Did you know that Grande Prairie has the 3rd largest French Association in all of Alberta? Not bad for being the 7th largest city in the province right? The size of our Francophone community is a real asset for our city as it leads to some very important partnerships like
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: A Better World for Books
The literacy mission at Better World Books isn’t something that’s tacked on — it’s always been part of our DNA. Starting August 15, 2011, we are making an additional commitment to a simple system: You buy, we donate – Book for BookTM. I just heard about this site through GoodReads. Shipping is free worldwide, and […]
The World Famous Dan Shields: 4124…Why Are We Surprised?
That would be with the fact that Libya has replaced Moomar Gaadaffi with a dude who is like MG and that Eygpt has replaced bad guy number one with bad guy number one A.This was the topic on Lowell Green, CFRA today. Lots of handwringing about Canada’s…
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Sun TV: It Doesn’t Get Better
They’ve been running that gay/trans-bashing commercial again from McVety and Co. Classy Bunch. Although I suppose it would be more of an issue if anyone was watching the stuff.
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Suburbs Grow Poorer around US Cities: Hard Times Are Another Argument against Urban Sprawl
Suburbs are different in Europe and North America. In the former, for the last century and a half they have been where the poor lived, chased from the center of cities by development since the days of Haussmann’s reconstruction of Paris. In the latt…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Race, Civility, and a Good Cup of Tea
Rioting began in London, UK on 6 August after a march on the Tottenham Police Station surged into a violent conflict between demonstrators and police. The protesters were marching for answers about the death of Marc Duggan, a young local black man who …
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: "an arab running around"
The fact that Abdullah Almalki was "an arab running around" in Canada was enough to eventually get him detained and tortured in Syria. That and a little guilt by association. Almalki was one of three Canadians whose cases were the focus of the Iacobucci inquiry in 2008. All three men were detained in Syria based on information supplied by Canadian officials. Yesterday Almaki released documents obtained through an Access to Information request and the Montreal Gazette has a story on it. Here are the reasons why Almalki originally came to be regarded as a person of interest. Almalki had first come under investigation by CSIS in 1998 when some of his company’s communications equipment was found in the hands of the Taliban. He met with CSIS and explained that his export company shipped store-bought equipment to a Pakistani firm, Microelectronics, and that he didn’t control what happened to it after that point. Which seems straightforward enough. But unfortunately Almalki had made the mistake of knowing the wrong people….
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.- Marc Lee charts the share of financial assets held by Canadians of different income levels. And it shouldn’t come as much surprise that one of the main aims of the right has been to attack pensions, which are by…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: why would the government of alberta help fund the proposed Katz group arena?
This week Edmonton’s City Council is holding hearings and holding a vote to purchase the lands underneath the proposed Katz Group Arena on 104th Avenue north of downtown Edmonton. This vote will take place despite the $100 million which is still missing from the funding formula that has been negotiated by Mayor Stephen Mandel, the […]
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Sometimes Things Ain’t What They Seem
Niagara Health is taking a beat down lately. First it was an uncontrolled C. difficile outbreak, then a provincial administrator was appointed to deal with the outbreak, and now this: When Doreen Wallace fell and broke her hip in the lobby of a Niagara Falls hospital, she figured at least she’d get help — and fast. But […]
David Anderson’s gaffe: a silaluk in a tiiliurut?
Saskatchewan Conservative MP David Anderson’s silly slap at the Canadian Wheat Board was an insult to the intelligence, right enough. Was it also an insult to Inuit? Mary Simon says so, and she should know. I won’t post the…
Continue readingThe Progressive Right: Ford Pulls a Rowlands
Remember when Toronto mayor June Rowlands banned the Barenaked Ladies from performing at a City Hall function?Here’s Rob Ford’s turn – he called the cops on Marg Delahunty.
Continue readingRural beats Urban in Long Gun
The long gun registry is soon to be history in Canada as Harper finally decides to bring legislation forward to end the gift that keeps on giving. If you are a conservative supporter, expect to receive a request for a big donation. That request is …
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Scrooge’s Children
Last week, Brian Topp had the temerity to suggest that it was time to raise taxes on the wealthy and on corporations. Jim Flaherty, predictably, called that notion “dreamy.” In the last federal election, none of the parties dared make such a sugg…
Continue readingCritical Brain Candy: The damage from coal costs at least twice what it’s worth
It’s great to have some real estimates on this, and wow: Economists: Every $1 of Electricity from Coal Does $2 in Damage to U.S. Plus, the original source article even indicates this is a very conservative estimate because it doesn’t include costs related to climate change. I imagine it’d be a lot harder to tie […]
Continue readingImpolitical: Tax zeitgeists
See now this is not so predictable and is interesting, “Higher taxation is back on the table,” writes Lawrence Martin today. Well, maybe it is. I do agree with the argument that it should be. It’s a hard one to make though because of the anti-tax envir…
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Experiment Only Runs Once
A big thanks to tildeb over at Questionable Motives for bring this video to my attention. The video is about the potential futures of climate change, but from a risk management perspective. It brings into stark relief the choices we are facing and some of the possible consequence of our potential action and inaction. I […]
Terahertz: Skeptical triple play
Every so often a number of stories pile up in my “I have opinions I want to express about this piece of news” list. Today’s theme is stories of interest to skeptics. Cell phones are safe This first story adds to the growing list of evidence demonstrating the safety of wireless technology. Further study is […]
Continue readingPrime Minister: Shoot your guns Canada!
Backers of the PM celebrate the repeal of Canada’s Long Gun Registry
Continue readingWise Law Blog: 140 Law – Legal Headlines for October 25, 2011
Here are today’s leading legal headlines from Wise Law on Twitter:
Jury Finds No Harm to Boy From Wrongful Circumcision -http://goo.gl/CELXu
Iowa Ethics Committee On Lawyers Using Cloud Computing -http://goo.gl/M8oWr
Mayor Ford calls 911 on …