Environment Minister Peter Kent sets the tone of Canada’s carbon policy for the next four years in his first interview after the federal election that resulted in a Conservative majority. Instead of cap-and-trade or carbon tax regime, Canada will introduce sector based regulations, starting with the transportation, coal, and oilsands sectors.
Continue readingTag: Alberta
mike watkins dot ca: Disaster: Slave Lake Burning To The Ground
With relatively little news published Sunday on the wildfires raging in northern Alberta, many Canadians will awake Monday morning to learn with surprise and shock the town of Slave Lake is literally burning to the ground. The entire town of approxim…
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Landslide Election Victory That Isn’t
I initially had a vague plan for this post but have decided to go with whatever comes to mind to create an election commentary medley of sorts. Actually, it more resembles a rather large balloon filled with statistics and cynicism and it keeps growing! The Conservatives have won a majority government and this ensures their […]
Continue readingCalgaryLiberal: Oil Spills: The beavers do it better.
Media scan: David Suzuki – Alberta’s biggest oil spill in 30 years is a call to action for Canadians BBC – Oil spill in Canada’s Alberta ‘biggest in 35 years’ Sun – Spill making kids sick Market Wire – Lubicon Lake Nati…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Access to Post-Secondary Education
I recently had the chance to read a 2008 book entitled Who Goes? Who Stays? What Matters? Accessing and Persisting in Post-Secondary Education in Canada. Edited by Ross Finnie, Richard Mueller, Arthur Sweetman and Alex Usher, the anthology features 14 chapters written by a total of 21 authors. I found Chapter 4 (co-authored by […]
Continue readingNext deadlock: Alberta
I refuse to believe that the people of Alberta are as socially conservative and right wing as their political representation suggests. I do not believe that the people of Alberta would take away a woman’s right to control her body, or is genuinely oppo…
Continue readingCarbon49 - a blog on sustainability for Canadian businesses: Sustainability Becoming Required Course In MBA
Leading business schools in Canada and around the world are adding sustainability to their required MBA curricula. Oxford in the U.K., INSEAD in France, and York University in Canada are some of the business schools with required courses in sustainability. This can be seen as an indicator that sustainability has become a core business competency needed to effectively compete in today’s and tomorrow’s environments.
Continue readingA. Picazo: Secondary Suites And The Right To Affordable Housing
In December 2007, at the height of Calgary’s housing crunch, a report emerged from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation that confirmed what many had long suspected: the cost of renting a two bedroom apartment in Calgary eclipsed that of all major Canadian cities, marking the first time since the
Continue readingdjkelly.ca: Metro column: Focusing on the individual, not the party
I’m not a big fan of party politics. I could care less which party is in charge. I care more about who the people in government are and what kinds of decisions they make. [Note: This last sentence was cut from the printed version, but I thought it was important so I added it back […]
Continue readingOn Being a Teacher, or Why Merit Pay Stinks.
I’m taking a course on organizational theory right now and the readings have caused me to reflect on an issue that is getting a fair deal of play in education right now – merit pay for teachers. There are many specific arguments that can be made as to why merit
Continue readingHerbinator: Alberta Election
I am starting to look forward to the upcoming Alberta provincial election in 2012. Of particular interest to me are the candidates who will emerge in support of Green Principles. In a manner similar to the American Tea Party movement, Visionary Greens …
Continue readingFive of Five: Life is Bigger than Politics
News was released today that former Alberta Premier Ralph Klein is suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This is a horrible disease that has no cure and robs the body and brain of oxygen. It doesn’t have good outcomes.It got me thinking…
Continue readingezrawinton.com: Tar on the Tusks – The Walrus sells out to Big Oil
Canada’s preeminent culture magazine has let Big Oil lie about the tar sands on its pages.
Continue readingFive of Five: Holy Biased Poll
I realize website polls are primarily for entertainment and shouldn’t be taken seriously, especially not on a hyper-conservative radio site.But this poll really stuck out as having a totally meaningless, poorly worded and biased set of choices.There is…
Continue readingFive of Five: When a Witch Weighs the Same as a Duck
Ed Stelmach’s communication style is oblique and opaque most of the time. Opaque in the sense of being impenetrable by light. Today he all but confirmed that Stephen Duckett would be relieved of his duties as the Alberta Health Services CEO. At leas…
Continue readingBill 17: De-democratizing healthcare
My time lately has been consumed by two grad courses, an active full-time job and home and family commitments. But one emergent and urgent issue has forced me to tend to my oft-neglected blog. (Yes, Minister Zwozdesky, I do consider healthcare to be urgent.) If I was at all surprised
Continue readingMeet an Alberta Progressive: Sherry McKibben
One of the primary objectives of this series of podcasts, Meet an Alberta Progressive, is to demonstrate that progressives are a diverse group of people with diverse backgrounds, but to help us all to think about where our commonalities might lie.
Sp…
Continue readingYour Alberta Health Act: Opening Doors for Private Healthcare.
“We’d be a lot better off if we had funding follow the patient”
The comment hung in the air, a pinata, colorful, attention seeking, begging for a reaction.
I figured I would have to swing at it, or at least give it a poke.
I tapped the edge, “Hmmm, …
Continue readingMeet an Alberta Progressive: Chima Nkemdirim
The Alberta Liberal party placed an advertisement Wednesday inviting other progressive parties to talk about opportunities for cooperation. I spent a great amount of time campaigning in 2004 in Edmonton Glenora when a high profile NDP candidate and a h…
Continue readingFraser Institute is Flat Wrong
Earlier this year, I wrote about the Manning Centre for Democracy’s conference on Alberta’s future. What I didn’t discuss in that post was how I spent an hour in the afternoon in the foyer outside the conference room talking about education with …
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