Fortunately, while our federal government remains a persistent laggard on global warming, the provinces and cities are stepping up. Calgary is no exception. In 2012, the city committed to meeting all its electrical needs from renewable sources. One result was the construction of two wind farms totaling 144 megawatts. The
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Art Threat: Montreal Fringe: Three for the road
Cootie Catcher, written and performed by Lucas Brooks, focuses on Brooks’ close encounters of the transmissible kind. Using a cootie catcher, better known to some as a fortune teller, Brooks regales the audience with tales of all the times he thought he had been exposed to one STD or another,
Continue readingA. Picazo: Rebel Without A Spine
Facts often prove a nuisance to those with an agenda to push or a narrative to sell. Just as those who peddle snake-oil rely on manufactured illness to hawk miracle cures, those who ply their trade in fear rely on ignorance to further an ideology. I’ve long used social media
Continue readingThe TRC report and the Langevin Bridge—what’s in a name?
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report has issued a damning condemnation of the Indian residential schools, referring to their history as “cultural genocide.” Reverberations are being felt across the country, including here in Calgary. For example, a question has risen about the Langevin Bridge and Langevin School, and whether or
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Never mind the Mudville Nine: Nothing has changed, nothing ever will, that is all!
“Your health. Our promise.” It’s March 1, 2013, and then-premier Alison Redford announces plans to build a new cancer treatment facility in Calgary to replace the grubby and overcrowded Tom Baker Cancer Centre. (Photo grabbed from Metro Newspapers.) But that was then. This is now. Below: Alberta Health Minister Stephen
Continue readingToo Much Geography: An Open Letter to Premier Jim Prentice on Gay-Straight Alliances
Dear Premier Prentice; I graduated from high school in Alberta ten years ago, and I am gay. I like to think there are more interesting things about me, but these are the relevant points right now. At my school, there was no such thing as a gay-straight alliance, but you
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Deep thought
In general, we should be appalled by the idea of letting catastrophic climate change run amok and force people to abandon their homes and communities. But for a few self-selected people, it’s tough not to see some poetic justice in the possibility.
Continue readingNaheed Nenshi—world’s best mayor?
Recently, Canada suffered through the pain and embarrassment of having the world’s worst mayor. Is it possible we can now rise above the humiliation with the world’s best mayor? Calgary’s mayor Naheed Nenshi has made the short list for the 2014 World Mayor Prize, awarded every two years to a
Continue readingThings Are Good: Using Turntablism to Address Climate Change
Climate change id the biggest issue facing humanity today and it’s no surprise to see artists express this through art. In Calgary this month there’s an exhibit by John Folsom which was inspired through a walk in the rocky mountains looking at sound and climate change. The way he does
Continue readingCalgary inches closer to a charter
In 1867, Canada’s founding fathers created two levels of constitutional government—provincial and federal. The municipal level didn’t make the cut. This was excusable at the time. Over 80 per cent of Canadians lived on farms and in villages, so local government seemed rather unimportant in the grand scheme of things
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alberta NDP should embrace an Urban Agenda
TweetToday is the deadline to enter the Alberta New Democratic Party leadership race. With 3 candidates having already entered the race, Edmonton-Calder MLA David Eggen, Edmonton-Strathcona MLA Rachel Notley and labour activist Rod Loyola, the Alberta NDP are having their first contested leadership race since 1996. Advice I would offer to the next leader
Continue readingA. Picazo: A Circus On The Levant
“Being a Jew isn’t like being Black or being gay or being a woman, or even Israeli where many Jews come from. Being a Jew is a choice, like being a Blood or Crip. Jews are the medieval prototype of the Occupy Wall Street movement; a shiftless group of hobo’s
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: News Flash For the Calgary Doctor: Medicine is Evidence Based. (!)
What the hell is this? Am I living in the US or something? This story broke on on CBC radio June 27th, and listening to what happened I filled this news tid-bit safely under the “smart people doing stupid things” category. The tale of this doctor’s mixed up medical ethos
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: News Flash For the Calgary Doctor: Medicine is Evidence Based. (!)
What the hell is this? Am I living in the US or something? This story broke on on CBC radio June 27th, and listening to what happened I filled this news tid-bit safely under the “smart people doing stupid things” category. The tale of this doctor’s mixed up medical ethos
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Can the Alberta NDP win in Calgary?
TweetTo describe it as a long-shot is polite, but two Edmonton MLAs running for the leadership of Alberta’s New Democratic Party say that growing support in Calgary is critical. Edmonton-Strathcona MLA Rachel Notley launched her campaign for her party’s leadership at Niko’s Bistro in Kensington this week. And Edmonton-Calder MLA David Eggen
Continue readingAlberta politicos hedge on flood mitigation
After the great flood in Calgary last year, municipal and provincial governments agreed something had to be done to prevent another such catastrophe. There were, however, no shortage of sceptics. There would be bold promises initially, they said, but the commitments would wane with time, people would start to forget,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Ric McIver and the March for Jesus: A Lake of Fire Redux?
Tweet “Last year alone, Calgary’s streets were flooded with people of wrong sexual preferences during a homosexual parade of over 30,000 attendees and none of them were embarrassed the slightest to publicly even present their nakedness in front of families and in front of future generations to openly proclaim and manifest
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Opposition hoping for a sequel to Air Redford… Air Prentice
TweetThe long-summer of 2014 has begun in Alberta politics. With little substantial policy ideas to dispute or debate, Alberta’s opposition parties have set their sights on Progressive Conservative leadership front-runner Jim Prentice (if this continues, Thomas Lukaszuk and Ric McIver are going to start feeling left out). Hoping to tie Mr. Prentice
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Conservative former Edmonton mayor endorses conservative future Alberta premier: Yawn
Former Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel and PC leadership candidate Jim Prentice, obviously pleased to be in one another’s company, at a news conference yesterday in Edmonton at which Mr. Mandel endorsed Mr. Prentice. Below: The other Tory leadership candidates, Ric McIver and Thomas Lukaszuk, and New Democrat MLA Rachel Notley,
Continue readingCalgary, I’m forced to admit, is a world class city
I have always been inclined to ignore talk about making my city—Calgary—world class. It sounds rather desperate, a sad sort of social-climbing by civic boosters. But now it appears that Calgary really is a world class city. How can it not be when two of the world’s top newspapers declare
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