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Sometimes in politics it doesn’t rain but it pours.

Like this week.

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There are so many issues going on that I can’t pick just one.

So, call this a scattergun column – an eclectic mixture of stuff that is bouncing around Alberta politics.

Lay off the layoffs

This one’s a bit of a head scratcher. Guy Smith, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, says some of his members are being laid off by Alberta Health Services.

“We’ve heard from members in all parts of the province … these are layoffs,” an irritated Smith said a few days ago.

However, both AHS and Health Minister Sarah Hoffman insist nobody is being laid off.

“There will be no involuntary loss of employment of unionized employees,” says a statement from AHS.

Hoffman says workers who are being redeployed to another job receive a “layoff” notification as part of a formal process rendering their old job extinguished – but they are then given a new position.