Alberta Advantage Podcast

Team Advantage
  • 4.5 (16)
  • News Commentary
  • Updated Monthly

Fresh from the birthplace of the CCF! Commentary and analysis on local and provincial politics from a left perspective.

  1. Anti-Imperial organizing in Calgary: An Interview with Wesam Cooley

    Jul 2

    Anti-Imperial organizing in Calgary: An Interview with Wesam Cooley

    Activist and organizer Wesam Cooley sits down with Team Advantage to discuss the pragmatics of organizing street actions in a city like Calgary. We discuss a bit of Wesam's personal history, the experience and theory he brings to his efforts, the challenges of coalition building in a radical movement, and how to deal with police repression. Wesam also tells us about the Calgary People's Assembly and the upcoming event on July 5. From Turtle Island to Palestine - Calgary People's Assembly

    1h 18m
  2. Prairie Unpopulism - How the west wasn't won (A Nenshi & Beck Story)

    May 20

    Prairie Unpopulism - How the west wasn't won (A Nenshi & Beck Story)

    Team Advantage joins forces with Team Unmaking Saskatchewan to dig into just what is wrong with our provincial wings of the New Democratic Party. The liberal outsider in Nenshi and the establishment backed pragmatist in Beck both seem allergic to doing politics. Are left populism and robust social democratic policy impossible here, or is there another path these parties could take. Resources: From Left to Right: Saskatchewan's Political and Economic Transformation by Dale Eisler Who is the NDP for? by Haseena Manek "My quality of life has been compromised": U of S study finds STC closure has had a devastating impact on Saskatchewan people by Sara Birrell Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization without Political Consequences by Anton Jäger Related Episodes: Vote No! Calgary's Olympic Bid, Which Is Class War The Fall of Saskatchewan: The Sask Party Under Brad Wall

    1h 51m
  3. In Solidarity With Trans Children

    Apr 16

    In Solidarity With Trans Children

    In Alberta as elsewhere reactionary backlash is targeting trans people, particularly trans children. Team Advantage examines the framing of this backlash and explores how it may be rooted in the cultural construction of childhood and education. We also review the history of trans identity, working towards a better framing and ways to stand in solidarity with trans children CONTENT WARNING - Discussions of childhood sexual abuse and suicide. Timestamp: 22:30- ~28:30. Also flagged in the audio so you can skip to avoid. Additional Resources Histories of the Transgender Child by Jules Gill-Peterson, How To Bring Your Kids Up Gay by  Eve Sedgewick Kinderkommunismus by KD Griffiths and JJ Gleeson Ethics in the Light of Childhood by John Wall Solidarity with Children - An Essay Against Adult Supremacy by Madeline Lane-McKinley Wrong Again: The political evolution of "parental rights" CCPA Our Schools / Our Selves - Summer / Fall 2025 The Queer Child, or Growing Sideways in the Twentieth Century by Kathryn Bond Stockton

    1h 9m
  4. Student Power with Dr. Roberta Lexier

    Mar 19

    Student Power with Dr. Roberta Lexier

    In 2024 university campuses across Canada saw encampments and other protest actions. In a new book and podcast series Dr. Roberta Lexier places these actions within the broader history of student activism in Canada since the 1960s. In this discussion we ask her how student activism differes between Québec and the rest of Canada, how radical praxis can be maintained in a rapidly turning over student population, how student activism intersects with off-campus politics and when and why the state responds with violent force. Follow Dr. Lexier at @robertalexier.bsky.social and check out her work here: Book - Student Power: Canadian Student Movements From the Sixties to Today  Podcast - Student Power: A Canadian Student Movement History Podcast

    1h 9m
  5. Champagne Neoliberalism OR Effervescent Austerity

    11/18/2025

    Champagne Neoliberalism OR Effervescent Austerity

    In the lead up to the federal budget, the government signalled that it would include sharp cuts, referencing the steep austerity of the 1995 federal budget. Team Advantage takes a look at what the budget actually contains, situates it in the current political moment and examines how it actually compares to 1995. We ask how the nation building rhetoric Carney campaigned on could actually have been implemented, and what can be done about a government at war with workers. Further Reading Varieties of Austerity - Heather Whiteside, Stephen McBride, and Bryan Evans 30th Anniversary of the 1995 Budget: Lessons to Improve Canada's Federal Finances Today Budget fédéral 2025: un Canada assujetti au secteur privé et à l'industrie militaire Related Episodes Killing the Welfare State: Liberals and the 1990s TORIES: Calgary Laundry Workers vs Ralph Klein

    52 min
  6. Alberta Teachers and the End of Collective Bargaining: Text Resist to 55255

    11/04/2025

    Alberta Teachers and the End of Collective Bargaining: Text Resist to 55255

    Alberta's teachers have been ordered back to work, and their right to strike, collectively bargain, or even present a legal challenge have been stripped away by Danielle Smith's UCP. How is organized labour in Alberta responding to this existential threat? Previous episodes on public education: "Balance" in Climate Change, Cursive Writing: Alberta's Curriculum Review When Public Isn't Public: Education in Alberta Previous episodes on trade unions and collective bargaining: Canada's Hot Union Summer: what comes next? Canadian vs U.S. Unions Watch the entirety of the AFL's October 29 response to Bill 2. Read Gil McGowan's feedback on Roberta Lexier's presentation about the need to organize towards a general strike: https://x.com/gilmcgowan/status/1681761153826033666 Further reading: Back to School - Notwithstanding the Charter Amnesty International Canada condemns Alberta government's use of Notwithstanding clause in Bill 2 From Consent to Coercion: The Continuing Assault on Labour No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age (book) Jane McAlevey: The Only Way to Win Is to Strike

    46 min
  7. Escape from the Planet of the Mines - Canada's Resource Imperialism

    10/10/2025

    Escape from the Planet of the Mines - Canada's Resource Imperialism

    Canada exists to put holes in the ground and extract surplus value for shareholders. In this episode, originally recorded in 2021, Team Advantage opens the Canadian trench-coat to find total corporate impunity. We discus how the Canadian state facilitates resource extraction within its borders and around the world at the expense of the common good, then imagine what mining might look like in a better society. Works Cited: Canada In The World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination – Tyler Shipley Imperial Canada Inc.: Legal Haven of Choice for the World's Mining Industries – Alain Deneault & William Sacher Planetary Mine: Territories of Extraction under Late Capitalism – Martín Arboleda Canadian Mining in Ecuador series - Brandi Morin

    58 min
  8. The Death and Life of Canadian Socialism - Live at the Progressive Publics Symposium

    08/14/2025

    The Death and Life of Canadian Socialism - Live at the Progressive Publics Symposium

    Every century or so the Canadian left gathers at the Royal Canadian Legion #1 in downtown Calgary to inagurate a new era of progress. In 1932 it was J.S. Woodworth and the gang in 1932 at the founding of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (which would become the NDP). On July 13, 2025 it was Team Advantage, Shama Rangwala, André Goulet, Roberta Lexier and Rob Rousseau. This live recording begins with a discussion of what the Progressive Publics symposium is all about before saying goodbye to the NDP with a brief history. Then the team discusses the possibilities of a socialist project to come. With live heckling from the audience! (Mostly Jeremy Appel.)

    1h 35m
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4.5
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About

Fresh from the birthplace of the CCF! Commentary and analysis on local and provincial politics from a left perspective.

Information

  • Creator
    Team Advantage
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    201
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    Alberta Advantage Podcast

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