The World’s Most Dangerous Man
There are a lot of unpleasant people running countries these days. North Korea’s Kim Jong-un for example, surrounding himself with nuclear weapons while his people starve. Or China’s Xi Jinping,…
Bill Longstaff
Citizens’ Assemblies Gaining Favour
Democracy has been producing some perverse results recently. A prime example is our neighbour to the south. In 2016, the American people elected Hillary Clinton, one of the most qualified…
Promise of a Collective Voice for the Precariat
Along with much else, the workplace has seen a transformation. Fifty years ago, workers looked forward to full-time, secure jobs with good wages and benefits. Often, the quality of their…
Taiwanese Choose Freedom and Democracy
Last Saturday the Taiwanese re-elected President Tsai Ing-Wen. Tsai won more votes than any presidential candidate since Taiwan began holding direct elections for president in 1996. Her party also maintained…
Why Do We Choose Fools to Lead Us?
Let’s face it, most of us aren’t all that bright. Or all that wise. Today we live in a quite remarkable hi-tech society. We can communicate instantaneously with someone on…
Holocaust in Australia—We Are All Guilty
Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia, has been referred to as a blockhead, which is fair, and not because his large head is rather squarish. He was warned by his…
Defending the Indefensible Left and Right
People of the left and, one would hope, also many on the right, look on with horror as Republican politicians unconditionally support their degenerate president. Trump once boasted “I could…
The Most Consequential Decision of the Decade
This is the time when we commonly look back over the year, or decade, or century, and pronounce our choice of the most significant event or events. There are endless…
War Rooms and Coal Barons
Alberta’s recently constituted “war room,” sometimes known as the Canadian Energy Centre, is off to a rocky start. First we learned it plagiarized its logo and now it turns out…
Christian Editor Disses Trump
Donald Trump may have evangelical Christians wrapped around his tiny finger, but at least one of note has expressed a dissenting view. Editor in chief Mark Galli of the magazine…
Are Albertans Regretting Their Decision?
Jason Kenney and his UCP won a convincing victory in Alberta’s April election, winning 55 percent of the popular vote, impressive in a country where 40 percent often gains a…
Is the Democratic World Losing India?
India has been a jewel in the crown of democracy ever since it achieved independence in 1947. Despite mass poverty, religious and caste violence, insurgencies, separatism in Jammu and Kashmir,…
Time Recognizes the Adult in the Room
What a time we live in when children have to tell adults to behave responsibly. But such times these are. Consider Greta Thunberg and Donald Trump. Which, we might ask,…
Is This the Line in the Sand?
Crunch time. How far will Trudeau go to placate Alberta? Premier Kenney may just have drawn the line in the sand. He has said that the federal government faces a…
Reality is Confirmed
Reality is essentially what science tells us it is. Everything else is speculation. About the worst story about reality that science has been telling us lately is that we are…
OPEC Rides to the Rescue
Although Albertans have always thought of their enviable wealth resulting from entrepreneurship, hard work and the free market, that isn’t quite the case. We are an entrepreneurial place and we…
Is Kenney Costing Alberta Investment and Jobs?
Calgary Economic Development CEO Mary Moran reported recently that a tech company that had considered setting up its head office in Calgary had changed it mind. The reason? Talk of…
Trudeau Dumps Democracy Portfolio
Looking over the Prime Minister’s new cabinet, one portfolio that stood out because of its absence was Minister of Democratic Institutions. This is, or was, a portfolio with something of…
Kudos to Carney (and Good Luck!)
Mark Carney is a banker par excellence, a Canadian boy who made the big time. He served as Governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013 and is…
We Spend More Than Enough on Our Military
Once again the Americans are leaning on us to spend more on our military. The new U.S. national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, insists it is an “urgent priority” that American…