The Alberta health care procurement controversy, explained A look at the people, companies and government agencies involved in the Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services story

You heard about an Alberta scandal. Something procurement, health, political pressure, podcasters, a fixer, court battles, Turkish tylenol.
You're very wtf.
Here is the explainer for you.

The Alberta health care procurement controversy, explained
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alber...

I should be old /jaded enough not to be bothered by guys hyuck-hyucking about being forced to acknowledge women who just won a gold medal. But I’ll be damned if that one hasn’t been under my skin all day.

At the very least, I don’t want to hear about the loneliness thing anymore. Go improve.

Who is Sam Mraiche? Inside Alberta’s health care controversy A Globe investigation into the provincial health agency’s dealings with a company whose contracts have come under scrutiny

icymi: Who Is Sam Mraiche? www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... w/ @tomcardoso.bsky.social @markmackinnon.bsky.social @hoserlibrarian.bsky.social @alannasmith.bsky.social

Who is Sam Mraiche? Inside Alberta’s health care controversy A Globe investigation into the provincial health agency’s dealings with a company whose contracts have come under scrutiny

On Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Sam Mraiche
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... w/ @tomcardoso.bsky.social @markmackinnon.bsky.social @hoserlibrarian.bsky.social

Two men convicted of fraud in connection with St. Michael’s Hospital redevelopment Verdict marks the culmination of a process that began in 2015, when Bondfield was awarded the $300-million project

Two men convicted of fraud over allegations from the $300-million redevelopment of Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital.

My colleagues first uncovered the procurement issues of this project a decade ago. Investigative journalism is a long-term commitment.
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Alberta health officials were also directors at a company linked to a supplier Corporate filings reveal further links between Alberta Health Services procurement staff and private firms

SCOOP: Two senior Alberta Health Services procurement officials were also briefly directors in a numbered company linked to MHCare, a supplier that has been awarded $$$ in business, The Globe and Mail has found

By @tomcardoso.bsky.social, @hoserlibrarian.bsky.social and friend

My favourite drama so far this year is the misprint of the 2025 national mahjong league cards.
It is wholesome, civilized and much needed small potatoes and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of the mahjong Facebook group grousing.

Former chief of staff to Alberta Premier lived in home owned by Sam Mraiche’s sister Businessman’s dealings with the provincial health authority are subject to multiple investigations

SCOOP: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's fmr chief of staff lived in a home owned by a sister of Sam Mraiche, a businessman whose dealings w Alberta Health Services are subject to multiple investigations.
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alber... w @tomcardoso.bsky.social @hoserlibrarian.bsky.social

Become the 51st state? Finally found the hill I would for real die on.

Pantone’s 2025 Color of the Year Is Mocha Mousse Is this shade of dusty brown a repudiation of “Brat” green?

This Pantone brown colour of the year is giving 1970s bargain bin L'eggs pantyhose shade and I mean this in a good way.
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/05/s...

I would legit buy this swag

Poynter's MediaSmart teen fact-checking network is now in Canada and seeing applicants. Ages 13-18 to fact-check popular posts appearing in their social media feeds & create a minimum of 2 fact-checking videos between January and June 2025. Deadline to apply is Dec 15 mediasmarts.ca/teen-fact-ch...

External report flagged Canada Soccer staff’s spying concerns a year before drone scandal Staff raised objections to spying with an Ottawa lawyer, who noted their concerns as part of a workplace probe into the women’s national team

www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

These Toronto restaurants cracked OpenTable's top 100 list for Canada Toronto has the highest number of top-rated restaurants in the country, according to a new ranking put out by OpenTable.

A ton of Toronto restaurants in the top 100. BC has 15 and AB has 16.
And Beaver Valley's Flesherton ON, population <600, cracks the list!

www.cp24.com/local/toront...

"It is a better game."
The Economist comes down on the side of the CFL compared to NFL.

www.economist.com/culture/2024...

Opinion | Ron DeSantis Knows That the Best Place to Humiliate People Is in the Bathroom (Published 2023) Restrooms have long been porcelain crucibles for our fears and anxieties, which is why the right knows they are good sites for humiliating trans people.

I have written about my own experiences of having my gender (cis but non-conforming) policed in bathrooms. The only goal here is humiliation of someone who is different. www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/o...

Tweet from the first openly transgender member of congress.

I am finding it quite unbearable to watch Sarah McBride bear the grotesque attack of her colleagues with so much grace. I know it is what we have been taught to expect of trailblazers, but I am increasingly struggling to accept this.

Sandra M. Gilbert, Co-Author of ‘The Madwoman in the Attic,’ Dies at 87 A poet, scholar and literary critic, she turned a feminist lens on 19th-century writers like Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë, creating a feminist classic.

Sandra M. Gilbert dies at 87.
Don't know if it is as ubiquitous now, but Gilbert & Gubar's 'Madwoman' was a massive lit crit text even in the 90s when I was at uni.

www.nytimes.com/2024/11/18/b...

"Durham says it has averted worst-case scenarios by containing the breach, but questions remain about the nature of the incident and, more broadly, how prepared Canadian water utilities are for the sudden barrage of cyberattacks now striking the industry worldwide."

Security of Canadian water treatment plants called into question as cyberattack threats mount Questions remain about Durham Region incident and how prepared Canadian water utilities are for the sudden barrage of cyberattacks now striking the industry worldwide

Security of Canadian water treatment plants called into question as cyberattack threats mount

www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Trump’s Putting Together a Team of Outlaws It’s a cabinet in his image: narcissistic, corrupt, and dangerous to America.

Trump is running a transition that’s a master class in how to normalize corruption, immorality, and narcissism. Forget a team of rivals. He wants a team of outlaws just like him. My new piece at @thebulwark.bsky.social www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-cabi...

you can keep your raw milk I've got my

B.C. teen diagnosed with bird flu in critical condition, with source of virus likely to remain unknown The Fraser Valley teen does not have any connection to poultry farms, where a highly pathogenic version of avian flu has decimated flocks at 24 sites in B.C.

B.C. teen diagnosed with bird flu in critical condition, with source of virus likely to remain unknown: The Fraser Valley teen does not have any connection to poultry farms, where a highly pathogenic version of avian flu has decimated flocks at 24 sites in B.C.