Among other things, Danielle Smith’s announcement yesterday afternoon of big provincial bucks for a new downtown arena for the Calgary Flames represents yet another flip-flop for Alberta’s premier. Billionaire Calgary Flames Part owner N. Murray Edwards (Photo: Facebook video screenshot). Alberta taxpayers will sink $330 million or more into the
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In This Corner: Go Jets go! Right?
The other day I turned on the television to find an NHL game in progress. I was shocked. I thought the hockey season ended months ago. It had for me, anyway. Stranger still, the game featured a team identified on the screen only as VGK. VGK? Could it be the
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: City Council needs to get it right on Northlands Coliseum redevelopment
It has been about 10 years since the City of Edmonton seriously began studying the concept of funding the construction of a downtown arena, and 6 years since City Council voted to approve a financial deal with the Edmonton Oilers and its billionaire owner, Daryl Katz, to construct a new arena.
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 24: Enough Canada already … eh?
I am now, officially, Canada’d out. Canada celebrated the 150th anniversary of Confederation on Saturday with an orgy of government-sponsored patriotism. Now, I’m as patriotic as the next person, but I feel like I’ve OD’d in the most Canadian way … on maple syrup. Even that joke is too Canadian
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 16: I’m done with the NHL.
When the Oilers are eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs — maybe tonight, maybe Wednesday, maybe in the next series — I can officially quit watching hockey. I can’t do it right now. That would be like watching 90 minutes of a two-hour movie and turning it off, or reading
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Silence on the right and in the media about NDP role as Alberta adds an impressive 20,000 full-time jobs in March
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, who is not getting any credit for her economic successes from the Opposition or the media. Below: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci; Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall; and University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe (CBC photo). Alberta added an impressive 20,000 full-time jobs in March, according
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Still Happens, week 37: Judging the judges
This week, an Alberta judge found Travis Vader guilty in the deaths of elderly couple Lyle and Marie McCann. Queen’s Bench Justice Denny Thomas found Vader guilty of second degree murder, despite the facts that no trace of the McCann’s has ever been found, no weapon was found, and the evidence was entirely circumstantial. Oh, […]
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Still Happens, week 26: Oiler fans say, ‘What the Hall?’
It’s summer here in the Great Green North, the brief respite from the snow and cold and ceaseless hockey talk. Or at least that’s supposed to be the way it goes. While there are no reports of winter weather, hockey news just never goes away. This week, the obsessive fan base of the Edmonton Oilers […]
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Still Happens, week 13: Horror in Lahore; more Trumpism
Remember the horrible attack last week in Belgium? Of course you do; it’s still in the news. But on Easter Sunday, there was another terrorist attack that was worse by multiple factors, yet it hardly rated a mention. On Easter Sunday in Lahore, Pakistan, hundreds of people had gathered in one of the city’s largest […]
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Do billionaires fleeing Canadian taxes deserve public subsidies for their Alberta franchises?
PHOTOS: CNRL Executive Chairperson N. Murray Edwards, a billionaire. (Wikipedia photo). Below: Twitter gadfly Dave Beninger (Facebook grab), Law Professor Catherine Brown (University of Calgary photo), former Alberta Premier Alison Redford and billiona…
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Still Happens, week 9: Skinny cable is malnourished; Justin Trudeau, superstar
The big news in Canadian TV was all about the skinny. Last year, the CRTC ordered Canadian cable providers to provide a basic package of cable channels — commonly called skinny — for only $25. The package had to include a minimum local and regional TV stations, channels with mandatory distribution (like the watched-by-no one […]
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Still Happens, week 7: Horse racing put down; The Rebel yells
Edmonton Northlands, the so-called ‘agricultural society’ that has been a force in Edmonton since Edmonton was in diapers, announced a sweeping plan to rebuilt the soon-to-be-vacant arena and the area surrounding it. It’s partly a great idea, and partly nutty. The great idea, if they can find $85 million between the government’s couch cushions, is […]
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Three days left to support the Pride Tape kickstarter
1,083 backers have stepped up to donate $70.073 in support the Pride Tape kickstarter campaign since it was started in December 2015. Launched by the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the University of Alberta and supported by Ca…
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 51: It was a very bad year
Well, I did it. And I’m sure you’re thrilled. When I started writing this blog, I vowed to write a weekly review of events as I saw them. I did it mostly as a personal challenge, a way to instil a little discipline in my undisciplined life, and to boost my memory of the events […]
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Year in review: from plunging oil to rising hope, the Top Ten news stories of 2015
PHOTOS: Cameras try to follow a nearly invisible Rachel Notley through the crowd at an Edmonton hotel on May 5, 2015, moments after she had been declared the winner of the Alberta election. No one could quite believe that the NDP had just won a majorit…
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 45: Everybody loves France.
The world is still coming to grips with the Paris attacks of last week. From late night talk shows to international soccer (a.k.a. football) matches to Facebook postings, the world is showing solidarity with the French. This might be the one good thing to come of this horrendous event; next to Americans, the French are […]
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 43: ‘Trudeau II: The son also rises’ makes its debut; pipeline politics
It’s now official — Prime Minister Trudeau. For those of us of a certain age, that has a familiar ring. Now, I’m not a naturally optimistic person. I see myself as more of a realist. However, I’m strangely optimistic about our new government. Maybe it’s just the residual joy of
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 35: Refugees keep coming; Liz sets employment record
The European refugee crisis continued unabated this week, and the numbers are staggering. For example, Germany has announced that it will accept 500,000 refugees. Every year. For several years. Germany is a big country, with 81 million people, but a half-million refugees every year for several years is an awful
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 35: Refugees keep coming; Liz sets employment record
The European refugee crisis continued unabated this week, and the numbers are staggering. For example, Germany has announced that it will accept 500,000 refugees. Every year. For several years. Germany is a big country, with 81 million people, but a half-million refugees every year for several years is an awful
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 28: Your bribe is in the mail; Republicans are Trumped
So, have you received your bribe yet? Stephen Harper’s utterly shameless federal Conservatives are in the process of giving away $3 billion in tax dollars to “hard working Canadian families” (is there any other kind of Canadian family?) in the form of monthly cheques for families with kids. The benefit cheques
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