2020—A happy year?
2020 would seem to have been a tough year for happiness. But not for the Finns. Or for most of the rest of us for that matter. The World Happiness…
Bill Longstaff
We are all in this together … including the billionaires
We are all in this together. An expression we hear a a lot these days. And rightly so, as we depend on government to relieve the millions of people and…
Make America fair again?
The United States is the most unequal of the advanced countries. By far. And it’s getting worse. The ratio of the average income of the richest 10 percent to the…
Joe Biden—union man
During Joe Biden’s election campaign, he promised he would be “the most pro-union president you’ve ever seen.” This may be the most important promise he made, at least on the…
Lula—Brazil’s Biden?
Brazil and the United States have at least one thing in common in their recent political histories. Both had popular progressive presidents replaced by fascists: Donald Trump replacing Barack Obama…
The royal soap opera takes centre stage
My goodness, why do we fuss over these silly people. Two over-privileged royals whine on TV about not being treated royally enough and the nation is all atwitter. The most…
Shannon Phillips and the Lethbridge cops
Women in politics are routinely subjected to hate mail from assorted misogynists. Lethbridge-West MLA Shannon Phillips is no exception. According to her constituency assistant, “We used to say that if…
All hands on deck to rig the oil market
The oil industry and the free market are not well acquainted. The price of oil has long been manipulated more by cartels than by free markets. Since the 1970s, the…
Curing the planet’s humanity problem
The planet Earth has a problem—a bad case of advanced-stage humanity. It is much more virulent and far more dangerous than a mere coronavirus, which threatens only a few species.…
Sovereign killers and the “Khashoggi ban”
So, according to U.S. intelligence, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman whacked journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Confirmation of something we already knew. The crown prince is a cold-blooded killer. Regardless…
Sensible Alberta voice appointed to Net-Zero Advisory Body
I was pleased to hear that the Pembina Institute’s executive-director, Linda Coady, has been appointed to the federal government’s new Net-Zero Advisory Body. The body is an independent group of…
The difference between a Democrat and a Republican
One of the brightest lights to appear recently on the stage of American politics is the absolutely delightful Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Bright, charming, compassionate and—I have to say it—gorgeous, the Democratic…
Alberta business proposes more taxes
We don’t generally think of proposals for more taxes coming from the business community but that’s exactly what happened in Alberta this week. The Business Council of Alberta has issued…
Joe Biden—a Teddy or an FDR?
Many progressives are hoping for great things from Joe Biden. The United States faces huge problems aside from the pandemic and its economic fallout. There is an opportunity here for…
Colombia welcomes the Bolivarian exodus
Not everyone is welcoming refugees these days, particularly in the Americas. That’s why it was encouraging to read about Colombia’s generous treatment of the millions of refugees pouring across the…
Even the World Bank supports a wealth tax
While recognizing the danger of increasing inequality in Western societies, I have not been a fan of a wealth tax, one of the more commonly offered solutions. I have been…
How corrupt is Canada?
How corrupt is our country? Not very. But we can do better. According to Transparency International’s (TI) 2020 report, we are in eleventh place on their Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).…
Conflating capitalism and global warming is a mistake
Many on the left insist that dealing with global warming necessitates dealing with capitalism. Because the latter causes the former, they say, it is the root of the problem. Replacing…
The centennial of broken Liberal promises on PR
A recent newsletter from Fair Vote Canada reminded us that the Liberals have been promising proportional representation (PR) for 100 years. And not delivering. In 2021 we celebrate, if that’s…
Time to start paying Mother Nature back
I’ve long thought that the sensible approach to the global economy is obvious, if complex. We calculate what the Earth can sustainably provide in terms of natural resources, then we…