Dr Norlaine Thomas (She/Her) Profile picture
PhD, filmmaker, hockey player, Mom, domestic goddess, political geek, writer, sh*t disturber...
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Dec 30, 2023 34 tweets 7 min read
I think we need to have a serious talk about predatory capitalism. This is going to be a rather long rant, so get comfy.
1/
#cdnpoli #UBI #NeverVoteConservative #PredatoryCapitalism What this obscenely wealthy property developer is saying is monstrous. He says the quiet part out loud here. The uber wealthy want billions of people in poverty so they can grow their riches faster, and so workers will once again feel
2/
Nov 18, 2023 18 tweets 4 min read
We need to recognize that the #CanadianMedia really wants a CPC government. Why would they want that?

Good question.

There are a number of plausible reasons. And we must recognize that it is entirely possible that more than one reason is true.
1/18 The first, simplest, and most obvious reason is that some journalists actually strongly support the right side of the political spectrum. So much so that they cannot contain their enthusiasm for Poilievre, etc, and they allow it to override any journalistic ethics
2/18
Oct 24, 2023 6 tweets 2 min read
WRT TBA's David Parker. He started out in politics working for Harper, right? Is he still working for Harper? Is the anti-Canada, Alberta separatist schtick actually Harper's agenda? From a big-picture perspective it fits with the CPC fire sale of Canadian assets... 1/ between 2005 and 2015. I mean, if you take Alberta out of the protection of the Canadian federation, how fast do you think all the natural resources, from water to coal, will be scooped up by multinational entities? And what's left over would have to beg to be 2/
Aug 23, 2023 11 tweets 2 min read
When your government announces it is setting up an entity, a "War Room" if you will, and putting a lot of public money into it every year, and specifically setting it up so no one can see what they are doing with that money, that should be a big red flag.
1/ #abpoli When they carefully and deliberately make it un -FOIPable, and somewhat outside the usual scrutiny governmental departments and agencies are subject to annually, with zero oversight except by their own members, that should be a big red flag.
2/
Jun 9, 2023 25 tweets 5 min read
I think a lot about what my Dad would make of the world today. I think about what he would say about the CPC, UCP, Ford's PCs, the MB PCs... About what he would say about the way Canadian media (Canadian in name only, most of them being owned by a New Jersey Hedge Fund)
1/ Image slant their commentary, act as stenographers for conservative politicians, & generally try to steer the narrative to suit their owners', investors' and advertisers' goals.. I think I know how he would feel and react. I think he would be apoplectic, but incisively articulate
2/
Jun 6, 2023 12 tweets 5 min read
"Wilson's ideal society, according to Gribben, would be run along biblical lines: same-sex marriage and abortion would be illegal; men would be in charge and women would be at home with the children."
#cdnpoli
1/12
cbc.ca/news/investiga… We are seeing a lot of this in Canada. The Take Back Alberta group in Alberta is taking over the UCP from the inside and seeks to control school boards and municipal councils as well as the provincial government. This Liberty Coalition is actively trying to do the same
2/12
May 27, 2023 15 tweets 4 min read
How can I explain why Danielle Smith's "public delivery" through for-profit suppliers is not a good thing?

Ok. Let's say a procedure costs $1,000. It's a nice round, easy to work with number. The procedure costs $1,000, which includes wages of doctors, nurses and other
1/15 healthcare professionals as well as support staff. It also includes any medications, materials (like sutures), and that fraction of depreciation on equipment. And it includes general overhead like building maintenance and keeping the lights and heat and water on.
2/15
May 26, 2023 7 tweets 2 min read
It's a funny thing. We now have "pundits", folks presented as having a superior understanding of politics, who comment on the day's events through the lens of their own biases, telling us what to think.
1/7 #cdnpoli #cdnpolitics I suggest this is not at all useful to society.

What would be useful is journalists who
a) say what happened or what was said by whom
b) explain how things actually work in the Canadian system or the facts of the situation at hand
c) point out any inconsistencies in
2/7
May 25, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
The past 4 years of UCP rule, and especially the past ~8 months of Danielle Smith as premier, have been exhausting and stressful. The almost daily outragous events can't have been good for anyone's blood pressure....
1/
Can't we just have a nice boring government that works for the public and good things get done? Where we don't have to pay close attention all the time, braced against the next fiasco?
2/
May 20, 2023 21 tweets 4 min read
I know that there are a bunch of Albertans who look at what Danielle Smith and the UCP want to do, even the parts they don't want to talk about, and they agree with all of it. There are Albertans who think the healthcare system should be privatized.
#AlbertaElection2023 1/21 Maybe they feel somehow that sick or injured people should have to pay to show them the error of their ways so they smarten up and don't do whatever it was again. Maybe it galls them to think that some of their tax dollars are helping someone else, maybe even
2/21
May 18, 2023 7 tweets 2 min read
"Food quality is down and the price is up" This was the news this morning about how privatizing AB hospital cafeterias has impacted food delivery. This is the exact and predictable effect of adding a profit motive to anything. Minimize costs and maximize revenue. This works the same for healthcare. The profit motive means that for-profit companies will do things as cheaply as possible and charge as much as possible. They are in the business of making profit. That's what they do. And it doesn't matter if they are manufacturing tires or
Apr 20, 2023 9 tweets 2 min read
In December 2018, the NDP Government of Alberta passed the Mental Health Services Protection Act to ensure that counsellors and people providing mental health treatment were certified. Prior to this, just anyone could take people's money and "treat" them. 1/9 #abpoli The Association of Counselling Therapy of Alberta came into being. However, the UCP stalled the process of accrediting the professional organization, so it is still the case that anyone can claim to provide counselling services, without oversight. 2/9
cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…
Apr 20, 2023 6 tweets 2 min read
So, Stephen Harper has issued a video statement wherein he urges Albertans to vote UCP. One must assume he is onside with the TBA agenda. He has never liked Canada, but it seems almost traitorous to urge Albertans to vote for a separatist group. As we have discovered 1/6 #abpoli the Take Back Alberta organization is, and as we have also learned, TBA pretty much controls the UCP from the inside. The UCP is effectively run by the same people who blocked the border at Coutts and occupied Ottawa. And Harper thinks they are A-OK. This speaks volumes 2/6
Apr 14, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
Our dystopian neighbour, summed up. Canadians, we must guard against this from becoming our reality. There are forces here who want this in our country too. Look at the conservative party platforms, federally and provincially. They call for unfettered access to guns, 1/ Minimum wage reductions, privatized health care and education, erosion of workplace/consumer/environmental regulations (aka "cutting red tape", or "eliminating gate-keepers"), fewer social programs, 2/
Apr 13, 2023 7 tweets 2 min read
Something that really bugs me is how politicians on the right, and their various spokespeople and media affiliates, can brazenly lie about things and get no pushback. Right now in Alberta, Danielle Smith is robocalling all Albertans to say the NDP is lying about her 1/7 #abpoli thinking about privatizing healthcare. She basically says it never crossed her mind, obviously, because that would contravene the Canada Health Act. And yet, she wrote a policy paper in 2021 for the U of C that says exactly that. And then, while campaigning for the UCP 2/7
Mar 27, 2023 18 tweets 3 min read
I watched the Waco documentary on Netflix. Then I went and scanned the Twitterverse for commentary. I don't know anything about the filmmakers. I finished watching with the feeling they were very sympathetic to the Branch Davidians and very condemning of the FBI.
1/16 And, certainly, it is clear that the situation was handled very badly. But the lack of communication and co-operation by federal agencies, and the weird screw-ups they made along the way, does not make what was happening at Mount Carmel right.
2/16
Mar 24, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
Have to get on a plane tomorrow. I hate going through airport security. One time I was randomly selected for scrutiny. Female officer grabbed my belly fat and asked, "what's this?" I'm like, "I'm a middle-aged woman with 3 kids. It's belly fat." Still traumatised every time I go through security. I go to great lengths to avoid having any metal whatsoever. No underwires. No pants with rivets. No one should have any part of their body grabbed and squeezed just because they need to go somewhere. Never mind having to discuss unwanted weight.
Mar 23, 2023 12 tweets 3 min read
This seems timely to repost. Remember Maher Arar? He was the man who was so unfortunate as to fall within the sights of one Bob Fife. Fife's writing, among others, resulted in Mr. Arar being detained and tortured. What the journos wrote ... 1/12 #cdnpoli
thewalrus.ca/hear-no-evil-w… was completely wrong. They took something they had been told and caused an innocent man to be imprisoned and tortured. That they have never shown any contrition for this speaks volumes about them. If I had written something that caused such grievous wrong, I don't think I
2/12
Mar 16, 2023 6 tweets 1 min read
I'm still all discombobulated by the break-in on my truck and I have now realized they took some things that are of no use to anyone else, but deeply important to me. What is wrong with people? I know, poverty, primarily, along with trauma and addictions. But, 1/6 Why take things with no resale value? Things like prescription glasses, and made-to-measure items that are not modifiable for someone else? It feels just mean. And I realize, in a smash-and-grab situation, people are probably not being very discerning. But... 2/6
Mar 11, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
I went looking for videos, short accessible videos, that demonstrate why public education is important to society. I believe it is important, vitally important, regardless of whether I personally have children in school, because society only functions when we have an educated 1/ Public that can think critically and understand the problems we face and analyse the merits of possible solutuons. We need an educated public who can evaluate the political options and elect people who will work in our best interests. 2/
Mar 10, 2023 8 tweets 2 min read
Right. So, I am visiting my daughters in Winnipeg. On Tuesday someone smashed my truck backseat window. Earlier the same day 4 young men were shot a block & a half to the east of my daughter's house and two women were shot a few blocks to the west. Like, what the hell, Winnipeg? Today I had the cops come to the door, doing a door-to-door canvass. Did you see anything or might you have security cam footage? It was like being in a police procedural. Except, you know, real. To her credit, the detective who came here was really nice. Just a very nice human.