This week in AB: August 12, 2026

Danielle Smith walks back commitments on data centres, reimbursements for self-referred diagnostic imaging, and Canadian values. Plus: Pavlovian responses; 'Berta style.

Texas says “whoa” as Yankee Doodle Dani yells “come and get it!”

Texas governor Greg Abbott has issued a moratorium on data centres until the state can get some answers on why those centres are requesting five times more electricity than the entire state has used at its peak. According to USA Today, this came after a June letter requesting an audit of how much water and electricity the data centres were using. Additionally, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) says they’re fielding requests for more than 474 gigawatts of electricity— that’s the “five times” number above— with 90 per cent of that request coming from data centres.

The governor has also been urged to call a special meeting over water usage to protect agriculture.

For months now, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and her UCP caucus have been pooh-poohing residential concerns over data centres slated for rural areas around the province over water usage and electrical grid concerns. But what are they really gonna do? Vote NDP? lol

Shockingly, from a party that raged against the green energy machines and focused “deeply” on the environmental impact and clean up costs of those projects, the UCP’s new data centre Q and A page (no word yet on which of Danielle Smith’s former campaign staffers raked in three year’s salary from Albertans for this one) doesn’t mention that at all. Apparently, like oil and gas, it’s nothing but winning!

The whole world is lining up to buy what data centres will provide, the website tells us, and there are “rules” that will protect our power bill, our water, our community, and our wallet.

I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Danielle “I will fix healthcare in 90 days and also we should totally double the population of Alberta” Smith, but planning beyond the soundbite isn’t exactly a strength the Premier has demonstrated even a passing familiarity with; let alone may actually possess.

And if you tried to keep with how many times she changed the “rules” to help the separatists…

I’m just saying that some people instill trust and those people are not Danielle Smith.

According to McKinsey and Company, “(a)s of the end of 2025, almost nine out of ten companies had deployed AI in at least one business function… but 94 percent of respondents report not seeing ‘significant’ value from those investments.” However, they also add that real innovation will likely come from using the new tool in a way that hasn’t been invented it, but is expected to materialize now that the tool exists.

There’s always a risk in being first in line to buy into new technology but we’re not first. We’d be early, and maybe that will pay off, but I’d definitely prefer to hear from someone who isn’t willing to just make stuff up when they don’t know (or would rather not tell us) the answers. I also think Albertans should demand a full accounting of the environmental liabilities and how this government plans to collect and actually save towards those costs— for real— this time.

How to know whether you’re a friend of the UCP

1. Does Health Minister Adriana LaGrange intervene on your behalf to make sure you get paid at least double the AHS cap?

lol, no. Apparently, you can only get paid what things actually cost if the Health Minister goes to bat for you. Which they, with backing from the Premier’s office, will do to get double the “standard” rate a chartered surgical facility linked to the same person who allegedly scammed Albertans out of $30 million, but that will not be happening if you self-refer for diagnostic testing, even if they discover you have cancer or don’t want to wait a year or three. Albertans will be responsible for the amount a private clinic charges over and above the “standard” rate.

It’s a scary thought: being added to a waitlist for a scan your doctor has ordered. Public facilities won’t be incentivized to increase wait times for patients but private facilities likely would be. It’s called a “profit motive”. After all, if you want your doctor to have faster access to a scan that may save your life, you just might be willing to pay for it.

The risk isn’t borne by the clinic and the reward is more profit. Win/win!

And sure, Danielle Smith said the costs would be reimbursed if the tests proved you had cancer but what you need to ask yourself is this; are you really a friend of the UCP? Because if you were, they’d probably be making sure you could profit off your illness, too.

Dyck v Coward; it’s not a punchline, it’s a UCP nomination race

The separatists don’t need their own political party because they already have one: it’s called the United Conservative Party.

Nominations are being contested by separatists and conspiracy theorists in rural Alberta ridings because it’s not like it’s a serious job or anything— just look at the jackasses who are already there. What’s a few more conspiracy theorists and separatists making decisions that affect people’s lives?

What is rural Alberta gonna do? Vote for someone without a blue sign? lol

As always, Dave Cournoyer has the nomination details:

Separatists duking it out for UCP candidate nominations in Grande Prairie and Sherwood Park

Someone forgot to feed the anger machine last month

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist who was studying salivation in dogs in the late 1800’s. After noticing that his dogs would salivate upon hearing the footsteps of the approaching lab assistant who regularly brought them food. In order to test whether the dogs were just reacting to the lab assistant, he introduced a sound— a bell— after which, the dogs would be fed intravenously. As it turned out, they learned to salivate at the sound of a bell, just as they had inadvertently done to the approaching footsteps of the person who fed them. It was an accidental, but obviously important discovery in behavioural conditioning.

Behavioural conditioning can be used for good— think of rewarding children with an extra story at bedtime or a movie for completing their chores— and it can also be used to manipulate the ever-loving heck out of people.

I talk about Alberta politics; where do you think I’m going with this?

My background isn’t in psychology but when I was first bitten by the politics bug, I very much wished it was. From the four or five courses I did take, I was rather impressed to see so many of the manipulative techniques I’d learned about applied so regularly. It’s also the reason I try to avoid blaming Conservatives as a whole for the people who represent them; it’s like blaming the victim.

The other part I can hardly attest to with 100 per cent confidence is whether the manipulator actually knows how they’re manipulating people, if they’ve just learned how to get the reaction they want, or that they’ve internalized being manipulated so well that they actually believe what they’re saying.

They all have their payoffs. For politicians, it’s maintaining a stable base of voters. For political parties, it’s keeping the coffers full. For, say, opinion columnists, it’s keeping those eyeballs and clicks up.

In Alberta, our Pavlovian response is typically brought about by trigger words. “Trudeau” is an all-timer, for sure, but on a slow news day, “equalization” brings all the usual suspects to the yard (and some well-deserved snark).

It’ll be interesting to see if it helps sway some votes to support Danielle Smith’s separatist question. Keeping Albertans angry at the rest of Canada and angry at the federal government is kind of how Conservative leaders and their water boys herd the sheep here.

With all the focus on Canada strong lately, and a stagnant separatist movement, it makes sense that the U.S.-owned propaganda outlet would be trying to drive a wedge into it. With the Premier’s help, of course.

Danielle Smith has been shaking hands with Prime Minister Mark Carney on pipelines and housing while also trying to remind Albertans that they have a deep-seated grudge against the rest of the country; especially as we’re nearing the start of the campaign for her anti-Canadian values referendum.

Alberta’s Voice

I fully expect we will be seeing both of Danielle Smith’s faces on both sides of the issue as that gets going in the fall.

Final thoughts

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