Shannon Phillips Profile picture
Lethbridge West NDP MLA. Alberta Official Opposition Finance Critic. Fmr Minister of Environment&Parks/Climate Change. Blackfoot Territory. she/her
Italia Stephens🍁🌻🍷🐓#IstandwithTrudeau Profile picture 1 subscribed
Mar 25, 2023 5 tweets 3 min read
Today, we accepted fiscal recommendations from @theToddHirsch on mgt of volatile resource revenues, investing the surplus and meeting Albertans’ expectations of balanced budgets & prudent fiscal management.

A good day to be a Finance critic. Proud to serve on Rachel’s team. From today!
Mar 24, 2023 13 tweets 5 min read
After only one term, Finance Minister @TravisToewsUCP is retiring.
I wish him well & I mean it sincerely. I do not admire his record (thread below), but he conducts himself with decency and is mostly grounded in reality, unlike the new crop of Smith candidates.
Thread. 🧵#ableg Mr. Toews spent much of his time as Finance Minister performatively focused on fiscal responsibility, but he doubled the deficit in 2019 and in 2020 and 2021 tabled the largest deficit budgets in Alberta’s history. #ableg edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/…
Jun 28, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
UCP leadership candidate & fmr FinMin @TravisToewsUCP told a “Free AB Strategy” (?) mtg he supports a provincial police force and admitted it will cost Albertans more.

At least $200million more.

Municipalities hate the idea, too.

Fiscal responsibility, my eye. 🧵 #ableg Add this to the Toews Tire Fire of $1.3 billion blown on his pathetic negotiation skills on Keystone XL and his total failure to protect ABs against obvious risks.

And $30 million/year wasted on the embarrassing warroom. #ableg
Oct 20, 2021 16 tweets 4 min read
My colleague @JanisIrwin wrote to the Minister of Muni Affairs to demand an inquiry in to @seanchucalgary.

The details of this case are serious. They're also a stinging indictment of police discipline investigations and appeals....THREAD #ableg Let's review what we know from the reporting by @CBCMeg and what has come from matters heard at QB last week. Mr. Chu was the subject of an internal investigation. He was found guilty on one count of discreditable conduct, and a 5-year letter of reprimand was put on his file.
Oct 20, 2021 8 tweets 4 min read
It's well-known @cathmckenna and I are friends - forged through similar challenges when we were both Enviro Ministers taking action on climate change.

A lot of what she says in the @globeandmail @garymasonglobe piece below resonated, especially: (thread) #ableg #cdnpoli That feeling of being constantly on edge vis a vis my own safety has been something I have also lived with for more than 6 years.
For me, it hasn’t been people defacing my office so much as *literally* being targeted by the local police force. #lethbridge #yql
Sep 16, 2021 7 tweets 4 min read
It’s pretty well-known in political circles that O’Toole campaign was furious w/ Kenney last night, because he didn’t wait to bring in restrictions etc until after Sept 20.

Also obvious: @jkenney basically bodychecked Hinshaw off the podium when media asked about timing (contd) …of her recommendations (at 7:15 MDT in the presser last night). I suspect they’ve been sitting on action due to the federal campaign. But when 24 people died in 24 hours, even these ghouls could stall no longer. #cdnpoli #ableg
Jun 25, 2021 7 tweets 3 min read
Billions in underperformance by AIMCo, and this AM the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund Committee meets to discuss the Annual Report. But the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer are a no show 🤦‍♀️ #ableg #handsoffmypension For 7 years and 26 straight meetings in a row, the CEO or the CIO have shown up & taken responsibility for their stewardship of our Heritage Fund. But not today, and results aren’t good #ableg #handsoffmypension
Jun 25, 2021 12 tweets 4 min read
We are about to head in to the Heritage Fund meeting .
1. We got the Annual Report on Thursday. MLAs were given less than 24 hours to read it.
2. For the first time in 26 meetings, the CEO, CIO of AIMCO (or board chair) aren't showing up to the Committee. (thread) #ableg Over the past calendar year AIMCo delivered returns of 2.5%, while the CPPIB delivered returns of 12.1%. If CPPIB had been managing Albertans’ pensions and Crown holdings (like the Heritage Fund), we would have been better off to the tune of $11.4 billion this year alone.
May 31, 2021 9 tweets 3 min read
There are many specific actions that could have been in @lethpolice “action plan,” but they mailed it in.

They still don’t understand their responsibility to repair profound abuses of public trust.

@KayceeMaduYEG is having none of it; accountability is non-partisan.

#ableg It’s always been interesting to me that the Police Commission has been silent on their responsibilities. As has Leth East MLA Nathan Neudorf. He hasn’t said a word on this topic. His colleagues have been clear. The local MLA who should be just as concerned as I am? Not so much.
Apr 9, 2021 15 tweets 3 min read
In an alternate reality, UCP:
✅ Gave direct transfers to laid-off workers & easy-to-navigate, straightforward $ to business, instead of waiting for Ottawa to do it
✅ Laser-focused on testing, rapid testing, contact tracing and isolation benefits
✅paid sick leave
(Thread) ✅ Hired EAs, teachers and used community space to rethink classrooms and social distancing in Sept 2020, instead of sitting on their asses March-August and then somehow being surprised when parents &teachers were worried & outbreaks spread in Nov-Dec
Feb 18, 2021 25 tweets 6 min read
This piece by @bcshaffer and @joshdr83 is a must-read on what's happening in TX, and relevant comparisons between AB and TX's energy-only electricity market design. I have a few points to add/underline...a thread! The similarities between our two systems, as I see it, are: 1. energy-only, deregulated electricity market, 2. No large interties with other electricity grids, 3. An energy-only market and grid that hasn't really grappled with demand-side in terms of design...
Dec 8, 2020 32 tweets 13 min read
We start out with a serious look in the rearview mirror. Our R value is higher than the rest of the country and our cases per 100k some of the highest in the industrialized world. So, that's the first fact check. #ableg This is part of the govt message, I've noticed. "But we started out great!" Which is not really the point when you look at what's happened since mid-October. #Covid19AB
Oct 30, 2020 9 tweets 4 min read
At the Heritage Fund Annual General Meeting...the UCP government just announced they’re doing a major new review of the Heritage Fund’s investment policy. First review since 2011. Finance Minister hasn’t told the public about this at all, a staffer announced it. #ableg #abpoli Remember, the Minister has the right to direct specific investments.

Are we really to be expected to sit back and let him do this review without telling us? With the UCP’s track record so far, he expects us to trust him with this? #ableg #abpoli
Sep 15, 2020 7 tweets 3 min read
I’m at the Heritage Fund meeting, where Aimco is here to answer questions about their performance in investing our Heritage Fund. We have some big questions about Aimco’s performance relative to their own benchmarks for the past several years. #ableg The govt is currently trying to obfuscate Aimco’s performance relative to their own benchmarks. In fact, they even tried to hide this performance, by withholding information on their performance, in the first-quarter Heritage Fund update. #ableg
Jul 25, 2020 6 tweets 3 min read
Jason Kenney is in #lethbridge today. Families here need answers about his lack of plan or resources for the return to school.
More than 10,000 people have already signed our petition calling on the UCP to fund a safer school plan for the fall. #ableg #yql #abed 1/ Right now, the UCP plans to cram up to 30 kids in to underfunded classrooms, without any extra teachers or assistants, space, PPE or supplies - leaving school boards scrambling.
Yes, it costs money to prepare fora global pandemic. They've had since March to figure it out. 2/
Jul 9, 2020 6 tweets 3 min read
Tonight, my friend @MarieFrRenaud pointed out, during debate, that some members undertake intimidating, unparliamentary behaviour in the House. The women on our side of the House often deal with staring, posturing, scoffing and other non-verbal forms of harassment. #ableg I've been around #ableg for almost 20 years as staffer/ observer/MLA. There's always debate, there's always heckling. It's a floor of a legislature in a Westminster Parliament. Rules-based, orderly debate includes well-placed heckles. That's not intimidating, it's the job.
Jul 9, 2020 5 tweets 2 min read
By the time the UCP American-Style Health Care bill passes, the CDC estimates 160,000 Americans will have died of coronavirus.
This bill allows for-profit clinics, hospitals. It allows govt to delist a bunch of services so you'll have to pay for them. #ableg THREAD. It used to be the few for-profit clinics in the system had to prove they were going to add to reducing wait times and wouldn't siphon resources from the public system. The new UCP American for-profit hospitals don't have to prove that anymore. This isn't about wait times. #ableg
May 14, 2020 10 tweets 8 min read
Hey #Calgary, I have to say I feel so worried for your many businesses & livelihoods disrupted at 10 o'clock last night when we all heard Mr. Kenney & the UCP changed their minds about your city's reopening. The Premier's 11th-hour decision is expensive. (Thread) 1/ #AbLeg #yyc Fact is, the UCP and their Calgary MLAs would have known many days ago that #yyc virus numbers remain a concern. People warned about this, but it seems Mr. Kenney preferred a nice political story and he'll play games with the #Calgary economy and jobs to get it. #ableg 2/
Apr 26, 2020 8 tweets 4 min read
This morning, Jason Kenney's close friend and economic advisor, took to twitter to share his regrettable opinions on Canada's worst mass shooting and the coronavirus. Here are my thoughts. 1/

#ableg First, let me once again extend my condolences to Nova Scotians who lost loved ones in this tragedy. The loss is unimaginable, and the ability to grieve is made doubly difficult by the circumstances. My heart goes out to the entire province. 2/
Aug 9, 2019 13 tweets 3 min read
Jason Kenney's Advanced Ed Minister thinks a Holocaust denier should have been protected at the Uni of Lethbridge & shouldn't have been let go a few years ago. In fact, he thinks we need to change our policies to allow a holocaust denier a platform & a paycheque.
(Thread) Background: The UCP want to impose a new so-called "free speech" standard at universities, even though we already have those rights in the Charter. Even so, the UCP are bringing in what's called the "Chicago Principles" for Alberta universities.
Jun 20, 2019 7 tweets 3 min read
I have concerns about this. We had a recent case at University of Lethbridge where we had a prof who held anti-Semitic views & published them, in addition to vicious conspiracy theories. This #ucp policy would likely give that prof another way to continue his hate speech. #ableg The University was finally able to get rid of that prof, and I was grateful for that. It’s possible - actually, probable - that this #ucp policy would make it more difficult for the University to terminate someone who is publishing and teaching demonstrably anti-Semitic content.