Many disturbing things in here but this jumped out in particular:
"At Patel’s direction, FBI employees are polygraphed in an effort to identify leakers ... asked ... about Patel’s perceived 'enemies,' as well as whether they have ever said anything disparaging about the director or the president."
Over on Twitter, Greg Clark, former leader of the Alberta Party and Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission committee member shared his thoughts on the UCP's failure to act on the recommendations of the Commission.
He was one of the most reasonable politicians I've ever worked with. Worth a look.
Screenshot of broken DMs as Bluesky continues to experience technical difficulties.
Er... actually, if your DMs look like this, too, at the moment, you can always just shoot me a message through my website instead: robsonfletcher.com
I'm planning to do a survey — of Calgary residents, specifically — in late April with my partners at Probe Research.
We have room to add a few more questions.
If there's a topic you'd like to test Calgarians' opinions on, shoot me a DM and I can share more details. 📊 🤓
😅
** Taps mic 🎤👈 **
Is this Bluesky thing back on yet?
Am I coming through?
The UCP govt is rejecting the electoral map proposed 3 weeks ago.
A govt motion that could come as soon as this morning outlines the new process which will be overseen by a UCP-led committee, will not allow for public input, and grow the number of MLAs from 87 to 91
#ableg #abpoli
Honestly shook by this.
It came across my YouTube feed. 1.3M views. I listened and was impressed. Great 90s hip-hop mix, I thought. But... who are the artists? Where's the tracklist?
The comments are filled with similar feelings & questions.
As far as I can tell, it's AI? All two hours of it. 🤨
Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas came out with some pretty strong words against Alberta separation — and in favour of immigration as a strength for the city — in his remarks at a Calgary Economic Development event yesterday:
They also still burn a lot of coal
The oil-price spike came too late to trigger Alberta's fuel-tax relief Price per barrel (in USD) of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil, by trading day, in 2026 The average over this period is what matters for any potential fuel-tax reductions on April 1. It needs to be at least $80 for partial relief. It came out to $75.23 Under the Government of Alberta's Fuel Tax Relief Program, provincial taxes on gasoline and diesel are adjusted quarterly (Jan. 1, April 1, July 1, Oct. 1) based on the average price West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil. The average is based on the 20 trading days of WTI price data leading up to the 16th of the month preceding the start of the next quarter. Source: U.S. EIA Cushing, OK WTI Spot Price FOBCreated with Datawrapper Chart by Robson Fletcher, Data & Storytelling Strategist
Alberta adjusts its fuel tax based on oil prices as so:
Below $80: 13¢/litre
$80-$84.99: 9¢/litre
$85-$89.99: 4.5¢/litre
$90 & above: 0¢/litre
But the latest oil spike came *just* too late to trigger relief on April 1, given the specific date range over which the average is calculated:
Eesh, yeah. Coal, man.
Alberta's phaseout of coal (nearly 2 years ago, now!) has cut its emissions drastically.
But still relatively high compared to the rest of Canada as it's been mostly replaced by natural gas. (Which of course is a direct source of most home heating here, too, not electricity)
Great data viz by Grant Chalmers with the University of Queensland.
It shows how much greenhouse gas intensity from electricity generation varies by time of day in different places around the world due to changes in demand, output from renewables, etc.
I've highlighted Alberta for reference:
Some more fun facts about super snowy days in Calgary:
They happen almost year round!
Every month except July & August is represented in the Top 100 snowiest days on record.
A big part of the re-districting was to deal with even larger imbalances that had developed as Cgy & Edm's populations grew. So this moves in that direction. But does it go far enough? And are the population estimates they used already a bit out of date, too?
It's a difficult task, to be sure!
Yet another instance of how it would have been nice if Calgary hadn't killed its annual civic census
Yes the majority report. Which involves adding seats in Calgary & Edmonton and removing elsewhere, to get to 89 seats total.
So I don't have exact figures, but this should be evening out even larger population imbalances that existed in the previous 87-seat setup.
I don't think I have ready access to the population data for old ridings to say precisely (the report highlights issues with the population estimates used for these new ridings, as it stands) but I gotta think improving, given they added seats in Calgary and Edmonton & removed from central AB.
Location Population Ridings Average population per riding Variance from provincial average population Calgary 1578616 28 56379 2.6% Edmonton 1218856 21 58041 5.7% Rest of Alberta 2091251 40 52281 -4.8% Total 4888723 89 54929 0.0%
Alberta's new electoral boundary recommendations would see the two biggest cities have less representation in the legislature, per person, compared to the provincial average:
Edmonton: 5.7% more people per MLA
Calgary: 2.6% more people per MLA
Rest of Alberta: 4.8% fewer people per MLA
Table showing top 10 snowiest March days on record in Calgary. March 13, 1889 holds the record with 24.1 cms.
Approximately 9.6 inches of snow in my yard, or 24.4 cms.
Based on Environment Canada records dating back to the late 1800s, Wednesday was the 7th-snowiest March day on record in Calgary.
However, if the amount of snow that fell in my yard fell at the airport (where the main monitoring station is), it would have been the snowiest.
Traffic camera image of snow covered roads in NW Calgary
Traffic camera image of bare pavement and brown grass boulevards in SE Calgary
North Calgary and south Calgary look like two different planets right now
For those who missed my free Lunch & Learn session last week and asked if it was recorded ... it was!
The video is now posted on my website:
Battery storage has proven itself invaluable during California's record-breaking spring heatwave.
During peak demand, grid batteries delivered ~11 GW – a third of demand.
They kept power price spikes lower and short-lived.
Chart for March 19
Yes, this is the challenge! Overcoming biases is quite hard.
But being aware of your emotional reactions can help you understand your biases. And noticing experiences that conflict with data can alert you to potential issues.
Then comes the work. Each is just a starting point for critical thinking
🚨 Alberta industrial carbon-pricing discussion alert! 🚨
It warmed the cockles of my nerdy heart to hear @sphillipsab.bsky.social devote her first 'Shansplaining' segment on The Balance of Power podcast to this under-understood topic. 😀🤓
🔊: youtu.be/1-Mb5B4Qdqw?...
(Explicit language warning 😅)
Ah, good to know!
Hey, yeah, for sure, DM away! 🙂
"The premier’s office had never discussed the flight publicly before but Smith confirmed it at a legislature committee meeting Tuesday in response to budget questions put to her by Opposition NDP leader Naheed Nenshi."
Column chart showing Alberta with a net gain of 3684 residents in Q4 2024 due to interprovincial migration. BC had the next largest gain with +1227, then Nova Scotia with +826. All other provinces and territories saw net losses.
Alberta remains the most popular destination for people moving within Canada.
New data out today from StatsCan:
Thank you to the 30 folks who just spent an hour at my Lunch & Learn session on 'How To Think Critically About Data'.
Given the turnout, I'll definitely do more in the future.
I have some topics in mind but if there's anything in particular you'd be interested in hearing about, please let me know!
