Saturday Photo: Because We Need a Smile..
It’s up to you to choose which smile, of course! Came across this smiley-hat wearing gargoyle this week. It seems to embody the crazy back-and-forth emotions of this crazy time…
February 2021
Where Fools Congragate
CPAC — the Conservative Political Action Conference — is taking place over the weekend in Orlando, Florida. It’s interesting to see who isn’t there. Lawrence Martin writes: A star of…
More Musings on Tea
Back in 1946, while England was still recovering from the deprivations of WWII and under rationing, the prolific George Orwell wrote his essay “A Nice Cup of Tea” with his…
The Lion Baulks on the Yellow Brick Road.
On the road to the coming federal election, none of the other parties should count on Jagmeet Singh’s new democrats to support their call. Singh, the lion from Brampton, Ontario,…
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig tops Alberta independent bookshops’ fiction bestseller list for week ended Feb. 21
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021. The lists are compiled…
Not even a peanut stand
Believe it or not, the Horgan Government is even worse than BC Liberals on natural gas. But don’t expect them to admit it.
Why Erin O’Toole Is Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Base
I can only imagine how Outhouse O'Toole must have reacted after learning that Health Canada had approved the AstraZeneca vaccine But it couldn't have been pretty, even with all that…
Three feet by four feet.
New one. Among other things, paint is hard to find in a pandemic.
It’s not too late for Canada to support a temporary waiver of COVID vaccine patents
It is not too late for Canada to support the temporary waiving of intellectual property rights to enable poor countries to import cheap generic versions of patented COVID-19 vaccines. Photo…
Where’s Trudeau’s pipeline for water to First Nations?
Chief Hector Shorting displays his community’s contaminated water outside his home in Little Saskatchewan First Nation. Photo courtesy of Little Saskatchewan First Nation. In 1995, Health Canada and Indian and…
Has a Riot Bloomed Into an Insurrection?
Before volcanoes erupt there’s normally plenty of warning. The volcano goes from dormant to active in stages. Precursors include an increase in the frequency and intensity of earthquakes, steaming or…
"The Hole We’ve Already Dug For Ourselves."
Jason Kenney must be kicking himself for not just hanging around Ottawa to succeed Stephen Harper. His trip to take the reins as premier of Alberta has become a succession…
Freedom & Power
I am, for the record, perfectly comfortable with where and how I have positioned myself. I am passionately and steadfastly in favour of freedom, democracy, constitutional rule and human rights;…
Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jason Hickel writes that on a global scale, poverty is the result of inequality and the misallocation of resources rather than underdevelopment. And…
OER and User Pay
Thanks to Jeff Rubenstein for a thoughtful comment. I agree that the division between ‘content’ and ‘paper + ink’ isn’t always the best way to approach the discussion, and should…
A Cure for Deficit and Tax Phobia
It started as a FB post, morphed into this blog, and who knows what’s next: the case for an approach to public finance that enables the level of ambition these…
A Social Disease
Republicans are objecting to some of Joe Biden’s appointments. Jennifer Rubin writes that most of them are women of colour. For instance, they attacked Neera Tanden, President Biden’s nominee to…
Racial capitalism and the betrayal of Haiti
PetroCaribe Challenge protestors in Haiti, August 19, 2018. Photo from Wikimedia Commons. Domination by multinational corporations and “light-skinned” local capitalists—that’s the story of Haiti as illustrated by one recent event.…
Biden is ahead of Trudeau on climate.
Hey Joe, what did you think of the hypocrisy you got from Trudeau during your virtual summit on Tuesday? One of the first items of business when you became U.S.…
Alberta Budget 2021 hot take: Sweeter language, same old ‘fiscal reckoning,’ and no path to balance
When Finance Minister Travis Toews got up on his hind legs in the Alberta Legislature to read his 2021 Budget Speech Thursday afternoon, there wasn’t as much tough talk about…