The new capitalism—reward without risk
Royal Dutch Shell chief executive Peter Voser earned more than $15-million in pay and bonuses in 2011, more than double his remuneration for 2010. Last year also saw Shell increase…
Bill Longstaff
The Alberta Advantage—for men only?
It seems the famous Alberta Advantage doesn’t apply to women. Alberta lags all other provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador in women’s wage parity with men. According to a report issued…
Peak oil? How about peak everything?
We are all familiar with the concept of peak oil. Oil is a non-renewable resource therefore at some point global production will reach its maximum capacity and then decline, creating…
Happy birthday, Douglas Adams
Today is Douglas Adams’ 60th birthday. Or it would be if he hadn’t been thoughtless enough to die in May of 2001, thereby depriving us of yet more of his…
Iran under siege … for 2,500 years
David Cameron hoisted himself onto the world stage once again, as he is wont to do, and declared Iran an international threat. This is rich coming from a British PM.…
Women win one, lose one … and so it goes
The good news is that the European Union is considering mandatory quotas to get more women on corporate boards. They have tried the voluntary approach and, as is so often…
Conservative war on truth escalates
The Conservative government made another assault on the gathering of facts with its announcement that it is closing the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Lab (PEARL) in Canada’s High Arctic. Its…
Baroness Tonge, Israel and the pain of political correctness
Of all the various catalysts of political correctness, perhaps Israel is the most powerful. Anyone who seriously criticizes Israel or seriously supports the Palestinians is seriously in danger of being…
Americans prefer small government … or do they?
It is a practically a cliche that Americans prefer small government. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center would seem to confirm this. When asked if government regulation did…
Are political donations and Alberta’s persistent condo problems related?
Justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done. — Lord Hewart, Seventh Lord Chief Justice of England The same might be said…
How Wall Street buys Washington
Oh, those fickle Wall Street bankers. In 2008, Barack Obama was their man for president. They lavished $71-million on the Democratic candidate, $10-million more than on his Republican rival. Goldman…
Al Jazeera’s Bahrain doc wins another award
For a definitive record of the 2011 protests against the kleptocratic Al Khalifa family, rulers of Bahrain, one cannot do better than the Al Jazeera documentary “Bahrain: Shouting in the…
Rick Santorum—an Antichrist?
Rick Santorum is a disturbing man. The candidate for Republican nominee for president has said things that if I were an American, I would find offensive if not frightening. For…
Syria and the reluctant alliance between al-Qaeda and the West
Al-Qaeda and Western nations agreeing on a policy of critical importance may seem strange, yet such is the case with Syria. Ayman al-Zawahiri, head of al-Qaeda, has publicly thrown his…
News flash—country rejects Olympic Games!!!
Hard to believe, but true—a country has rejected the possibility of hosting the Olympics. Rome had intended to bid for the 2020 Summer Games, but the Italian government has nixed…
2012—International Year of Co-operatives
“Cooperatives are a reminder to the international community that it is possible to pursue both economic viability and social responsibility.” — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon I heartily agree with…
Stephen Harper and the triumph of ideology over reason
Why did he do it? Why did Stephen Harper suggest we had a public pension funding problem when we don’t? And why did he proclaim his concern at an international…
Ontario shows greatest population growth
Per cents are not people. Per cents don’t hold jobs, buy products or pay taxes. People do. Yet it seems that most of the conversation about the 2011 census report…
Supreme Court Justice says U.S. constitution is dated
This will set the teeth of right-wing Americans on edge. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, in an interview on Egyptian television, said she wouldn’t recommend using the U.S.…