The Alberta Legislature press gallery, the most chronically underworked legislature press gallery in the country, is all abuzz with election gossip. The Progressive Conservatives have kicked their candidate selection process into high gear, leading to speculation that Premier Jim Prentice might call a spring election. Gossip mongers are also suggesting
Continue readingAuthor: mauricetougas
In This Corner: Stuff Happens. Week 1
Welcome to Stuff Happens, a weekly wrap up of the news that you know, or may have missed. They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Not quite true. Outside of France, nobody had ever heard of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical French newspaper that mercilessly skewed everyone, from the Pope
Continue readingIn This Corner: Book review: I Must Say, by Martin Short.
Have you ever read a biography and wished that the author was your friend, a guy you could call up and shoot the breeze with, or hang out with at his place? That’s the way I feel after reading Hamilton-born comic Martin Short’s alternately hilarious and heart wrenching book, I
Continue readingIn This Corner: Everything you need to know about 2015 right here.
As a dues paying member of the blogosphere, I feel compelled to do at least one of the annual blogs: the year in review, or the predictions column. Since the year in review blog takes lots of work, guess which way I’m going? Besides, it’s really easy to write a
Continue readingIn This Corner: Adventures with Groupon customer support.
This Christmas, I bought more items online than I have ever done in the past. I’m not much of a shopper, so when I think of a gift idea, I buy it immediately online if possible. Usually, it works like a charm. But not always. This year, I encountered my
Continue readingIn This Corner: Wildrose rollover a betrayal of epic proportions.
Q: What do World War II France and the Wildrose Party have in common? A: They both rolled over. At least the French were facing the Nazi Germany army, and almost certain destruction. The only thing the Wildrose was facing was losing the next election. Not quite the same thing,
Continue readingIn This Corner: Let’s hear it for falling oil prices!
If you scan the newspapers these days, you will notice a lot of sky-is-falling stories, only with the word ‘oil’ instead of ‘sky’. Here in Alberta, news that the price of oil is falling is treated with Armageddon-like concern. The treasury is being depleted! Cuts are on the way! Jobs
Continue readingIn This Corner: Inside the New York grand jury room: the leaked transcript
JUROR NO. 1: Alright, everyone, settle down. We have to make a decision on the Eric Garner case. Now, we’ve all seen the video of this unfortunate tragedy. The cop put him in an illegal choke hold, and despite the fact he was pleading ‘I can’t breathe”, the cop continued
Continue readingIn This Corner: Why are the PCs so afraid of gay teenagers?
Premier Jim Prentice has gotten off to a pretty impressive start as the latest star of the longest running series in Canadian political history, Alberta Dynasty. He did a lot of little things right, like cancelling the ill-conceived plan to change our license plates and grounding the provincial fleet of
Continue readingIn This Corner: Talking about the CFL: Hey, don’t stop reading!
With Grey Cup CII upon us, I thought this week I’d write something about the venerable old Canadian Football League, even though I know I risk losing most of my readership. I could drop to single digits here, from my usual double. I’m an unapologetic fan of the CFL, and
Continue readingIn This Corner: The least wonderful time of the year.
Welcome, shoppers, to the most frenzied time of the year, when most of what used to be called ‘spare time’ is taken up by shopping, planning your shopping list, scanning online for bargains, or simply driving around the mall parking lot looking for a spot. Christmas (or, if you prefer,
Continue readingIn This Corner: Dear New Zealand: A few thoughts on your future flag flap.
Dear New Zealand: G’day, mates! Oh, wait. That’s an Australian thing, isn’t it? I’ll bet you found that just a little insulting. So, as we say in Canada, sorry. What do you say down there? The Internet tells me that the Maori have three different ways of saying hello depending
Continue readingIn This Corner: ‘The Magnificient New Coliseum’ turns 40, and I was there.
I don’t know about you, but I know exactly what I was doing on the evening of Nov. 10th, 1974, exactly 40 years ago Monday. My ‘I was there’ certificate to the first Oiler game at Northlands Coliseum. I was at a hockey game. Not just any hockey game, mind
Continue readingIn This Corner: Winners and losers on byelection night
Now that the mini-referendum for Jim Prentice is over, let’s study the entrails (disgusting image, I know) to discern the winners and losers of the night. WINNER: The PCs and Jim Prentice The other parties will find all sorts of good things to say about how they fared, but this
Continue readingIn This Corner: Thoughts on a terrible week
Like most other Canadians, I’ve had a hard time processing everything that has happened in Canada this past week. It seemed that the peaceable kingdom had been turned upside down, with soldiers being killed on our streets for the crime of being, well, soldiers. The best I can do today
Continue readingIn This Corner: CFRN at 60: When TV really mattered.
Once upon a time, there was something called local TV. It was made up — quite literally — on the spot, live. Looking back on it today, it was probably pretty bad. But it was ours. In my early years growing up in Edmonton, there were two channels. One was
Continue readingIn This Corner: Political grab bag time.
And now, in lieu of a real blog of connected thoughts, here are some disjointed thoughts on matters political … • The leadership race for the provincial New Democrats is even more of a snoozer than the PC leadership coronation of Jim ‘Don’t Blame Me’ Prentice. There are three candidates
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Sun will never darken my door again.
A few weeks ago, a nice young man came to my door, offering a three-month subscription to the Edmonton Sun for $30. I know the Sun essentially sucks, but I figured, hey, $30 for three months of a newspaper. What’s the harm? After about a week, I contemplated cancelling my
Continue readingIn This Corner: Someone save me from another NHL season.
So here I am, basking in the late September sunshine, relishing a 27C day. That can only mean one thing — it’s hockey season! Oh God, no! Didn’t it just finish last month? Or does it only seem like it? I’ve actually grown to kind of hate the National Hockey
Continue readingIn This Corner: A few kinds words about a Progressive Conservative. Seriously.
This is one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to write. But I feel compelled to say a few kind words about — shudder — a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. Oh, this is gonna hurt. Dave Hancock has announced his retirement from politics. At 59,
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