Vladimir Putin has been quoted as saying that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” Whether or not his words have been interpreted correctly is a matter of dispute; nonetheless, his compatriots apparently agree with the sentiment. According to a recent survey by
Continue readingAuthor: Bill Longstaff
Views from the Beltline: Alberta after Fossil Fuels
Alberta and oil are almost synonymous. But if the province is to do its share to avoid the apocalypse that global warming threatens, it must kick the oil habit, or at least the fossil fuel habit. The transition to greener energy is much harder for this prairie province, of course,
Continue readingNotes on Democracy: Time for Evo to Go?
Evo Morales has done great things for Bolivia. Perhaps his most important contribution has been giving Brazil’s indigenous people their country back. For centuries after the conquest, as has been too often the case in Latin America, the country was dominated by its European-descended people, the heirs of the conquistadors.
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Can Trudeau Make a Future with Alberta?
Life is full of little surprises. Often pleasant ones. I encountered such a surprise this week reading the Calgary Herald, not a paper usually on my wave length. And yet here was this op-ed saying some of the most sensible things about Alberta’s aversion to anything Trudeau I’ve heard to
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: The Climate Case for Impeachment
Will they or won’t they? Impeach the Donald, I mean. As the U.S. Congress moves glacially along the impeachment path, I propose impeaching him not on the grounds of his political and legal sins but on the grounds of his unfitness to lead a major nation at a time of
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: The unbridgeable gap: Alberta and Saskatchewan
One result of the recent election is a certain amount of angst about Alberta and Saskatchewan failing to elect a single Liberal. How to ameliorate the alienation felt by this pair of provinces is exercising the imaginations of pundits right and left. It reminded me of a recent post I
Continue readingNotes on Democracy: Eastern Europe happy (mostly) with democracy and free markets
In November, 1989, the world’s most infamous wall came down and the “Evil Empire” crumbled away. The communist regimes of Eastern Europe collapsed like dominoes and by 1990 free elections were held, the free market was adopted throughout, and Germany was whole again. And how do the citizens of these
Continue readingNotes on Democracy: A bad night for politicians, but not so bad for the country
It was not a good night for political parties. Clearly, the voters were not about to commend the Liberals for their four years in power. And just as clearly, they weren’t about to replace them with the Conservatives. Or anybody else. The only party that came out smiling was the
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Apparently I’m a Quebecker
Vote Compass recently published a survey of Canadians’ attitudes toward a variety of issues. The results were broken down by province, scaling how much respondents agreed or disagreed with different propositions. Not surprisingly, the survey found that Albertans and Quebeckers frequently have widely divergent views. On the spectrum of agree
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Living with the apocalypse
Is it time to recognize that we are politically incapable of dealing with global warming? Is the gap between what is politically acceptable and what is scientifically necessary too great? American novelist and essayist Jonathan Franzen thinks so. In an intriguing article in the New Yorker, entitled “What If We
Continue readingNotes on Democracy: War Rooms, Secrecy and a Little Patronage—Democracy in Alberta
Former journalist and conservative lobbyist Tom Olsen was the UCP candidate in my riding of Calgary-Buffalo in this spring’s Alberta election. Tom lost to Joe Ceci of the NDP, but his loss was only temporary. Recently it turned into a handsome reward. He was named by Energy Minister Sonya Savage
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Perfidious America
Early in 2018, U.S. President Donald J. Trump withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, a deal largely negotiated by and signed off on by his own country. Iran had been keeping its side of the bargain and the other five partners were happy with the results. Nonetheless,
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Scapegoating the oil industry
I always admired that great philosopher Pogo. I still remember the picture of he and a friend looking out over their polluted swamp as he uttered those immortal words, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” No scapegoating. It was their swamp and they had messed it up.
Continue readingNotes on Democracy: One Gem in the LIberal Package
With promises flying about right and left as the election approaches, one gem emerged from the Liberal package: “We will establish the Canadian Centre for Peace, Order, and Good Government, which will lend expertise and help to people seeking to build peace, advance justice, promote human rights and democracy, and
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Will automation steal all our jobs?
Yet another report predicts we are all going to be replaced by machines. Well, maybe not us, but our jobs at least. The report, issued for Wells Fargo clients, predicts that over the next ten years technology will replace ten per cent of banking jobs. The report’s author, banking analyst
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Scheer would make us even worse cheapskates on foreign aid
When Andrew Scheer released his party’s foreign policy earlier this year it turned out to be in large part a copy of Donald Trump’s. Pandering to the Israelis, hypocritical approach to Iran, etc. Now it appears he is also following the Donald’ s lead on foreign aid. Earlier this year,
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: "We need a carbon tax"—oil company CEO
MEG Energy Corp. is a Canadian oil company focused on in situ tar sands production. Its CEO, Derek Evans, claims the company intends to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. The plan is to capture emissions from the production process and inject them into an underground reservoir, i.e. carbon capture and
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Trust in science falls—due to global warming?
Greta Thunberg made a statement to the U.S. Congress the other day that, like most of what she says, was simple, profound and obvious at the same time. Simple (only four words), profound (it holds the key to dealing with humanity’s greatest challenge) and obvious (ask advice from those who
Continue readingNotes on Democracy: Is Universal Suffrage Logical? Is it Moral?
Not everyone is a fan of democracy. Other than those who outright prefer dictatorship of one kind or another, some critics simply don’t trust all citizens having equal power over their governors. Jason Brennan, a Georgetown University political philosopher, expresses just such a view in his book Against Democracy. Brennan
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Media waking up on climate crisis
I have long been puzzled why the growing climate crisis has not been better covered in the media. For the greatest threat facing humanity it seemed to get few column inches in the press or minutes on the telly. The only newspaper that has consistently provided front page news on
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