The Routing Alberta Labour edition

The Press Gallery: Inside Alberta politics

It's been a trying week for Alberta's public sector unions. The United Conservative Party government wants to make changes to their pension plans, amend the law to allow replacement workers, and cut 7.7 per cent of the public service by 2023.

Then on Tuesday, Finance Minister Travis said public sector employers like Alberta Health Services and the government would be seeking wage cuts of two-to-five per cent when heading into arbitration hearings.

Join reporter Lisa Johnson, managing editor Dave Breakenridge, legislature columnist Keith Gerein and host Janet French as they dive into the tension between unions and government, two omnibus bills that were tabled on Monday containing a laundry list of proposed tweaks and the government's new plan for Alberta's carbon tax on heavy industrial emitters.

Good stuff from the gallery

Season 5 of sitcom Schitt's Creek was recently released on Netflix, and Lisa has been watching it "with the vigour of a wartime radio operator" — to use a turn-of-phrase from the show's Moira Rose, played by the inimitable Catherine O'Hara. Good clean CanCon fun.

Dave recommends Season 3 of Slate’s Slow Burn podcast, which focuses on the murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.

Janet recommends a masterful work of literary journalism from the 1990s she recently finished reading: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, by John Berendt. It explores the zany characters of Savannah, Georgia, and high-profile murder of an unsavoury chap.

Keith is recommending an unusual whodunnit that also serves as a cautionary tale for anyone who books short-term accommodation rentals online. The Vice story tracks one woman’s investigation to discover how she was scammed on a trip to Chicago.

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