Democracy or Putinism?
Vladimir Putin has been quoted as saying that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” Whether or not his words have been interpreted…
Bill Longstaff
Alberta after Fossil Fuels
Alberta and oil are almost synonymous. But if the province is to do its share to avoid the apocalypse that global warming threatens, it must kick the oil habit, or…
Time for Evo to Go?
Evo Morales has done great things for Bolivia. Perhaps his most important contribution has been giving Brazil’s indigenous people their country back. For centuries after the conquest, as has been…
Can Trudeau Make a Future with Alberta?
Life is full of little surprises. Often pleasant ones. I encountered such a surprise this week reading the Calgary Herald, not a paper usually on my wave length. And yet…
The Climate Case for Impeachment
Will they or won’t they? Impeach the Donald, I mean. As the U.S. Congress moves glacially along the impeachment path, I propose impeaching him not on the grounds of his…
The unbridgeable gap: Alberta and Saskatchewan
One result of the recent election is a certain amount of angst about Alberta and Saskatchewan failing to elect a single Liberal. How to ameliorate the alienation felt by this…
Eastern Europe happy (mostly) with democracy and free markets
In November, 1989, the world’s most infamous wall came down and the “Evil Empire” crumbled away. The communist regimes of Eastern Europe collapsed like dominoes and by 1990 free elections…
A bad night for politicians, but not so bad for the country
It was not a good night for political parties. Clearly, the voters were not about to commend the Liberals for their four years in power. And just as clearly, they…
Apparently I’m a Quebecker
Vote Compass recently published a survey of Canadians’ attitudes toward a variety of issues. The results were broken down by province, scaling how much respondents agreed or disagreed with different…
Living with the apocalypse
Is it time to recognize that we are politically incapable of dealing with global warming? Is the gap between what is politically acceptable and what is scientifically necessary too great?…
War Rooms, Secrecy and a Little Patronage—Democracy in Alberta
Former journalist and conservative lobbyist Tom Olsen was the UCP candidate in my riding of Calgary-Buffalo in this spring’s Alberta election. Tom lost to Joe Ceci of the NDP, but…
Perfidious America
Early in 2018, U.S. President Donald J. Trump withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, a deal largely negotiated by and signed off on by his own country.…
Scapegoating the oil industry
I always admired that great philosopher Pogo. I still remember the picture of he and a friend looking out over their polluted swamp as he uttered those immortal words, “We…
One Gem in the LIberal Package
With promises flying about right and left as the election approaches, one gem emerged from the Liberal package: “We will establish the Canadian Centre for Peace, Order, and Good Government,…
Will automation steal all our jobs?
Yet another report predicts we are all going to be replaced by machines. Well, maybe not us, but our jobs at least. The report, issued for Wells Fargo clients, predicts…
Scheer would make us even worse cheapskates on foreign aid
When Andrew Scheer released his party’s foreign policy earlier this year it turned out to be in large part a copy of Donald Trump’s. Pandering to the Israelis, hypocritical approach…
"We need a carbon tax"—oil company CEO
MEG Energy Corp. is a Canadian oil company focused on in situ tar sands production. Its CEO, Derek Evans, claims the company intends to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. The…
Trust in science falls—due to global warming?
Greta Thunberg made a statement to the U.S. Congress the other day that, like most of what she says, was simple, profound and obvious at the same time. Simple (only…
Is Universal Suffrage Logical? Is it Moral?
Not everyone is a fan of democracy. Other than those who outright prefer dictatorship of one kind or another, some critics simply don’t trust all citizens having equal power over…
Media waking up on climate crisis
I have long been puzzled why the growing climate crisis has not been better covered in the media. For the greatest threat facing humanity it seemed to get few column…