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Today in Delaware County history, Dec. 29Referee David Coote will not appeal against termination of contract
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By the early 1900s, Argentina was in a golden age. It rose to become a top 10 nation in global wealth. The country had a top-notch railway system, rich agricultural yields, bountiful mineral wealth, and a high-growth economy. Its middle class grew by leaps and bounds. Laissez-faire capitalism had done wonders for the country. Following the Great Depression in 1929, everything changed. The state took over economic planning. Social and welfare programs were dramatically expanded. Industries were nationalized. Government spending soared. As wealth was redistributed, corruption spread like a plague. A long period of instability followed, extending up until today. There were 7 military coups in Argentina during the 20th century. Much of the time the economy was in shambles. Inflation spiraled out of control, often surpassing 100% annually. The past 8 decades have been a very difficult period for Argentinians. A Chainsaw Massacre (For Bureaucracy) Things have finally begun to look up for Argentina. In December of 2023, President Javier Milei took office and began a libertarian reform program. The shift is reflected in the country’s stock market, as shown by the chart below. It shows the price of ARGT, the largest Argentina ETF, since its launch in 2011. Source: Yahoo Finance As you can see, Argentine stocks were basically flat for an entire decade (priced in US dollars). But since Milei took over, shares have more than doubled as foreign investment flooded into the country. What has Milei done to change Argentina’s path so dramatically? In October, Daily Reckoning contributor Joel Bowman explained in The Greatest Political Experiment of Our Age : All of that was within the first 48 hours of his presidency. Milei has taken a metaphorical chainsaw to government spending. The country just emerged from recession, and its public sector has posted a financial surplus for the first time since 2008. Impressively, inflation is down from a recent high of 25% per month to 2.5% in the most recent data. Not All Sunshine Change of this magnitude is not easy. I have spoken with a few Argentine friends recently, and every one of them has a story about people they know getting fired from their government jobs. Argentina’s poverty rate increased by 11% to 53% earlier this year. Slashing government spending will increase productivity over the mid and long term, but in the short term, it does harm employment and GDP. Despite this, all the Argentinians I talked with expressed hopefulness going forward. They acknowledge the system had to change and seem willing to bear the consequences in exchange for a shot at long-term stability. As we await Donald Trump’s second term, it is worth studying Argentina. Milei and Trump have much in common. They both campaigned on eliminating government waste and revitalizing their respective economies. Milei has a ~13-month lead on us. So if Trump does follow through with his promise to slash federal spending, we can expect a somewhat similar path. Short-term pain is traded for long-term growth. I think that’s a price well worth paying. The question is: can the U.S. government oversee its own downsizing? We shall see. Merry Christmas Everyone!Federal appeals court upholds rapidly approaching TikTok ban
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Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president, has died at 100 ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has Bill Barrow, The Associated Press Dec 29, 2024 1:32 PM Dec 29, 2024 1:35 PM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message FILE - President Jimmy Carter is interviewed in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Jan. 24, 1977. (AP Photo, File) ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old. The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care , at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023 , spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said. “Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center simply said in posting about Carter's death on the social media platform X. Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s. “My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said. A president from Plains A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who had lost popularity pardoning Nixon. Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the post-presidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy. Yet Carter’s electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter acknowledged in his 2020 “White House Diary” that he could be “micromanaging” and “excessively autocratic,” complicating dealings with Congress and the federal bureaucracy. He also turned a cold shoulder to Washington’s news media and lobbyists, not fully appreciating their influence on his political fortunes. “It didn’t take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,” Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had “an inherent incompatibility” with Washington insiders. Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives — to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and “enhance human rights here and abroad” — even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term. And then, the world Ignominious defeat, though, allowed for renewal. The Carters founded The Carter Center in 1982 as a first-of-its-kind base of operations, asserting themselves as international peacemakers and champions of democracy, public health and human rights. “I was not interested in just building a museum or storing my White House records and memorabilia,” Carter wrote in a memoir published after his 90th birthday. “I wanted a place where we could work.” That work included easing nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, helping to avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiating cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, The Carter Center had declared at least 113 elections in Latin America, Asia and Africa to be free or fraudulent. Recently, the center began monitoring U.S. elections as well. Carter’s stubborn self-assuredness and even self-righteousness proved effective once he was unencumbered by the Washington order, sometimes to the point of frustrating his successors . He went “where others are not treading,” he said, to places like Ethiopia, Liberia and North Korea, where he secured the release of an American who had wandered across the border in 2010. “I can say what I like. I can meet whom I want. I can take on projects that please me and reject the ones that don’t,” Carter said. He announced an arms-reduction-for-aid deal with North Korea without clearing the details with Bill Clinton’s White House. He openly criticized President George W. Bush for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also criticized America’s approach to Israel with his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” And he repeatedly countered U.S. administrations by insisting North Korea should be included in international affairs, a position that most aligned Carter with Republican President Donald Trump. Among the center’s many public health initiatives, Carter vowed to eradicate the guinea worm parasite during his lifetime, and nearly achieved it: Cases dropped from millions in the 1980s to nearly a handful. With hardhats and hammers, the Carters also built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The Nobel committee’s 2002 Peace Prize cites his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” Carter should have won it alongside Sadat and Begin in 1978, the chairman added. Carter accepted the recognition saying there was more work to be done. “The world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place,” he said. “The greater ease of travel and communication has not been matched by equal understanding and mutual respect.” ‘An epic American life’ Carter’s globetrotting took him to remote villages where he met little “Jimmy Carters,” so named by admiring parents. But he spent most of his days in the same one-story Plains house — expanded and guarded by Secret Service agents — where they lived before he became governor. He regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined and the coronavirus pandemic raged. Those sessions drew visitors from around the world to the small sanctuary where Carter will receive his final send-off after a state funeral at Washington’s National Cathedral. The common assessment that he was a better ex-president than president rankled Carter and his allies. His prolific post-presidency gave him a brand above politics, particularly for Americans too young to witness him in office. But Carter also lived long enough to see biographers and historians reassess his White House years more generously. His record includes the deregulation of key industries, reduction of U.S. dependence on foreign oil, cautious management of the national debt and notable legislation on the environment, education and mental health. He focused on human rights in foreign policy, pressuring dictators to release thousands of political prisoners . He acknowledged America’s historical imperialism, pardoned Vietnam War draft evaders and relinquished control of the Panama Canal. He normalized relations with China. “I am not nominating Jimmy Carter for a place on Mount Rushmore,” Stuart Eizenstat, Carter’s domestic policy director, wrote in a 2018 book. “He was not a great president” but also not the “hapless and weak” caricature voters rejected in 1980, Eizenstat said. Rather, Carter was “good and productive” and “delivered results, many of which were realized only after he left office.” Madeleine Albright, a national security staffer for Carter and Clinton’s secretary of state, wrote in Eizenstat’s forward that Carter was “consequential and successful” and expressed hope that “perceptions will continue to evolve” about his presidency. “Our country was lucky to have him as our leader,” said Albright, who died in 2022. Jonathan Alter, who penned a comprehensive Carter biography published in 2020, said in an interview that Carter should be remembered for “an epic American life” spanning from a humble start in a home with no electricity or indoor plumbing through decades on the world stage across two centuries. “He will likely go down as one of the most misunderstood and underestimated figures in American history,” Alter told The Associated Press. A small-town start James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains and spent his early years in nearby Archery. His family was a minority in the mostly Black community, decades before the civil rights movement played out at the dawn of Carter’s political career. Carter, who campaigned as a moderate on race relations but governed more progressively, talked often of the influence of his Black caregivers and playmates but also noted his advantages: His land-owning father sat atop Archery’s tenant-farming system and owned a main street grocery. His mother, Lillian , would become a staple of his political campaigns. Seeking to broaden his world beyond Plains and its population of fewer than 1,000 — then and now — Carter won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1946. That same year he married Rosalynn Smith, another Plains native, a decision he considered more important than any he made as head of state. She shared his desire to see the world, sacrificing college to support his Navy career. Carter climbed in rank to lieutenant, but then his father was diagnosed with cancer, so the submarine officer set aside his ambitions of admiralty and moved the family back to Plains. His decision angered Rosalynn, even as she dived into the peanut business alongside her husband. Carter again failed to talk with his wife before his first run for office — he later called it “inconceivable” not to have consulted her on such major life decisions — but this time, she was on board. “My wife is much more political,” Carter told the AP in 2021. He won a state Senate seat in 1962 but wasn’t long for the General Assembly and its back-slapping, deal-cutting ways. He ran for governor in 1966 — losing to arch-segregationist Lester Maddox — and then immediately focused on the next campaign. Carter had spoken out against church segregation as a Baptist deacon and opposed racist “Dixiecrats” as a state senator. Yet as a local school board leader in the 1950s he had not pushed to end school segregation even after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, despite his private support for integration. And in 1970, Carter ran for governor again as the more conservative Democrat against Carl Sanders, a wealthy businessman Carter mocked as “Cufflinks Carl.” Sanders never forgave him for anonymous, race-baiting flyers, which Carter disavowed. Ultimately, Carter won his races by attracting both Black voters and culturally conservative whites. Once in office, he was more direct. “I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over,” he declared in his 1971 inaugural address, setting a new standard for Southern governors that landed him on the cover of Time magazine. 'Jimmy Who?' His statehouse initiatives included environmental protection, boosting rural education and overhauling antiquated executive branch structures. He proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the slain civil rights leader’s home state. And he decided, as he received presidential candidates in 1972, that they were no more talented than he was. In 1974, he ran Democrats’ national campaign arm. Then he declared his own candidacy for 1976. An Atlanta newspaper responded with the headline: “Jimmy Who?” The Carters and a “Peanut Brigade” of family members and Georgia supporters camped out in Iowa and New Hampshire, establishing both states as presidential proving grounds. His first Senate endorsement: a young first-termer from Delaware named Joe Biden. Yet it was Carter’s ability to navigate America’s complex racial and rural politics that cemented the nomination. He swept the Deep South that November, the last Democrat to do so, as many white Southerners shifted to Republicans in response to civil rights initiatives. A self-declared “born-again Christian,” Carter drew snickers by referring to Scripture in a Playboy magazine interview, saying he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” The remarks gave Ford a new foothold and television comedians pounced — including NBC’s new “Saturday Night Live” show. But voters weary of cynicism in politics found it endearing. Carter chose Minnesota Sen. Walter “Fritz” Mondale as his running mate on a “Grits and Fritz” ticket. In office, he elevated the vice presidency and the first lady’s office. Mondale’s governing partnership was a model for influential successors Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Biden. Rosalynn Carter was one of the most involved presidential spouses in history, welcomed into Cabinet meetings and huddles with lawmakers and top aides. The Carters presided with uncommon informality: He used his nickname “Jimmy” even when taking the oath of office, carried his own luggage and tried to silence the Marine Band’s “Hail to the Chief.” They bought their clothes off the rack. Carter wore a cardigan for a White House address, urging Americans to conserve energy by turning down their thermostats. Amy, the youngest of four children, attended District of Columbia public school. Washington’s social and media elite scorned their style. But the larger concern was that “he hated politics,” according to Eizenstat, leaving him nowhere to turn politically once economic turmoil and foreign policy challenges took their toll. Accomplishments, and ‘malaise’ Carter partially deregulated the airline, railroad and trucking industries and established the departments of Education and Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He designated millions of acres of Alaska as national parks or wildlife refuges. He appointed a then-record number of women and nonwhite people to federal posts. He never had a Supreme Court nomination, but he elevated civil rights attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the nation’s second highest court, positioning her for a promotion in 1993. He appointed Paul Volker, the Federal Reserve chairman whose policies would help the economy boom in the 1980s — after Carter left office. He built on Nixon’s opening with China, and though he tolerated autocrats in Asia, pushed Latin America from dictatorships to democracy. But he couldn’t immediately tame inflation or the related energy crisis. And then came Iran. After he admitted the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979 by followers of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Negotiations to free the hostages broke down repeatedly ahead of the failed rescue attempt. The same year, Carter signed SALT II, the new strategic arms treaty with Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, only to pull it back, impose trade sanctions and order a U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Hoping to instill optimism, he delivered what the media dubbed his “malaise” speech, although he didn’t use that word. He declared the nation was suffering “a crisis of confidence.” By then, many Americans had lost confidence in the president, not themselves. Carter campaigned sparingly for reelection because of the hostage crisis, instead sending Rosalynn as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy challenged him for the Democratic nomination. Carter famously said he’d “kick his ass,” but was hobbled by Kennedy as Reagan rallied a broad coalition with “make America great again” appeals and asking voters whether they were “better off than you were four years ago.” Reagan further capitalized on Carter’s lecturing tone, eviscerating him in their lone fall debate with the quip: “There you go again.” Carter lost all but six states and Republicans rolled to a new Senate majority. Carter successfully negotiated the hostages’ freedom after the election, but in one final, bitter turn of events, Tehran waited until hours after Carter left office to let them walk free. 'A wonderful life' At 56, Carter returned to Georgia with “no idea what I would do with the rest of my life.” Four decades after launching The Carter Center, he still talked of unfinished business. “I thought when we got into politics we would have resolved everything,” Carter told the AP in 2021. “But it’s turned out to be much more long-lasting and insidious than I had thought it was. I think in general, the world itself is much more divided than in previous years.” Still, he affirmed what he said when he underwent treatment for a cancer diagnosis in his 10th decade of life. “I’m perfectly at ease with whatever comes,” he said in 2015 . “I’ve had a wonderful life. I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.” ___ Former Associated Press journalist Alex Sanz contributed to this report. Bill Barrow, The Associated Press See a typo/mistake? Have a story/tip? 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Elon Musk plots $20tn world-first mega tunnel connecting UK and New York taking just 54 minutesWASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday publicly expressed support of Pete Hesgeth, his embattled pick to lead the Pentagon, following Hesgeth’s whirlwind week of meetings with lawmakers, negative press and speculation that Trump could soon replace him. In a post on the Trump-owned Truth Social social media site, Trump said that Hegseth was doing well. “His support is strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News would have you believe. He was a great student – Princeton/Harvard educated – with a Military state of mind. He will be a fantastic, high energy, Secretary of Defense, one who leads with charisma and skill. Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!” Trump said. Hegseth had spent the past week in the Capitol, working to shore up support among Republican senators whose votes he will need to be confirmed next year, and to do damage control to combat a steady drip of negative press — including allegations of excessive drinking, sexual impropriety and mismanagement of funds at two veterans organizations, of which he was the head. As the allegations mounted, media reports citing unnamed sources said Trump was considering replacing Hegseth. Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Pentagon official Elbridge Colby had all been floated as contenders for the top Defense Department job. In hallway interviews and a high-profile sit-down with Megyn Kelly, who like Hegseth is a former Fox News host, Hegseth said he was being “smeared” by the media. Republican senators have not openly opposed Hegseth — and many support him — but some have voiced concerns over the allegations. And Hegseth can afford to lose precious few votes given Republicans’ 53 Senate seats next year, assuming all Democrats oppose him. As scrutiny builds, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., wrote to Senate Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., and ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., urging them to ensure financial records from two nonprofit groups Hegseth used to lead are available for panel members to review. Blumenthal in his Wednesday letter made the case for demanding that the groups Vets for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America “preserve and produce” credit card records, tax filings, revenue reports and more from the time of Hegseth’s employment at both nonprofits. And Hegseth is expected to continue meeting with lawmakers next week, including key GOP moderates Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. Collins, currently the top Republican on the Defense Appropriations panel, told reporters Wednesday night that she has “a host of questions” for Hegseth, “ranging from his views on Ukraine and the size of our Navy to the allegations that have been lodged against him.” Ernst, a member of the Armed Services Committee with whom Hegseth met on Wednesday, pointedly declined to publicly endorse his selection, simply describing their meeting as a “frank and thorough conversation.” Speaking Thursday morning on Fox News, Ernst again did not signal support for Hegseth, and instead stressed the importance of the confirmation process. “I think for a number of our senators, they want to make sure that any allegations have been cleared, and that’s why we have to have a very thorough vetting process,” she said. Thus far, Hegseth has not met with any Senate Democrats, a decision Blumenthal criticized Thursday. (CQ-Roll Call's Briana Reilly contributed to this report.) ©2024 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Visit cqrollcall.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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EDMONTON - Alberta’s Opposition NDP says the province would become the most corrupt and secretive government in Canada if potential ethics rule changes become law. United Conservative Party legislature committee members are urging the government to exempt most political staffers from being bound by conflict of interest rules. Those rules currently limit how much staffers can accept in the form of gifts and spell out if they need to be reported. NDP justice critic Irfan Sabir says if adopted, the proposals would mean no one would know who might be buying the government. He says loosened restrictions made last year already shield the government from being transparent and it would be worse if the new rules went ahead. The push comes after multiple ministers said they accepted hockey playoff tickets from a medical supplier involved in a $70-million deal to purchase medication from Turkey that has yet to be delivered. UCP backbencher Grant Hunter says Alberta is an outlier among the provinces in including senior public servants under ethics rules.By Steve Contorno and Kristen Holmes for CNN Donald Trump once publicly speculated that Time would never name him the news magazine's "Person of the Year." Now, the honour will be bestowed on him twice. Time will name Trump as this year's choice on Thursday, recognising the president-elect as the individual or group deemed to have wielded the greatest influence on global affairs "for good or for ill." To celebrate the unveiling of the magazine cover, Trump will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Trump sat for a wide-ranging interview with the magazine last month. Time declined to comment. Trump's 2024 selection mirrors his first recognition in 2016, when Time named him Person of the Year after his unexpected rise to the presidency. This time, the unveiling caps a remarkable comeback and a resurgence that has the potential to upend modern American politics. Despite the magazine's dwindling circulation, Time's Person of the Year remains an annual cultural touchstone and the distinction has become an obsession of sorts for Trump throughout the years. A Time cover naming him Person of the Year in 2009 hung in several of his golf clubs, The Washington Post reported nearly a decade later, though no such issue was ever printed. Through his widely followed Twitter account, Trump regularly weighed in on the annual selection and amplified accounts suggesting it should be him. He criticised the magazine in 2011 for picking "The Protester" in a nod to the revolutions breaking out across the Arab world and the Occupy movement in the US. A year later, he said Time had "lost all credibility" because it failed to list him among its 100 most influential people of the year. Trump has also privately complained about the choices, in particular when Taylor Swift won in 2023. Trump has often been fixated on the power the pop star wields and posted, "I hate Taylor Swift," on social media earlier this year after she endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Over time, the title became a symbol of the mainstream fame and respect Trump sought out but appeared out of reach. In 2015, when the magazine named then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel its Person of the Year, he wrote on Twitter, "I told you @TIME Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite," before adding: "They picked person who is ruining Germany." Even after Time named Trump its person of the year in 2016 - which he called "a great honour" on social media - he continued to closely monitor the results. The following year, Trump claimed he was in the mix for the distinction again but wouldn't agree to an interview and photo shoot. Time disputed his version of events. Despite his regular criticism of the media, Trump has regularly granted access to legacy outlets - including Time . He sat down for an extended interview in April of this year with the magazine at his Palm Beach club. Harris turned down a similar opportunity, the magazine's owner said in October. Over the decades, the title has been granted to a wide array of figures, from heads of state and activists to entrepreneurs and, in some instances, brutal authoritarian leaders. Every US president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, except Gerald Ford, has been named Person of the Year at least once. President Joe Biden and Harris were co-honorees after they defeated Trump in 2020. Members of Trump's family are expected to attend the Thursday event, including Ivanka Trump, according to a source familiar with planning. It marks a rare public appearance for the president-elect's daughter, who served as a senior adviser during his first term. - CNNEDMONTON - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the government is working to get taxpayer value for the money it paid for medication that has yet to be approved and delivered. Smith announced the plan two years ago amid a national shortage of children’s pain medication. The province spent $70 million upfront to import five million bottles from Turkey-based Atabay Pharmaceuticals. But Alberta Health Services said Friday that Health Canada only approved 1.5 million bottles or $21 million worth of product. That left a credit of $49 million. Smith said this week the holdup is with Health Canada, which would have to approve a new suite of imports for the province to get its money’s worth. “We’re waiting for Health Canada to work with AHS to identify the products, get the formulations, approve it, so that we’re able to execute on it. Those things take time,” Smith said in a year-end interview. The premier said the province had to pay the $70 million upfront. “They delivered a portion, and then the supply chains were restored, and we didn’t need to fulfil it with the two products we’d initially ordered. So we have a credit on file with Atabay,” said Smith. The government and AHS declined to say what specific products they’re seeking or when they might arrive. “We want it to be delivered soon,” said Smith. Health Canada was unable to provide an immediate response. AHS said the $70-million prepayment went to Edmonton-based medical supplier MHCare. AHS did not address questions about how common it is to pay the entire contracting fee upfront with no apparent backstops to ensure fulfilment. The costs of shipping, waste disposal and other administration tied to the deal were initially estimated to be an extra $10 million, but are yet to be finalized. NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said Smith’s United Conservative government signed a deal that didn’t follow normal procurement practices, and it backfired. “The federal government had already signed a deal to get real Tylenol onto the shelves that arrived before the Turkish Tylenol,” he told The Canadian Press. “Albertans should be really angry, because we basically have given$80 million of taxpayers money that could have built schools.” Smith’s government has stood by the decision to import the medication because, in late 2022, parents were desperate to find relief for their children at the height of the respiratory virus season. The purchase has long been mired in difficulties. It was immediately beset by delays, as the province sought regulatory approvals and sorted out packaging and warning labels. Pharmacists had to keep some of the medicine behind the counter to make sure customers who bought it were aware of the comparatively lower dosage. Hospital neonatal units eventually stopped using it due to safety concerns. The purchase also sparked questions about whether the province’s relaxed ethics rules meant elected officials could be bought for the right price. Multiple UCP cabinet ministers have said they accepted free tickets to Edmonton Oilers hockey games during the Stanley Cup playoffs. They said they followed conflict-of-interest rules and denied any claims of disreputable behaviour. Health Minister Adriana LaGrange has said AHS has identified what imported adult medications it could use, is in negotiations with Atabay and is working to get approval from Health Canada. “Once those processes have been gone through, I will be happy to share exactly what those medications are,” she said Thursday. “My goal has always been to get products that we can use, get maximum value out of what’s remaining on the books there, and that’s what’s happening.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2024.