Because Danielle Smith’s Alberta continues to descend into this somewhat farcical MAGA karaoke, the alleged list of books that the Edmonton Public School Board is proposing to ban from its libraries per the government’s new policy got leaked yesterday, and you can bet that so many of the usual suspects were on it, including The Handmaid’s Tale, books by Margaret Lawrence, George Orwell, and plenty of queer titles as well, including Flamer, Fun Home, Gender Queer and Two Boys Kissing, because of course they are. (Funnily enough, Ayn Rand’s two most famous works are also on this list). These were all targeted supposedly for “explicit sexual content,” which is ridiculous in pretty much every single case (including those couple of panels from Gender Queer that has every single social conservative apoplectic).

Well, the list of books being banned from EPSB is appalling. And it's very likely that an author on this list will get their other works pulled too, especially in the absence of teacher librarians.There are books on this list that changed my life. This is what the UCP is taking away from kids.

— Bridget Stirling (@bridgetstirling.bsky.social) 2025-08-28T17:23:59.383Z

More of the list. It's truly shocking to realize just what this will mean.

— Bridget Stirling (@bridgetstirling.bsky.social) 2025-08-28T17:23:59.384Z

But based on the cheers I've heard Danielle Smith's school library content crackdown get at AlbertaNext Panels and UCP function, her political base absolutely adores this.

— Jason Markusoff (@markusoff.bsky.social) 2025-08-28T21:42:02.703Z

Of course, once the list was leaked, the minister had to start engaging in damage control, and wants “clarification” on the list, but come on. You set up a moral panic, predicated mostly on queer books, and once you started pulling that thread, whoops, the results were quickly exposed for what they really are, because Smith and company didn’t want to be upfront about the homophobia/transphobia that they were clearly pandering to. So now they’re going to take control over the book ban lists directly, which they insisted they didn’t want to do, and you can bet that the books that stay banned will pretty much entirely be queer or trans materials. Just you wait.

Meanwhile, falling oil prices have turned Alberta’s planned surplus into a big deficit, because they refuse to get off the royalty roller-coaster. Every time they insist that they’re going to, they just double down on resource revenues because they absolutely do not want to implement a sales tax, and the province’s books are constantly in an absolute mess as a result. Of course, Albertans also expect high levels of public services for their low taxes, which is a choice that provincial governments have been making for close to five decades now, and lo, here we are again. Maybe they’ll learn this time? (Haha, no, they won’t).

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2025-08-28T21:27:01.802Z

Programming Note: I am taking the full long weekend off, so I’ll return Wednesday morning.

Ukraine Dispatch

The Russians sent 598 drones and 31 missiles into Ukraine early morning on Thursday, most of them aimed at Kyiv, which resulted in at least 21 dead and 48 wounded, with British and European Union diplomatic buildings targeted alongside more residential buildings. (Photos here, some recounting of the scenes here).

Good reads:

• Anita Anand has named senior diplomat Chris Cooter to be the new High Commissioner to India, in spite of not getting any guarantees from them.
• Here is a look at how the Operation UNIFIER training of Ukrainian troops has been evolving over the years, and is now moving into more professional levels.
• The Future of Sport in Canada Commission released their preliminary report yesterday, which outlines that our sport systems are in crisis.
• Members of the legal community are concerned that there has been no public condemnation of the US imposing sanctions on ICC judges, including one Canadian.
• Next week’s AFN general meeting could set the tone for future dealings with the federal government over major projects.
• The Net Zero Banking Alliance, which Carney helped found, is suspending activities and could completely wrap up operations if the members vote to do so.
• Germany says that they can deliver submarines to Canada on the tight timeline envisioned by the procurement process; South Korea says they can as well.
• The Canadian Press does a lengthy fact-check to confirm that yes, Canada is the largest donor G7 donor to Ukraine on a per capita basis.
• Poilievre says he’ll make Canada’s case to American politicians “at the appropriate time” (which sounds a bit like he has no interest in actually doing so).
• Quebec is planning to table wholly unconstitutional legislation banning public prayer in the province (which will inevitably invoke the Notwithstanding Clause).
• Wab Kinew has high hopes that the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link to Nunavut will be one of the successful projects for the Build Canada list.
• Things are not okay at the BC Coroners Service, as illustrated by two bodies not found by police at a crime scene as coroners were not required to attend in person.
• Cory Doctorow talks about enshittification, and what Canada can do to combat it domestically, and take a leadership position globally.

Odds and ends:

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