The collapse of the Soviet Union, the “Evil Empire,” was perhaps the most welcome event of the latter part of the 20th century. Almost three hundred million people freed from totalitarian rule in a historical moment, and peacefully at that. Tragically not all have remained free. Half of them are
Continue readingAuthor: Bill Longstaff
Views from the Beltline: England no longer a Christian nation
England is having its troubles these days. Economy in recession, a plague of strikes, living standards falling, highest inflation in 40 years, National Health Service on life support, millions can’t afford to heat their homes, government in disarray, and so it goes. One thing the English won’t be doing so
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Et tu, AMLO?
I have often despaired at the way in which seemingly progressive leaders in Latin and South America show great initial promise and then drift into an autocracy not unlike their conservative counterparts. I was pondering this the other day when reading about Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known commonly as
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Homo sapiens—a hierarchical species
Observing the recent political shenanigans in Alberta one notes an intriguing pattern of human behaviour. During the recent competition for leader of the UCP, and therefore for premier of the province, we saw candidates ridiculing Danielle Smith’s proposed Sovereignty Act. Yet after she became leader and the bill was introduced
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Jason Kenney, a moderate?
During Jason Kenney’s reign over our province, I never thought of him as a particularly nice man. Actions like de-indexing the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped program from inflation left a bad taste in my mouth. In fact I thought that was one of the crueler actions a government
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Queen Danielle and the separatist coup
When Danielle Smith first proposed her sovereignty act, I assumed, naively, that she meant the sovereignty of Alberta. Now, after the act has been presented and has seen the light of day, I realize the sovereignty refers to Danielle. The legislation proposed in the legislature on Tuesday, now amusingly called
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Xi puts women in their place
When President Xi Jinping introduced his Politburo Standing Committee at the 20th Communist party congress in Beijing, one thing stood out. Of the seven, none were women. Furthermore, of the 24-member Politburo itself, for the first time in 25 years none were women. The Standing Committee is the small group
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: The Earth groans
Tuesday, according to the United Nations, was eight billion day, i.e. the world’s population was projected to reach eight billion souls on November 15th. Even if you like people, and my views on that are mixed, that’s a hell of a lot. In fact, it’s too many. And that’s not
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Gain Danielle Smith, lose Deena Hinshaw—not a fair exchange
On Monday Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, was in effect fired. Thus our new premier, Danielle Smith, kept a campaign promise. We get Danielle Smith, a conspiracy-spouting separatist; we lose Deena Hinshaw, a highly qualified medical professional. What is Alberta coming to. Hinshaw was the only reasonably
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: And after Putin?
Russian President Vladimir Putin is not happy in the modern world. A child of Soviet Communism and of that particular enthusiasm bred by service in the KGB, he prefers government with a firm hand, preferably his. And his nostalgia for the old days carries him back even further. He has,
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: U.S. voters (and conservatives) trash Trump
The Democrats are quite pleased with their showing in the U.S midterm elections. From where I sit, it doesn’t look quite that cheerful—they lost the House of Representatives and may yet lose the Senate. Nonetheless, the prediction was for the usual midterm result which is a drubbing for the president’s
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Time to friend-shore?
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently introduced a concept she referred to as “friend-shoring.” In her words, “Friend-shoring is the idea that countries that espouse a common set of values on international trade … should trade and get the benefits of trade.” She added that the idea was to ensure
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Notwithstanding politicians, the Charter prevails
“The government blinked,” read the CBC headline. The Ontario Minister of Education Stephen Lecce confirmed that his government will repeal Bill 28 “in its entirety.” He was referring of course to the infamous legislation that imposed a contract on 55,000 CUPE education workers while banning strikes and invoking the Charter’s
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: How fares the emperor?
Xi Jinping has it all: general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, chairman of the Central Military Commission, commander-in-chief of the People’s Liberation Army, and the Politburo Standing Committee filled with his own hand-picked loyalists. He is, in all but title, the emperor of China. For a dictator, this is
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Alberta’s very own tax cut fiasco
A recent tax cut for the rich managed to achieve international notoriety. Former British Prime Minster Liz Truss, a neo-liberal zealot à la her idol Margaret Thatcher, ushered in her term with a generous tax cut for Britain’s high income earners. It got quite the response: the exchange rate of
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Whew! That was close—too close
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Brazil’s election on Sunday in a squeaker, defeating incumbent Jair Bolsonaro by a mere two points. It was a victory for more than Lula. In an election perhaps more important for all of us than the U.S. midterms, Lula’s victory improves the chances for survival of
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Have conservatives all gone mad?
As a social democrat I may be prone to seeing the virtues in progressives and the vices in conservatives. But I challenge any objective observer to deny that a streak of madness hasn’t overtaken the conservative political world. Consider the UK. Run by the Conservatives for the past dozen years
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: A great teacher retires
No one has taught Canadians more about nature and science generally than Dr. David Suzuki. He has now announced that, after 44 years at the helm, he is retiring from his chief educational instrument, the CBC program The Nature of Things. Suzuki has a strong academic background, obtaining a PhD
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Who should choose?
We have recently seen a number of government leaders assume power elected not by the people but by their parties only, and the results have been less than satisfying. The most publicized case is that of Liz Truss’s election to the prime ministership of Great Britain. Prime Minister Truss is
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Why I support Collin May’s lawsuit
In May of this year, lawyer Collin May was appointed by cabinet order as chief of the Alberta Human Rights Commission after serving on the commission for three years. Then he was “outed.” Some sleuth discovered that in 2009 May had written a book review that supported the thesis that
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