The federal NDP leadership race is on, and with the recently-harrowed federal party's strongest remaining power base right here in Alberta this may be a very Alberta-focused campaign. Former Alberta environment minister Shannon Phillips joins us on the pod to talk about the lore you'll need to understand this race—the lingering resentment over candidate Avi Lewis's attempt to introduce the LEAP manifesto at the 2019 Alberta NDP convention.

The 2019 lore that may decide today's NDP leadership race

Euan Thomson from drugdatadecoded.ca joins us on the pod once again, this time to tell us about his investigation into the Calgary police's use of facial recognition technology.

 * Premier’s Office spent nearly $20K on PragerU fundraiser gala [https://www.theprogressreport.ca/premier-prageru-fundraiser]
   
 * ‘MAGA performer’ booked to perform at the Legislature is a far-right associate of Artur Pawlowski and the Proud Boys [https://www.theprogressreport.ca/_maga_performer_booked_to_perform_at_the_legislature_is_a_far_right_associate]
   
 * Calgary police "image recognition" software identifies individuals in photos & videos posted online [https://drugdatadecoded.ca/calgary-police-image-recognition-software-identifies-individuals-in-photos-videos-posted-online/]

The Progress Report podcast is listener-funded and runs no ads—please consider becoming a patron at www.theprogressreport.ca/patrons [http://www.theprogressreport.ca/patrons]

Calgary's new police dragnet

In the grip of anti-vax culture and governed by an anti-vax premier, Alberta is now the site of the world's second-worst active measles outbreak, with more total cases than the entire United States of America. Former Alberta NDP health minister Sarah Hoffman joins us on the pod to discuss the causes of the outbreak and what the opposition thinks Alberta should be doing about it. Then, for a palate cleanser, a bit about Hoffman's new hobby as a stand-up comic.

For more from The Progress Report, find us at theprogressreport.ca and bsky.app/profile/theprogressreport.ca. The Report is entirely audience-supported; if you'd like to pitch in, subscribe at theprogressreport.ca/patrons

Alberta's measles catastrophe

Jeremy recounts the harrowing tale of his visit to a separatist rally on Canada Day in Mirror, Alberta.

Check out Jeremy's original article on this event on his blog The Orchard at www.readtheorchard.org/p/canada-day-with-the-separatists.

To support the Progress Report podcast and keep us free of advertisements for mattresses and nutritional supplements, head over to theprogressreport.ca/patrons.

At The Bouncy Castle of Madness

Jim and Jeremy interview Michael Janz, councillor for Edmonton's Ward Papastew, about his election campaign, the value of fighting to change public opinion, whether political parties at the muni level are good, and more.

Support the Progress Report at theprogressreport.ca/patrons.

For more from the Janz campaign, see the councillor's site at michaeljanz.ca.

Michael Janz on Edmonton's 2025 elections

Press Progress's Stephen Magusiak joins Jim and Jeremy to talk about this week's G7 conference—and not about the unimportant parts, like global geopolitics, but about what really matters: what Albertans were doing. Who was organizing around G7 locally and were they successful? The fellas get into it.

Support the Progress Report pod by becoming a patron at theprogressreport.ca/patrons :)

Stephen writes for Press Progress, which you can find at pressprogress.ca

Seven Gs

Jim and Jeremy speak with participants in an ongoing 40-day fast for Gaza about the present situation in Palestine, organizing back here in Edmonton, and the difficult task of grappling with power from a disempowered position.

Please consider supporting this pod and/or subscribing to the newsletter at https://www.theprogressreport.ca/

Fasting for Gaza

The 20-year president of the Alberta Federation of Labour is up for re-election this Sunday. Jim and Jeremy take a look at the present situation, check out some Gil McGowan campaign literature, and speak to the AFL leadership candidate who didn't ignore our interview request.

The end of the Gillenium?

2025's federal election is set to up-end politics in Western Canada and yet at the same time the campaign period has been both short and uneventful. So we tapped a couple of smart guys to un-boring it: first Dave Cournoyer, one of Alberta's most knowledgeable political commentators. Then we talk to Blake Desjarlais, one of the rare electeds worthy of our rascal respect. More of Dave's work is available at www.daveberta.ca.

Fed election 2025 feat. Dave Cournoyer and Blake Desjarlais

Through projects including the national business coalition Each+Every and his publication Drug Data Decoded (www.drugdatadecoded.ca), Euan Thomson has put his heart and soul into combatting the ongoing drug poisoning crisis, and he joins us on this episode of the Progress Report to bring everyone up to date with the crisis's current status.

But Euan of late has also been an ally to the Palestinian solidarity movement and it's in that capacity that he took a beating from police during last year's violent crackdown on demonstrators at the University of Calgary. In this episode Euan and Jeremy also discuss the crackdown, and why one Calgary Liberal candidate in particular is implicated in the story in a bad way.

Full show notes and our other content is available at www.theprogressreport.ca.

Jeremy's article for The Maple on the U of C situation, mentioned in the episode:

https://www.readthemaple.com/liberal-star-candidate-helped-shut-down-pro-palestine-encampment/

Drug poisoning polycrisis & U of C crackdown, feat. Euan Thomson

Weekly podcast detailing the good and the bad (mostly bad) of Alberta politics. A project of Progress Alberta.