Laurie Adkin
@LaurieAdkin
Followers
4,780
Following
3,929
Media
529
Statuses
59,993
Political ecologist, Professor Emerita
Edmonton, Alberta
Joined May 2011
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
FEMA
• 456407 Tweets
Mutombo
• 207618 Tweets
Mets
• 159202 Tweets
Verizon
• 115449 Tweets
Braves
• 92955 Tweets
Kemp
• 81758 Tweets
Pete Rose
• 71106 Tweets
#grandefratello
• 44943 Tweets
Lindor
• 31846 Tweets
Hall of Fame
• 28486 Tweets
Titans
• 27131 Tweets
#الاجتياح_البري
• 27061 Tweets
Dolphins
• 23657 Tweets
Seahawks
• 17093 Tweets
あと3ヶ月
• 16919 Tweets
コーヒーの日
• 15221 Tweets
Happy New Month
• 14681 Tweets
WELCOME HOME BAMBAM
• 14223 Tweets
都民の日
• 12712 Tweets
Hit King
• 12653 Tweets
#SnowManライブグッズ
• 12032 Tweets
愛知1区
• 11240 Tweets
残り3ヶ月
• 11069 Tweets
河村たかし名古屋市長
• 10466 Tweets
A keffiyeh is more than a scarf--it's tradition, it's culture, and it's a symbol of resistance in the fight against Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and its genocide of Palestinians. Why are MLAs, MPPs, and MPs not permitted to wear it in legislatures?
A Vyshyvanka is more than a shirt — it’s tradition, it’s culture, and it’s a symbol of resistance in the fight against Russia’s illegal invasion.
Here in Canada, we wear it proudly. Slava Ukraini.
3K
1K
9K
185
1K
4K
551
456
2K
HWY 1 near Tank Hill: no train or truck transportation into southern BC? No container shipments from Vancouver to the western provinces? No Trans Mountain Pipeline exports to China? Mother Earth seems to be telling us something about the kind of economy we've created.
#cdnpoli
46
477
2K
Canmore town council unanimously voted for this motion today: "that Council direct the Mayor to write the Premier, with a copy to the MLA, requesting that the [AB Govt] reinstate the 1976 Coal Development Policy which was recently rescinded without adequate public consultation."
15
313
1K
Could you feel thousands of Canadians exhale when they read this line?
"[I]t’s almost impossible to have a rational conversation with someone who just makes things up."
Thank-you,
@NiagaraNowMedia
.
103
420
1K
Downtown Edmonton July 22, 2024
Meanwhile, people are evacuating from their homes in the north.
This was the Conservatives' climate plan, and this is only the beginning.
#abpoli
1K
297
913
My faculty at the
@UAlberta
will lose one-third of its non-academic staff in 2020-21 alone because of
#UCP
cuts to our budget. Make no mistake, this is not a fiscal necessity; it is a political vendetta.
#StopPSEcuts
@NoUofA42morrow
@KateChisholm15
@CAUT
@660NEWS
@ryanjespersen
9
263
685
Waiting for Alberta's premier to call for an inquiry into the arsonists in the NWT, BC, Québec, Hawaii, Greece, Italy, Siberia, Portugal, and let's not forget Australia and California . . .
#cdnpoli
67
180
679
To say that the UCP govt has "reversed its plans to expand coal mining in the Rocky Mountains" is highly inaccurate. The 11 cancelled leases =1,854 hectares, or 0.13% of the area leased by the UCP since the Coal Policy was rescinded. 1/n
20
375
653
One thing we all know about
@RachelNotley
: She would never have taken a holiday when Fort McMurray was in flames, or her province was facing a pandemic. And if she had been away, she would have come back. 1/
#abpoli
10
107
631
Why should Albertans care about what the UCP govt is doing to post-secondary education institutions, including the
@UAlberta
?
#Alberta
#abpoli
#abspe
#StopPSEcuts
#UAlberta
@ryanjespersen
@660NEWS
@edmontonjournal
@GlobalEdmonton
@CAUS
@cafaab
@The_Gateway
#Yeg
@davideggenAB
22
477
625
No one is asking why it is so hard for the executives of universities to do what students, staff, and faculty are demanding: transparently disclose the institutions' investments in companies with ties to Israel; commit to divesting from genocide; respect civil rights. 1/
31
111
609
Why won't the UCP use oil royalty revenue to reinvest in health and education? Because the cuts were never about budget deficits; their purpose was to restructure these sectors--to diminish their functions as universal public goods. 1/
#abpse
@PIAlberta
@Albertadoctors
8
220
592
To the folks accusing Trudeau of trying to shut down Alberta's oil sands industry, what do you think would happen if, tomorrow, the provincial and federal govts ceased all subsidies to these corps & required them to pay the environmental costs of their operations? 1/
#abpoli
34
136
519
Kenney is spouting utter nonsense. How can the commissioner's investigations not be "interrupted" when he has just been fired?? You knew exactly what you were doing,
@jkenney
. Don't play us for fools.
19
198
501
@ryanjespersen
asked me today why workers in the post-secondary sector don’t get much sympathy from some Albertans when Conservative governments gut PSE funding.
#abpse
#abpoli
@UAGradStudents
@The_Gateway
@cafaab
@TheAASUA
39
201
474
The
@ryanjespersen
show asked me to comment on Jason Kenney’s hiring of Paul Bunner, Stephen Harper’s former speech writer, in light of Bunner’s belief that the residential schools were not an instrument of cultural genocide. 1/n
#abpoli
#cdnpoli
@abndpcaucus
@APTN
12
243
433
Smoke in Edmonton today, at 30 C in this northern city. Premier Smith, if you are looking for an arsonist, check the mirror.
#abpoli
#ableg
@CJEdmonton
84
86
420
The courses in humanities and social sciences that conservatives are trying to suppress--everywhere from Alberta to Hungary and beyond--are precisely the courses that deepen the understanding, compassion, and solidarities we need to minimize oppression and violence. 1/
#cdnpoli
11
147
399
Jason Nixon's reassurances are not credible. Look at the evidence, Albertans, and not at the pretty words. First, Alberta does not have a "robust" environmental regulatory system. Is there one environmental lawyer in Canada who would agree with this? 1/n
#abpoli
12
157
389
And Turner Valley council just voted unanimously in favour of a motion to send a letter to the UCP govt. demanding that the Coal Policy be reinstated and an immediate halt to mining activities on the eastern slopes!
#abpoli
#StoptheBengaMine
#WaterNotCoal
6
119
394
Whatever happened to the
@RCMPAlberta
investigation of violations of the elections act by Jason Kenney's team during his candidacy for leadership of the UCP? I mean, it's been 5 years!
@edmontonjournal
@CBCNews
@TheTyee
@880Edmonton
@ctvedmonton
@charlesrusnell
16
126
370
It could not be clearer that Sonya Savage, Danielle Smith & the rest of the UCP cabinet represent only the interests of oil & gas cos. and not the interests of Albertans. Why else would they be rejecting federal support for oil & gas workers and econ. diversification?
#abpoli
108
94
369
2/ UAlberta wasn’t created overnight; it was built into a top 5 Canadian university by decades of public investment. It is the people’s university, and the people have every right to the best educational opportunities available.
4
67
314
Kenney's taking 1/3 of the cabinet and 1/3 of the deputy ministers to Ottawa. Have they never heard of skype?
#GHGemissions
#expenses
#MeanwhileBudgetCuts
#abpoli
23
68
293
"Globally, the cost of renewable-produced electricity is now significantly below not only nuclear power but also gas. According to [Bloomberg], wind and solar power are now the cheapest form of new electricity in most countries, including Canada."
35
162
289
Nearly 40 members of the Faculty of Science at
@UAlberta
have called on UCP MLAs to support the private members' bill that would ban coal strip mining on Alberta's eastern slopes. Read the letter here: 1/n
4
120
291
Rex Murphy was a paid propagandist for the fossil fuel industry and the far right. Let's not confuse what he did with journalism or the role of a public intellectual--despite the efforts of
@postmedia
et al. to paint him as a Canadian icon.
135
64
283
So, when he hires a speechwriter who believes that the residential school history is a hoax, and that Canada's history is one of 'peace and pluralism' we must question the Premier's commitment to reconciliation and decolonization. 4/n
3
53
261
There is a NEW parliamentary petition calling upon the Govt of Canada "to impose an immediate ban in the Rocky Mountains on new strip mines opening or closed mines reopening and all existing mine expansion." 1/n
#abpoli
#skpoli
#cdnpoli
#Alberta
#WaterNotCoal
@HMcPhersonMP
16
118
253
3/ I’m not going to sugar-coat it:
@UAlberta
is being dismantled. A whole lot of parts are being taken out and tossed away.
3
87
250
5/ You don’t take away 41% of any institution’s funding and expect it to be able to do all the things it did before. Imagine that your income is reduced, over four years, by 40%. You would likely have to sell your house and forget about sending your kids to university.
3
54
245
Premier Smith tells UCP constituents in Calgary that her govt will double Alberta's oil & gas production--a day after she was 'heart-broken' for the burning of Jasper National Park. Either those were crocodile tears or she understands nothing about global warming.
#ableg
#cdnpoli
The town hall pivots to the carbon tax next. Komick asks why the UCP supports an “carbon is the enemy of life” narrative. Smith says they don’t, and that they’ll double oil and gas production in Alberta.
3
11
43
204
92
242
Universities are having to sell off buildings and land and "destroy" research capacity to cover budget cuts. IOW, they are being asset-stripped by the UCP, which holds higher education in contempt. Young Albertans are paying for this.
23
181
247
Why are they choosing to call militarized police onto their campuses and to impose sanctions on legitimate protest rather than listening to reasonable, democratic demands that align with respect for human rights? 2/
6
25
238
In Alberta, if we didn't have investigative journalists, we would be walking blind in the dark. The Ministries of Environment and Health protect the interests of private industry, not the interests of Albertans! Read Bob Weber's report! 1/n
#Alberta
5
122
233
If Jason Kenney had hired a holocaust denier as a speech writer, would we doubt the sincerity of Kenney's commitment to fighting anti-semitism? I think we would. 3/n
@CBCNews
@globeandmail
#cdnpoli
3
55
227
Many of us would like to hear journalists asking these questions of the executives. Challenge their gas-lighting about protecting university property or the "security" of the "university community." 3/
@CBCNews
@CTVNews
@globalnews
@CanadianPress
1
22
225
@jkenney
@albertateachers
@cpeck3
@SOSAlberta
@bridgetstirling
@davideggenAB
@djclimenhaga
@PIAlberta
@ParklandInst
So, when Premier says "choice," he means "privilege." When he says "independent," he means "private." And when he says "magic," he means a lifetime of drudgery working for the 1 percent.
#abpoli
#ableg
#parents4publicschools
3
75
225
Actually,
@JKenney
, what's 'peculiar' is the time warp you inhabit. The rest of us understand that we are facing a climate emergency.
@JyotiGondek
@DruhFarrell
@ClimateHubYYC
@350Canada
13
36
220
Hey Medicine Hat voters, you should know that your UCP candidate has lobbied the
#Alberta
govt, on behalf of private interests, to "develop a free enterprise approach to delivering public services such as health spending accounts and vouchers in child care." 1/
@MedicineHatNews
7
85
221
4/ When it is put back together, it will be a smaller, more specialized institution whose research has been further privatized, offers fewer opportunities for education, and is less affordable for students. It is highly unlikely that it will remain a “top five” university.
1
45
217
6/ The UCP’s defunding of PSE is causing loss of programs, faculty, and affordability. A brain-drain of highly skilled personnel and academics now adds to the exodus of medical doctors and other professionals.
3
48
213
Jason Nixon doesn't want to hear it (he blocks critics), but he is seriously misinformed about both climate & economic realities. What really threatens to destroy
#Alberta
's economy is not the federal climate plan, but the
@Alberta_UCP
.
#abpoli
1
48
209
I'm sure that others can add to this list. Does this look like a government that takes seriously reconciliation or decolonization? 9/9
4
40
206
In
@calgaryherald
Minister Toews claims that AIMCo has "provided an annual return of 9.9 per cent." But Barbara Shecter reports that AIMCo's RoR last yr was only 2.3% and its 5-yr avg net return was 7.2%--lower than the CPP. Is Toews misleading Albertans?
22
149
203
Well, the
@Alberta_UCP
contempt for (and fear of) science could not be clearer in the composition of its "drought advisory" committee. NO hydrologists or ecologists to advise on watershed protection or the effects of climate change on our region. 1/
#abpoli
@albertaNDP
5
83
216
But we don't have to speculate. Look at the laws and regulations that the UCP govt is bringing forward: (1) Bill 1, which clearly seeks to repress Indigenous resistance to extractive resource projects along with solidarity actions by settler allies; 5/n
3
46
204
My answer: Kenney has surrounded himself with “think-alikes.” He and Harper come from the same political school, which is essentially assimilationist. 2/n
2
46
203
Alberta govts have spent $1.8 billion CAD over a decade in support of CCS projects benefiting corporations. Imagine if they had invested that, instead, in our public health system or our post-secondary education system. Imagine what we could have achieved.
16
93
214
Smoke season is upon us again. If you were born before 2000 you might remember "summer." That was the Holocene. Thanks to the prioritization of fossil fuel profits over a habitable planet, we don't have that anymore.
333
68
212
By my count, the UCP has now introduced four bills whose constitutionality is in question. It seems their antipathy toward the Charter of Rights and Freedoms overrides their concerns about wasting taxpayers' money.
#abpoli
7
91
208
When will 1000s of Albertans sign a petition tabled in the House of Commons by a Green Party MP? When our mountains, watersheds, and wildlife are threatened.
#WaterNotCoal
Sign the petition against the Grassy Mountain coal project.
@660NEWS
#ycc
#Yeg
29
161
201
I could throw a lump of coal a lot further than I trust Jason Nixon, Sonya Savage, or Jason Kenney to protect the interests of Albertans.
#StopTheBengaMine
#MountainsNotMines
10
45
207
Are academics leaving because they refuse to work for less than “top five” salaries? Maybe a small number are chasing higher salaries. But for most, it’s about seeing the conditions for their research and teaching deteriorate continually under PC govts, and now dramatically.
4
28
204
7/ An institution that contributes 5% to the province’s GDP is eliminating more than 1,000 positions; all those people contributed to our communities and to Edmonton’s economy.
#yegcc
1
39
200
It is completely unacceptable for
@UAlberta
Board to demand a 3% pay cut +5-year wage freeze from the University's lowest-paid workers, while huge disparities between highest & lowest paid employees go unquestioned. Get a grip on thinking fairly.
#UAlberta
@UnionNASA
3
53
200
This, Albertans, is why the UCP govt is defunding post-secondary education. Who's going to analyze and critique legislation and public policies when the academics are silenced?
#Alberta
9
86
195
And that is worth fighting for. For every single person who wants to take that path and is willing to do the work. To say otherwise is elitist. 33/33
15
13
200
The Conservative Party "did not make anyone available" to explain the party's climate policy--on a national CBC radio program, during an election campaign. What does this tell you?
#cdnpoli
#ClimateEmergency
What On Earth with Laura Lynch- Sep. 12, 2021:
7
89
192
(2) the motion to create a voluntary rural police force that will likely deputize the white landowners who treat Indigenous persons as presumed trespassers and criminals (while relaxing gun regulations); 6/n
1
35
191
12/ Professors don’t spend 12 or more years in post-secondary education training to work for private industry. We trained to do research and to hand on our knowledge to the next generation. We chose to work in public universities.
1
30
191
The powers that be at
@UAlberta
have decided to demolish four 100-year old heritage buildings, ostensibly, to eliminate the expense of their upkeep. This is what happens when: 1/n
#UAlberta
#yegcc
@EdmontonJournal
@thestaredmonton
@ryanjespersen
12
123
188
They never say: “Everyone should have a secure income, good benefits, and a pension.” Nope. Instead, they say: “Look at those guys over there who have something you don’t. Let’s take it away from them.” 22/n
1
48
194
@CorbLund
I'll do my best to fight this again, but may I just say that we wouldn't be here if folks in the SW and other rural ridings had not re-elected UCP MLAs. What did they think was going to happen?
#WaterNotCoal
#abpoli
10
36
190
The CBC isn't perfect, but a public broadcaster is a pillar of democracy--especially in a time when knowledge, education, and journalistic standards are under assault everywhere by the far-right. 2/n
10
33
184
17
72
185
13/ Neoliberal govts like the UCP want to turn us into R&D branches for private industry; we want to produce knowledge guided by our own understanding of the public interest.
2
28
184
Women's employment rate has fallen back to its 1984 level in Alberta, thanks to Kenney's assault on the public sector and refusal to invest in human services. Women's jobs don't matter to these guys. 1/n
#abpoli
#ableg
@albertateachers
@UnitedNurses
@AUPE
@ABFedLabour
@LiseGot
6
82
180
(3) consideration of the plan to dump effluent from the tailings ponds into the Athabasca River and suspension of environmental monitoring of oil sands pollution, despite known harms to downstream Indigenous communities of toxins from the industry; 7/n
1
30
176
“Virtually every other water user in the basin, if they want additional water, they’ve got to pay for it by buying someone else’s water allocation,” Fitch said. Under the new arrangement, he said, coal companies could receive a water allocation “for free.”
12
147
180
9/ What do I mean by deteriorating conditions? The loss of colleagues who worked in technology, teaching, learning, librairies, and other research support services, or who handled data management, grant accounts, student advising, the maintenance of labs, and much else.
2
25
178
From historical research we know that Alberta has long had a thick vein of anti-intellectualism, going back to the American populists who immigrated here in the early 20th century, and that such sentiments have been promoted by right-wing politicians ever since. 9/n
10
38
177
11/ I mean the undervaluing of public interest-oriented research in comparison to research that attracts private, corporate funding. “Commercialization” of knowledge is not the primary role of a university-- regardless of what university presidents and politicians believe.
3
27
175
#UCP
cuts amount to 33% of
#UAlberta
budget, loss of 1,000+ jobs (7 % of our workforce), & will result in higher tuition fees, fewer programs. As a major employer in
#yeg
this is a big blow for Edmonton.
#abpoli
@CBCEdmonton
@doniveson
@RachelNotley
@ryanjespersen
@UASUualberta
7
78
173
(4) opening up the eastern slopes of the Rockies to coal mining without Indigenous consultation. 8/n
2
32
169
Public opposition growing: Petitions against Alberta coal mines top 100K signatures
#StoptheBengaMine
#WaterNotCoal
#SaveourMountains
#MountainsnotMines
#abpoli
1
90
170
A doctor said on CBC radio today that the central Alberta region needs to triple the number of doctors, nurses, anaesthesiologists, and hospital beds in order to meet the demand for health care. Triple. 1/
#abpoli
#ableg
@CBCEdmonton
@Albertadoctors
@UnitedNurses
@gilmcgowan
12
71
175
The key factor, I think, in explaining resentment of academics, is that Conservative politicians in Alberta have for decades mobilized electoral support by turning private sector workers against public sector workers. 19/n
3
41
172
Today a landscape ecologist hiked up into one of the areas where mining companies are already building roads and exposing coal, to see what was going on. At the end of a detailed description of what he witnessed, he wrote: 1/n
#abpoli
@Ablawg
@cpawssab
@CBCFletch
@ryanjespersen
2
103
171
Larry Whan, owner of Trout Wrangler Lodge, a fishing lodge on the Crowsnest river, pleaded today with the Kenney government to withdraw its support for the Grassy Mtn coal strip mine. 1/n
#abpoli
#Alberta
@JustinTrudeau
@RachelNotley
9
110
167
Calgary Board of Education is forced to lay off 1,900 teachers. Old's College is forced to lay off 100 AUPE employees. NAIT lays off another 64. UAlberta laying off hundreds. As far as the UCP govt is concerned, public employees are 2nd class citizens.
#abpoli
@abndpcaucus
8
83
168
When corporate-owned politicians say "you won't recognize this [province/country] when we're done," they mean it will take at least a generation to repair the damage to public goods and services. 1/
#abpoli
#cdnpoli
#StopPSECuts
#WaterIsLife
#PublicHealthCare
1
60
164
Alberta Pension Manager That Lost Billions Made Big Investments in Conservative Donors’ Companies: Report()
21
147
158
19/ And no, Albertans will certainly not benefit. The community colleges are losing programs and staff, too. We should all be very worried about the future educational opportunities for our children.
1
33
164
18/ -- with a large pinch of contempt for educated people and vindictiveness toward the public intellectuals who sometimes criticize neoliberal and socially conservative policies.
1
26
163
@BFlanaganUofA
Our students have impact DESPITE the appalling lack of leadership coming from the
@UAlberta
executive and Board of Governors. One thing your actions are teaching them: Don't expect govt-appointed administrators to act with integrity to defend academic freedom and civil rights.
2
19
162
The UCP doesn't believe in government. Unsurprisingly, it has neither the will nor the competence to govern. Civil society steps up in different ways. Kudos to our health professionals.
#abpoli
#Alberta
@jvipondmd
3
40
163
You don’t have to know the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict to understand that it is wrong to murder families in their homes, hospital patients, doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, teachers, humanitarian aid workers, journalists, children, and babies. 1/
3
37
163
6473 signatures now, but it's not enough. Too few Albertans know about the plans to strip mine the mtns. AB's conservative media, by their silence, are complicit with the UCP in pushing forward this destruction. Call them out; write letters and call in.
22
169
154