Iran and Saudi Arabia make nice
The Middle East has been an ugly place for some time. It has become humanity’s favourite region for killing each other although Vladimir Putin is attempting to return that honour…
Bill Longstaff
Joltin’ Judge Brown lasts one round
There was a mystery haunting our Supreme Court throughout February. Justice Russell Brown wasn’t showing up for work. Last week the mystery was solved. The judge has been suspended with…
BIG step toward saving the oceans
Along with our other environmental sins, we are fishing the oceans dry. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, over a third of global fisheries have been fished beyond…
Conservatives and the CBC
Pierre Poilievre has trotted out a recurrent theme in Conservative election platforms—he will “defund” the CBC. (Is “defund” a steal from woke-speak?) This is hardly surprising. The CBC is the…
We are so very rich
The money just rolls in—$892 per second. We are wallowing in it. Alberta’s non-renewable resource revenue for the 2022/23 fiscal year is the highest in history, by far—40 percent higher…
Dismissing the low taxes myth with a word
If there’s a common refrain in Conservative election platforms it’s lower taxes. No matter the current tax level, Conservatives believe it must be lower. If this is simply a belief…
Putin and Peter—What’s NATO got to do with it?
NATO is frequently brought up in the discussion of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Some pundits suggest it is a cause, even to some a justification. I would suggest NATO…
Jimmy Carter—a noble life
I was saddened to hear that former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has gone home to die. A statement from The Carter Center read “After a series of short hospital stays,…
Alberta NDP health care plan—back to the beginning
The Alberta election campaign begins. The NDP kick it off with their policy on what will no doubt be their, if not the entire campaign’s, major focus—health care. Their proposed…
The cats have been herded
Perhaps the best example of the expression “like trying to herd cats” in Canadian politics is attempting to get all the premiers to agree with the federal government. On the…
Population decline is a boon, not a bust
Great concern is being expressed about declining populations. Most recently we have read that even China, the most populous nation on Earth, now experiences a declining population, joining Japan, South…
Finally—Democrats romance the working class
Early in the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign, Donald Trump was the subject of much mockery. No way this buffoon could win said the pundits. Michael Moore, left-wing rabble-rouser and…
Reining in the reign of plastic
I was modestly surprised last week when my groceries were packed not in the usual plastic but in brown paper bags. The idea, of course, is to get away from…
Islam—is the fear justified?
When it comes to religion, I am not a believer nor am I a student of theology. I am but a mere observer, much more inclined to fact than faith.…
What about the atheists?
We hear a great deal about religious bigotry these days. Islamophobia so concerns the federal government that it recently appointed an anti-Islamophobia representative—Amira Elghawaby. (Ms. Elghawaby immediately got into hot…
Britain stumbles
Britain (and I suppose Canada) will soon celebrate a brand new king. Charles III will bring another new face to eleven centuries of English royalty. The nation, however, needs much…
Will Frances Widdowson get her job back?
Frances Widdowson was not Miss Popularity at Mount Royal University in Calgary. Over 6,000 people signed a petition calling for her firing. They wanted her gone. And gone she was.…
The welfare state and the American dream
The American founding fathers had a vision of a roughly equal society. At least for white people—others didn’t count in either the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. Equality was…
ExxonMobil—good science and bad behaviour
Back in the dim past, society entered into a great debate about the health effects of cigarette smoking, a noxious habit I practiced myself for many years. There were always…
Davos and me (and some Conservatives)
In 1971, German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab founded the World Economic Forum (WEF). The Forum is funded primarily by its corporate members—typically global corporations—with some public subsidies, and guided…