According to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s logic, Alberta’s doing a better job of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic than New Zealand. New Zealand, a country with a population roughly the same size as Alberta’s with a similar demographic makeup, is widely considered to be one of the few success stories
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Scott's DiaTribes: Renewing the domain for another year
So my renewal for this domain came up. I thought long and hard for whether to bother renewing it… since its obvious to all that my blogposting on this has been much reduced since the advent of other social media platforms – notably for me Twitter, and because of the
Continue readingScott's Diatribes: Renewing the domain for another year
So my renewal for this domain came up. I thought long and hard for whether to bother renewing it… since its obvious to all that my blogposting on this has been much reduced since the advent of other social media platforms – notably for me Twitter, and because of the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP gobsmacked by widely anticipated Supreme Court ruling – Jason Kenney: No Plan, No Way!
According to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, he was so sure his government would win its challenge of the federal government’s carbon-mitigation law that he never gave it a second thought, let alone plan what to do if the Supreme Court of Canada thought otherwise. Gee, it just seemed like a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Supreme Court settles the carbon pricing matter in Ottawa’s favour – and maybe a lot more than that
Canadians worried about the survival of the country had cause for relief yesterday morning with news the Supreme Court of Canada had ruled 6-3 the federal government is entitled to impose a national carbon-pollution pricing system – in other words, to act like the government of Canada. Had the court
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: MP Alistair MacGregor calls for an emergency review of changes to regulations regarding frozen spot prawns
NDP MP Alistair MacGregor The progressive opposition FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 23, 2021 MP ALISTAIR MACGREGOR WRITES LETTER TO STANDING COMMITTEE ON FISHERIES AND OCEANS IN DEFENCE OF WEST COAST Read more… The post MP Alistair MacGregor calls for an emergency review of changes to regulations regarding frozen spot prawns
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Awkward! What can Erin O’Toole do now that Conservative Party delegates have ignored his plea to acknowledge climate change?
Question: What is Erin O’Toole supposed to do now that we all know 54 per cent of the delegates to his online Conservative Party of Canada policy convention have formally refused to acknowledge climate change is an actual thing? Answer: Pretend it never happened, of course. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Do we have a prime minister or a mouse? Canada doesn’t need U.S. permission to call China and bring the Two Michaels home
It appears China has thrown Canada an unexpected lifeline, offering us a chance to redeem our relationship with the world’s No. 2 economy and save the Two Michaels. Is Justin Trudeau up to the challenge? Canadian Michael Spavor (Photo: Facebook). On Friday, the Chinese government put Michael Spavor on trial
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Canada has only a few hours to play the only decent card it holds to free the Two Michaels – but that would take courage
News media reported yesterday China has announced the espionage trials of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor will go ahead swiftly this week and next leaving official Canada with only a few hours to play the only decent card it holds to free the unfortunate pair. Unhappily for the Two Michaels,
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Pro-Israel lobby group has no credibility to lecture NDP on racism
According to Yves Engler, the NDP’s upcoming convention will likely feature attempts by the party hierarchy to suppress two key resolutions on Palestine solidarity. Photo from Flickr. It’s heating up. With a month to go before the NDP convention, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) has twice attacked
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Canadian gun control discourse distracts us from far-right threats
Gun rights advocates attend a pro-gun rally in Richmond, Virginia, January 20, 2020. Photo from Flickr. In February, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government released further details of its plan to ban more than 1,500 “assault” and “assault-styled” weapons. These include a buyback program and options for municipalities to have individual laws
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Amid pandemic chaos, CFNU President Linda Silas ends bid to lead Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions President Linda Silas, an engaging and articulate public voice for a national drug insurance plan, enhanced public health care, and the rights of all working people, said yesterday she is ending her campaign to lead the Canadian Labour Congress. The global pandemic has upset a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta MP launches petition to make House of Commons stop calling assault rifles assault rifles
It is an actual fact that Alberta MP David Yurdiga launched a petition yesterday calling on the House of Commons to stop using the term “assault rifle” to describe assault rifles. Mr. Yurdiga is a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, naturally. United Conservative Party Calgary-North MLA Muhammad Yaseen
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Casino capitalism comes to newspapers and it sure looks like the dealin’s done!
Newspapering was a great career, fun and pretty well paid too, once upon a time. I’m pretty sure, though, that the whole daily newspaper thing is really closing in on the end of the line now. Evidence? Tom Kent, who led the Royal Commission on Newspapers in 1980 and 1981
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Was Travis Toews’s decision not to buy new boots in 2019 the start of the UCP’s run of bad fortune? Just askin’
While nervously awaiting Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews’s budget tomorrow, let’s spare a thought for the uniquely Canadian tradition of finance ministers buying new shoes to wear on Budget Day. According to the Wikipedia, Walter Edward Harris, who served a spell as finance minister in Louis St. Laurent’s Liberal cabinet,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Despite giving UCP a hard time, Critical Infrastructure Defence Act no threat to defiant pastor and his COVID-sceptical flock
Small groups of supporters of James Coates, the temporarily jailed pastor of an Edmonton-area church who has been defiantly refusing to obey Alberta’s COVID-19 restrictions, protested in front of the Edmonton Remand Centre Thursday and yesterday. They rallied outside that monumental piece of critical Alberta infrastructure demanding the GraceLife Church’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: With the Taliban on the cusp of controlling Afghanistan once again, we owe it to our dead to ask, ‘Was it worth it?’
Yesterday morning, the New York Times reported the Taliban is on the cusp of total victory in Afghanistan. The Times being the Times, of course, it didn’t put it quite that way. Former Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien (Photo: Jason Paris, Creative Commons). “The Taliban Close In on Afghan Cities,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Our annual Family Day toast to Don Getty, whose best-known achievement was one for the ages
The winters around here are long. Even with social media Canadians need a February holiday. Come to think of it, given what the Internet has turned into in the few years since it arrived on the scene with such promise, we need a February long weekend even more than we
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney chooses the cake department to unexpectedly announce one-time pandemic ‘bonus’ for front-line workers
Was Jason Kenney channelling Marie Antoinette when he appeared in front of an Edmonton grocery store’s cake counter yesterday to announce a one-time $1,200 pandemic payment to front-line workers? Many of the front-line workers risking COVID-19 to deliver us services from health care to retail confections may be badly paid,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Defying Jason Kenney’s pleas to take COVID-19 seriously, two UCP MLAs join ‘End the Lockdowns National Caucus’
Two MLAs from Premier Jason Kenney’s government caucus have joined a national coalition of elected and former politicians dedicated to the proposition restrictions on social and commercial activities intended to slow the spread of COVID-19 must end. Needless to say, centrifugal force is not a good look for a United
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