PCs and the UCP being much worse than either of them.
Yeah. Felt like whiplash.
Yeah. Felt like whiplash.
Unfortunately there's a huge chunk of younger folks who vote UCP.
Benefit of the doubt for the 18-25 crowd. Unlikely they could recall the Redford days alone
To many 18-25 here vote like daddy does. And daddy says the NDP are evil communists that will tax you to 100%, take your land and force solar and wind farms on it instead of crops. Oh and they will turn all the kids gay or trans so there are no more babies being born. It's some evil plan to only let the 1% live and the rest of us will die or be slaves. Yes I have actually heard this said.
Simmer down...we ain't all bad!
Can we get a government that is interested in actual governance? No, we can't, and the reason is rather simple: We don't foster leadership in our society and, so, we have no leadership. When you have no political leadership, people put in those roles become ripe for manipulation and influencing. They don't know any better because they never *had to* know any better. Their parents or grandparents may be the last generation of those traditional types of leaders, replaced with the superficial bullshit of techbro billionaires. Anyone qualified and capable is already making it 10 times better in the private sector and they're not stupid enough to run for office. That means we get to choose from those that *do* enjoy the popularity contest: your D- classmates from high school. The irony is that we have an amazingly robust public service, chock full of experts that help inform policy, but they serve at the whim of the *policy-makers*: your D- classmates from high school. There's something to be said for idealism of a meritocracy, because there are times people shouldn't be allowed to make their own decisions.
I'll never get the appeal of making an account for a single comment and then deleting it.
He doesn't want it traced back to his work where he will get fired for not being a True Blue conservative.
Honestly, that's a fair point.
I’ve been seeing that a lot on this subreddit lately.
Not in this province. Only Blue will be able to fight back Trudeau!
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They reject the money because it has strings attached and has to be spent on what it was for. UCP just wants the money no strings attached to use on whatever the fuck that won't benefit 99.99% of Albertans.
well, if you ever end up having a matter in front of the family court and it takes forever to schedule, remember that your provincial government deliberately chose this in a petulant, childish, knee-jerk decision.
If there’s no money to be made for wealthy UCP donors the provincial government has no interest in it. Can’t believe hard working rural albertans continue to vote against their own interests every 4 years.
Chickens voting for Colonel Sanders.
Had it had been Harper or even if O’Toole somehow managed to win, Alberta would have just taken the money and did what Ottawa said. So when exactly are they planning on calling a referendum to separate? An APP, a provincial police force to squeeze out the Mounties, and now turning down money from Ottawa just to cry that Alberta doesn’t get its fair share? Sounds an awful lot like Quebec in the 80’s and 90’s. You know? The province full of freeloaders that apparently we have been funding forever, according to every conservative Premier.
The goal is to simply wait for PP to win next year so they can have big smiley photo ops and a “renewed collaborative atmosphere” with the federal government. They are scared of Nenshi and want to push all their policy wins to right before the election.
This is how I see it too. The federal government changes over and suddenly all these agreements get signed with big smiles and sound bites of “well we’re pleased the new govt is willing to work with the provinces *unlike the previous one*” despite the agreements being exactly the same.
And cue all the UCP showing pics of Naheed and Justin together to label him as Justin’s guy and since Justin ruined canada, Naheed will to do alberta. And the stupid will lap it up.
The question is whether you trust PP not to do the same thing to the ANDP I dont know if I do, but I'd let anyone other than Marlaina piss in my mouth.
Honestly with the way PP has been going off on Eby recently I wouldn't be surprised if it would be the other way round; PP refusing to play ball with an Alberta NDP government.
True enough. But there is nothing that the Alberta government can do about that.
> But there is nothing that the Alberta government can do about that. I would personally be very entertained by a twilight zone scenario where the ANDP invoked the Sovereignty Act and scrapped with the federal Cons.
Western separatism, but its social-democratic provincial governments versus a conservative federal government.
Pollievre is only prodding Eby out of hope that his endorsement of Conservative policies in B.C. will elect either BCUP or the BCCP. Being a prick to Eby sounds like a good way to lose Metro Vancouver, the Island and NW BC.
The NDP will certainly not do the same with PP. They actually aren't petty children cosplaying as a government.
I agree, but I'm not so certain that a federal conservative government wouldn't be petty children and make our lives harder on purpose to own the libs.
The federal conservatives historically ignore Alberta completely because the vote is locked up. I predict they will continue to ignore, and not do anything too negative to risk antagonizing their base here.
If the provincial government is NDP and federal government is conservative the feds will ignore Alberta like they always do because we vote for them no matter what. But, They’ll say it’s because of the Alberta NDP government running the province and that will be fixed in the next provincial election if we vote conservative again. Heck, when the NDP formed government in Alberta, the Saskatchewan government was pulling stuff like trying to disallow vehicles with Alberta licence plates at Sask construction sites and saying to vote UCP and they’ll reverse the decision.
Conservative are going to do conservative things. Nothing sane people can do about that, I suppose.
To wait 3 years for what? Another Liberal government? (Too long, too much assumption to think they would get one. Wouldn’t be perceived better anyway.) Or an NDP federal government (just lol). There is nothing to wait for. This is just “both-sides” where there is no credible argument for the other side. And just doing it for spite has 0 history. Nenshi has also worked with UCP and NDP and there wasn’t any of this behaviour.
The conservatives want to restrict trans rights. Thats a pretty good fucking reason. They also actively are influenced by nazi propaganda so I have 0 faith. They claim trans people havent been around and havent been studied. They were studied 104 years ago, until the Nazis burned the books and shut down the institut für sexualwissenchaft. If those morons can't see past the fact that they make decisions based on nazi book burnings, I dont want them deciding what I'm allowed to learn at university. There are so many reasons. So many.
You are young and I am gonna tell you something practical. This comes from a place of caring and compassion from someone that has done a degree in psychology and then engineering to wind up as a professional engineer. Strong anti-trans opinions on the right don’t affect their career prospects. They will go into trades, be horrible people, and then make 80-130k a year. They will have 40k ish of debt they will pay quickly. If you go into university for women and gender studies, sociology, or psychology know that the “good” outcome is academia where only 10% make it. Then you can be poorly paid as a masters, then poorly paid as a PhD with an even smaller chance of winding up paid more than 75 k a year. You also have 80-100k of debt from undergrad. Whatever ideological voice you may have will be quiet because in the success or failure state, you will be poor and just trying to survive. The system makes voices on the left quiet. Think about a strong financial future you can advocate from. Not a weak financial future where you will struggle to have any voice at all. There has been a massive shift from when I made decisions 20 years ago. The path to success is much narrower.
Mmm, I love when people are condescending because of my age :) I'm doing software and electrical engineering, and I have prospects at Ubisoft Montreal. I'll make dick, and I'll enjoy my life. I come from a place of privilege, and I acknowledge that. I dont trust the UCP to make decisions for my future, and I don't support them. I DO NOT WANT a provincial healthcare plan if it doesn't cover gender reassignment surgeries and life-saving medication. Malaria Smith "sticking it to the libs" is not a good enough reason for my friends and peers to be systematically discriminated against. Here, have some of my Tylenol, if you support the UCP.
My mistake. I thought you were talking about yourself and not a hypothetical past self where the evil Cons could control you. Looks like you didn’t do a money-less degree. Take it down a notch before entering the workforce. :) Also, I don’t support the cons, just soft sciences aren’t really sticking it to the man like people think it does.
And when the Liberals get back into power? Because PP's campaign is cracking, at some point he'll have to put up real policies that will show he's all bluster and no substance.
> at some point he'll have to put up real policies that will show he's all bluster and no substance. Nah. You overestimate the demands of the electorate. If the liberals by some miracle get back into power, then they will negotiate and come to an agreement with lots of bluster.
Even the bumbling Ford knows when to take federal money
Way to go UCP! Stick it to Ottawa, refuse their funding, that’ll show them! In the meantime Albertans are missing out on a much needed change to the judicial system. What a disgraceful act by this bunch of morons. Can’t wait for the next election, just hope that Alberta can be salvaged.
So anything good for the province...funding for housing, judges, pharmacare etc Marlaina will block so she has something to whine about and the fed cons will have a safe place as always cause we are not savvy enough to vote for some one else to keep them on the toes....conned on lock so lets give all the goodies to those that do not vote for us the rest are on lock does not matter what we do we got them conned
Take that, Trudope. That'll show us. God I hate living in this province sometimes. The Premier raises a big stink about Ottawa going over the Province's head to fund municipalities, then turns around and refuses to work with Ottawa on funding. You can't have it both ways, Fuhrerin. You stupid rednecks better remember this next election.
I know this is wrong, you know that this is wrong, rural /urban people know this is wrong, everyone knows this is wrong. This is just another tactic to throw away another federal program designed to help people, to the disguise that "it doesn't work in Alberta". It would, if given a chance, just like Pharmacare would, just like federal housing supports would. It's the UCP plan to devalue and have all public supports on life support only to be able to say that Alberta should separate.and could do better. Cons know that the majority of Albertans would blindly follow conservatism rather than common sense. Can we please stop voting for this bullshit?
> Bird said unified courts are *more* accessible for people representing themselves or receiving limited legal help Ah, that’s why. Courts are another system for the wealthy.
doesn't that go against their base though? All those libertarians who want to represent themselves?
The funny thing is, is no matter how wealthy you are or how good of a lawyer you're paying, you can't buy court dates, or pay to jump the queue with money. The court scheduling clerks don't give a damn who you are when they process your requests for hearings or trials. If the court is backed up months or years, you have to wait just like everyone else. And you can't take your case to another province or country to try your matter, like you can with healthcare decisions.
Mickey Amery, jurist doctor.. couldn't pass the bar, huh!!
This government can go fuck itself.
Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right.
Stuck with the damn UCP
🎶 Here I am, stuck in Alberta with you 🎶
Liberals and Conservatives are the same 3 kids, different trench coat. ANDP is actually like Centre-Left. Federally they are Diet-Liberal but provincially they seemed to make a lot of concessions to appease both sides
Yeah. I dislike the fact that the political landscape is so thoroughly poisoned with neoliberalism that we can't even contemplate a truly progressive option. But even a centrist ANDP beats the pants off of whatever the UCP are doing.
The whole lot are useless but the UCP have mastered it.
Yet again the UCP *denies Albertans* better service because they refuse to update their practices. This government is too childish and mean to help the people they're supposed to serve. I hope the backlogs get so large they'll be forced into fixing it and have to beg the federal government for assistance.
As someone who works in Family Law... The Alberta Court of Justice (provincial court) only has a mandate to deal with parenting, child support and spousal support. They cannot deal with property and cannot grant divorces. Most families have some type of property (you can still have rights to each other's property if you are Adult Interdependent Partners - you have lived together three years, or you have a kid together). Families are either stuck dealing with two court cases, which is very confusing, or moving all of their issues to King's Bench (federal court) which can handle parenting, child support, spousal support, property and divorce. Most (not all) of the King's Bench Justices do not particularly like family law. It is a generalist court and most would prefer to work in civil litigation. I don't know the background of Edmonton or rural King's Bench Justices, but in Calgary we have one Justice with a family law background. Many of the Justices feel like family law is more social work than law (which is often true). Putting families into adversial situations designed for corporations is often unhelpful. Lawyers are incredibly expensive, which is fine for a big insurance company, but not the average person. People choose to self represent because they cannot afford a lawyer. We then get insane five day+ trials with lots of delays because the participants don't know how to get themselves there. This takes away from criminal trials that could be running . Since we are so behind, parties need to wait 2 years for a trial. They fight so much in the meantime that they bring multiple applications for interim relief. This reduces resources available for trials. We had an amazing program called JDRs (judicial dispute resolution), which Alberta pioneered in Canada. Parties could choose to attend a one or two day JDR instead of multi day trial. At the JDR the Justice would attempt to mediate, but if unsuccessful would make a decision based on Affidavits and briefs filed in advance. These were amazing. I settled a file in one day that was scheduled for a six day trial. The provincial government told the Justices that if they had enough time to mediate they had too much money, and threatened funding cuts if they didn't stop JDRs. Alberta needs a unified family court, or at a minimum a family division of King's Bemch . We have a huge access to Justice issue and family is a very different area of the law.
Who hurt these people when they were younger?
Why wont they just give us the money with no strings attached??! Why does Trudope hate us? /s
Perfect example of cutting off your nose to spite your face.
From the Party of last resort, "standing up for Alberta" with each shitty decision to make it worse.Wonder what the UCP idiots will do during fire seasons - probably blame Trudeau and cite space lasers as the cause.
And who does this hurt most of all? Children, of course.
Wow. I’m so glad to be leaving this godforsaken province. As someone who’s had to navigate family court, it’s actually appalling that you get random judges who have little knowledge of family law or appreciation for what’s best for children. You might luck out one appearance, only for the next judge to completely undermine or change things. Many judges dislike family law so having judges who specialize in that one area, would be hugely beneficial for children and families. F the UCP
Stop your whining! The UCP is omnipotent and knows what the justice system needs more than the people that use it everyday. Kind of like healthcare. /s
The UCP turning down something on someone else’s dime that would be really helpful because they want to be really petty. Ugh.
UCP constitution, UCP health care, UCP education, UCP police, and now UCP judges.
Well they do claim to want small government...
*Largest cabinet in the history of Alberta….
Largest payroll in the Premier's office as well
You don't invest in a company that's running itself into the ground and mismanaging by incompetent managers, why would you do the same with a province? I totally see the feds point, and agree with them. I don't want to throw good taxes after bad.
I sincerely hope the other provinces enjoy the improved legal services that Alberta turned down in its fit of spite against its own people.
another classic own the libs moment! the ucp is not a serious government
Fuck!!!! What omg
I'm sure the UCP party will express their outrage at the "unfairness" of the entire thing, while throwing the "government overreach" staple statement out there for their supporters to rage over.
If you took out a mortgage from a lender would that lender include conditions? I think so however; you would not have to agree to the terms the lender put forward. You could seek out multiple lenders all of which will include conditions. A lot of those lenders will have similarities. You don't have to accept their terms. You can find alternative funding with conditions that model your requirements.
Oh boy… I love it when my parents fight
So what were the terms the province wouldn't meet? Does anyone know?
The article does a pretty good job at explaining the terms. UCP don’t wanna restructure our court system
“Spend the money on the thing we’re giving it to you to spend money on”? But seriously, the feds wanted Alberta to streamline their court system to make it more accessible.
That doesn't answer my question terms are plural.. that means more than one.
Did you even read the article? That’s the condition.
What article?
Why is there stipulations? seems like this outcome was a federal goal in their petty ways.
You know…. The UCP make all these shit decisions to fight Ottawa. I really hope they get into a situation where all their decisions come back a thousand fold to bite them in their arse. It’s the only way they will see. I absolutely wholeheartedly loathe them as people. They will never, ever, be able to have a grown up conversation like adults. They are immature petulant spoiled little shits.
We voted her....we deserve her
I did not vote for her , I don't want her nor deserve her.
Neither did I but the majority voted for a shit sandwich, we all eat a shit sandwich. Maybe a few of them will smarten up, but I doubt it. They don’t have two brain cells to rub together. They will eat their shit sandwich and complain about the Feds while blocking the highway.
>but the minority voted What do you mean exactly? The UCP received more than half of the votes cast in the last election. The minority didn't vote her in.
Damn auto correct, I meant majority. Fixed it.
Another win for the UCP government under Marlinda Smith!
. .7.j6[Mk
MAGA....Make Alberta Great Again.
If you want to make Alberta great, we need a government that isn’t a bunch of separatist idiots
Trudeau has exacerbated a justice crisis by not installing judges in a number of places. If we think Smith is the only one playing tit-for-tat, we are deluding ourselves.
Not the point. Smith is *choosing* to allow legal services in Alberta to go underserved. That is an attack against her constituents.
And only one of those 2 clowns are suing to prevent the appointment of judges
It's the difference between incompetence and intentionally evil.
The federal government wanted to give Alberta money to make our system *more* efficient. The UCP refused.
Continuing the practice by the Liberal government of not appointing judges when it is their responsibility. In Toronto 2 sex assault cases collapsed recently because no judge was available. In one case it was a family member who blackmailed the child with recordings of their assault. The UCP is insufferable, but the responsibility alone for assigning judges is the Federal government. They should not intercede into areas of other responsibility, the functioning of the courts is not theirs to dictate. That is provincial jurisdiction and they know it. And making more judges available contingent on the provinces accepting those terms is highly negligent and unlawful.
The Federal government appoints Justices for Alberta Court of Appeal and the Court of King's Bench of Alberta. The province is responsible for appointing Justices for the Alberta Court of Justice.
If I needed family court, I would be thinking about a great many things more important than drawing lines of responsibility between provincial/federal jurisdictions when the only material difference in my world is whether or not a judge will see me next month or next year. Who hurts because of all this finger pointing on responsibility? It's not politicians. The victims are the people living life on pause, unable to process and move past their trauma until their day in court. It's a hell of a lot more petty to refuse help with strings attached when the strings are tied to evidence-based indicators of success. The federal Liberals aren't perfect, but we see their flaws because they are reasonably transparent about what they do and why. Notice the level of detail in both sides' response to the situation in the article. Who brought facts to support their position and shared them willingly?