#edmonton-mcclung

[the-quotable-alberta-hansard]

April 23, 2026

Mr. Kasawski: Good morrow. Pray, lend me thy ears. Mr. Speaker, today on National Talk Like Shakespeare Day, I rise to speak on Bill 28. Specifically, to the very real concern and impacts this legislation will have on community libraries.

Mr. Dach: To support or not support?

Mr. Kasawski: To support or not to support? That is the question, Mr. Speaker.

[the-quotable-alberta-hansard]

November 20, 2025

Ms Fir: Our government supports the 2SLGBTQQIA-plus community . . .

Mr. Dach: Balderdash.

[the-quotable-alberta-hansard]

May 6, 2025

Mr. Dach: We heard earlier the Minister of Justice quietly and in a monotonous tone, a confident, surly voice, relay to Albertans that everything was fine with this piece of legislation, that it was a piece of legislation designed to create trust and strength in the faith that they have in democracy and protect the belief that they have a democratic system that is worthy of their respect. Well, what, in fact, we’ve heard was, as my baba would have said, a supremely tall crock of sauerkraut. It looks harmless, but the more you chew into it, the more bitter and sour it gets with every bite. That’s what I felt as I heard the minister delineating, piece by piece, this legislation that chews away at our democracy.

[the-quotable-alberta-hansard]

December 3, 2024

Mr. Dach: of course, Delwin Vriend took the province to court and won the right not to be denied employment because of his homosexuality. That’s something that we heralded as a very major victory in this province, and it was widely supported in this province. It’s something we’re proud of doing. Yet this government has forgotten about those strides forward, Madam Speaker, and has chosen instead to move us backwards into the Dark Ages of antitrans and homophobic attitudes and given power and emboldenment to those people who would foment that hate against individuals whose sexuality is other than the heterosexual concept that this government seems to accept as the only norm. Quote, unquote.

So, yes, “Who’s next?” is the question that gay and trans people in this province will ask. This government is not shy about targeting individuals if they think it will gain them a seat or two here or there in the next election and perhaps carve out a win in 2027. That’s the calculation that this government makes, Madam Speaker. It’s a crass calculation, and it’s one not rooted in protecting individuals and human beings. It’s one that is rooted in seriously disagreeing with and disavowing the reality that exists in human populations the world over that a certain percentage of the population, no matter where you happen to be in the world, are either gay, they’re trans, or they’re lesbian. It’s a natural thing, yet this government seems to forget about that and rails against it.

[the-quotable-alberta-hansard]

April 8, 2024

Mr. Dach: I rise to table five copies of the lyrics to a duet recently recorded by country artists Orville Peck and Willie Nelson entitled Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other. I encourage all members of the Legislature to listen to this anthem of solidarity.

Member Irwin: Love that.

[the-quotable-alberta-hansard]

March 16, 2022

Mr. Dach: Mr. Speaker, a WhatsApp group. It may surprise you to hear this, but it makes me think of Meryl Streep’s famous line in that scene from the movie The Devil Wears Prada: “Florals, for spring? Groundbreaking.” That is to say, a chat group app was not innovative and certainly not sufficient. Let’s try one more time. What were the costs of the blockade, and if presented with similar disruptions of key trade corridors in the future, what actions will the Minister of Transportation take to protect Alberta pocketbooks and businesses?

Mrs. Sawhney: Mr. Speaker, I didn’t even understand . . .

Speaker’s Ruling Preambles The Speaker: I was very, very curious to see how the member was going to tie a The Devil Wears Prada quote into a question that didn’t include a preamble. Unfortunately, he was unable to do that. That is a very clear example of a preamble, and I encourage him to govern himself accordingly in the future.

[the-quotable-alberta-hansard]

June 18, 2020

Mr. Dach: This UCP government refused to listen to warnings about the escalating COVID-19 outbreak at the Cargill meatpacking plant. They failed to listen to repeated warnings in this House and from the workers themselves. It became the biggest outbreak in North America. More than 1,500 people got sick and three people died. After weeks of ducking responsibility, the Minister of Health said yesterday that mistakes were made. Does the Premier agree with his Minister of Health that the government mishandled the deadly outbreak at Cargill?

Mr. Shandro: Mr. Speaker, again, the NDP are trying to politicize the pandemic and trying to politicize COVID. It’s so embarrassing. Their desperation is so rank.

[the-quotable-alberta-hansard]

April 7, 2020

Mr. Dach: I do note that at the risk of raising the ire of the opposition House whip and perhaps severe penalties, I was thinking, as I listened to other speakers, that language is really important, that pronunciation is important, and that Canadian language is absolutely very important. I must say that I cringed every time I heard the word “mobile” in this House repeated time and time again because we may often listen to American television and hear things about mobile phones or mobile homes. But the pronunciation “mobile” is American, and mobile phones and mobile homes are what we own and what we live in in Canada. So I was suggesting perhaps, in my mind, an amendment – I’m only thinking about it; I’m not actually proposing one right now – a subamendment, what might have been, in order to get us on the right track as far as language goes and actually speak in terms of Canadian language, that any time a member of this Assembly mentions the word “mobile,” they’d be fined $75, and that fine would apply to pay for the fee of one individual who wanted to file an application.

An Hon. Member: I’m waiving the fee right now.

Mr. Dach: There you go. There you go. Just an idle thought as I was sitting here listening to other speakers. But it is truly something that I think we should be aware of in this House, and that is the pronunciation of words that reflect what actually our language is in this country versus the American pronunciation, which we should avoid. Just a thought, a pet peeve. Much to the relief of my whip I won’t actually proceed to a formal subamendment proposal, but please be aware of that, and I hope that we take it to heart when considering how we pronounce words that are going to be repeated in public by people listening to us as speakers in public service. I hope that I’ve made a bit of a dent in the mobile world and we’ll hear people in Canada talking about mobile homes and mobile phones instead of the other way.