Much has been made in some sectors of the media about former premier Alison Redford’s absence from the legislature since her resignation. It seems the Princess Premier has not attended a single session of the legislature since she quit, prompting the usual “shouldn’t you have to show up for work
Continue readingAuthor: mauricetougas
In This Corner: Does anybody want to be the PC leader? Seriously, anyone …
The Progressive Conservatives will select their latest leader in September, a mere five months away. You would think that the lineup to claim such a glittering political prize would be long, but so far it begins and ends with Ken ‘Who?’ Hughes. Hughes, the Calgary West MLA and grown-up version
Continue readingIn This Corner: I’ll watch Mad Men … but I’m not sure if I’ll enjoy it
The Big Cultural Event tonight is the return of Mad Men after a hiatus of what seems like five years. I’ll be watching, but not with great enthusiasm. I mean, I like Mad Men and all, but it just seems like so much work. There hasn’t been a new episode
Continue readingIn This Corner: PQ found there is no future in living in the past
The political obituary of the separatist movement has been written many times before. No less an expert than Pierre Trudeau once proclaimed separatism to be dead and buried, only to see it rise up and nearly ruin the country not once, but twice. It’s very risky to read the last
Continue readingIn This Corner: The PCs scorched earth policy on Alison Redford
When Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, his right hand man was Leon Trotsky. When Lenin and Trotsky had a falling out — never a good thing in the old Soviet Union — the Communists altered photos of Lenin and Trotsky together, effectively erasing Trotsky from the historical
Continue readingIn This Corner: City transit ads stealing a page from Stephen Harper playbook
The Stephen Harper government has spent hundreds of millions of public dollars on a propaganda campaign aimed at bolstering the Stephen Harper brand. Apparently, someone from the city of Edmonton has been paying attention, because we are now seeing a peculiar propaganda campaign using city tax dollars. Exactly what they’re
Continue readingIn This Corner: Alison Redford will go down with the ship
Alberta politics is all a-twitter these days about the future of the Princess Premier, Alison Redford. Two MLAs have resigned, bringing simmering discontent to the surface. Len Webber quit last week, calling Redford “a bully” (poor baby!), while Donna Kennedy-Glans, the associate minister for electricity (whatever that is), threw in
Continue readingIn This Corner: Fighting for the right to watch a guy take a leak.
With all the news about Ukraine (formerly The Ukraine), the New Cold War, jetliners that vanish without a trace, and the Quebec election and Canada’s typically Canadian stroll towards disaster (topic for another day), you may have missed a major development in the never-ending battle for media freedom. No, I’m
Continue readingIn This Corner: Travels with Princess Premier.
I have a theory why Alison Redford is in so much trouble these days — she doesn’t like living in Alberta. Or maybe she just doesn’t like hanging around with Albertans, with their pickups and non-designer jeans and all. Redford’s aversion to Alberta has got her in all kinds of
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Oscars: Look no further, here are the winners …
Like millions of other Canadians, I will watch the Academy Awards on Sunday, and like millions of other Canadians, four hours later I will hate myself for watching it. So, for those of you who don’t want to watch it, but want to know the winners, here they are …
Continue readingIn This Corner: Who else gets up at 5 a.m. to watch hockey?
Like millions of other Canadians, I am debating what strategy to take tomorrow. Do I rise with the birds at 5 a.m. (or probably before the birds, who are sensible enough to still be sleeping) to watch Canada vs. Sweden for the Olympic gold medal? Or, do I do the
Continue readingIn This Corner: Rewatching The Ed Sullivan Show, 50 years later
How can I explain the impact of The Beatles, in particular their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964 — 50 years ago today? Here’s one way. The week before The Beatles made their Sullivan appearance, the #1 song in the U.S. was a Bobby Vinton snoozer
Continue readingIn This Corner: It would actually be awesome if we stopped using ‘no worries’.
I’m the kind of guy who just wants to make the world a better place (mostly for me). But I can’t do this by myself, of course. I’m only one barely employed, mostly unemployable, rapidly aging male, so I’ll need your help. My goal today is to eliminate three common
Continue readingIn This Corner: The birth of the Mac, the death of the typewriter.
Thirty years ago this past Saturday, Apple founder Steve Jobs introduced something called the Macintosh computer to the world. As we all know now — but didn’t then, as is usually the case with revolutionary ideas — it would change the world. What we also didn’t recognize at the time
Continue readingIn This Corner: Neil Young’s credibility takes an atomic hit.
First, a few kind words about Neil Young. I like some of his music, if not so much his singing. He hasn’t been afraid to write politically aware songs, which is so refreshing in a world where 90 per cent of songs are silly love songs. I even have some
Continue readingIn This Corner: 2013 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 16,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6
Continue readingIn This Corner: When did Canadians become cold weather wimps?
On Sunday morning in Edmonton, the temperature was around -33C. Being that it was Sunday, and I had nowhere to go, I chose the wise (if lazy) option of not doing anything. I felt kind of bad about it, but sometimes it just sucks to go outside, so I didn’t.
Continue readingIn This Corner: Wanted: One Great Canadian history writer.
Is Canadian history boring? Or, has it been poorly served by boring writers? That’s a question that has been nagging me since I finished reading One Summer, written by Bill Bryson. As I mentioned in my best books blog, One Summer is a crackling-good read by one of the American
Continue readingIn This Corner: Recommended reading: my best books of 2013.
What makes a great book? I have a simple guideline. I borrow pretty much every book I read (thank you, Edmonton Public Library), including every book that I am about to tell you about. What separates a great book from a merely good book is my desire to actually own
Continue readingIn This Corner: What’s a 14-letter word for crossword puzzle fan?
Two major events happened on this day in history. First, today marks the birthday of Red Deer legend and my friend Calvin Caldwell. On a slightly more significant note, today is also the 100th anniversary of something that confounds and entertains people to this day. Kind of like Cal. One
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