The Conscience Chronicles
UPDATE: As this was being readied for posting, the Standing Committee on Private Bills and Private Members’ Public Bills voted to recommend that Bill 207 not move forward in its…
Alberta
The Extraordinary Arrogance of "Kamikaze" Kenney
Lorne Gibson, Alberta’s elections commissioner, has had his differences with the province’s Conservatives. In 2009, he was Alberta’s chief electoral officer and, unhappy with the 2008 election, he recommended 182…
The Day of the Blacksmith.
We might be just one of many commentators trying to fathom the actions of Alberta’s premier. The other day, the province’s main apologist, Gillian Steward, reported in the Toronto Star…
In the job nobody wanted.
Watching the West Block’s Mercedes Stephenson trying to interview Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Québécois, on Sunday caused mixed emotions. Here is the guy who took on the job…
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Chris Hedges writes about the damage oligarchs are doing to humanity and the planet. And Dominic Rushe points out how whiny the…
Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – PressProgress highlights the latest example of the obscene concentration of wealth in Canada, as a mere 45 people own more than the GDP…
"Alberta is in danger of becoming the Don Cherry of Canadian politics."
Nothing quite like a good one-liner. Wisdom in a few words. And Graham Thomson, one of the better columnists writing about Alberta politics, started my day off with a beauty…
Alberta should say no to own police.
We are hearing a lot of bad ideas from Alberta of late. When premier Kenney gets into a hissy-fit, he rails and rants a lot and he comes up with…
New column day
Here, on how Scott Moe has been left alone and isolated by the supposed “resistance”. (Though I’ll admit I underestimated his willingness to declare his unthinking support for anything suggested…
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
It seems that we are dealing totally in the small stuff these days. Imagine getting outraged by that blowhard on Coach’s Corner between the first and second period of Hockey…
Would It Help To Dump Alberta?
The G20’s Climate Transparency group issued its annual report this week grading all member countries on their climate performance and found them all wanting. The report said only about half…
Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Daniel Tencer reports on Ray Dalio’s recognition that the economic system which made him a multi-billionaire is broken. And Harvey Cashore, Chelsea Gomez…
Oilberta
Alberta has long been a puppet of the oil and gas business but Kenney’s compulsion to deliver benefits to this private sector is unprecedented. It is as if Alberta’s right…
‘Goddamn the CPR.’
Can you imagine two more Canadian icons than journalist Allan Fotheringham and the Canadian Pacific Railway? It came as a pleasant surprise recently to see a television interview with ‘Doc…
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…
Ten things to know about the 2019-20 Alberta budget
I’ve just written a ‘top 10’ overview of the recent Alberta budget. Points raised in the post include the following: -The budget lays out a four-year strategy of spending cuts,…
Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Michael Spence discusses how a wealth tax can work, while noting that the worst possible response to growing inequality is to refuse to…
Ten things to know about poverty measurement in Canada
I’ve written a blog post providing an overview of poverty measurement in Canada. Points raised in the post include the following: -One’s choice of poverty measure has a major impact…
How A Liberal Minority Government Might Impact Corporate Environmental Outlook
The 2019 Canadian election resulted in a Liberal minority government led by Justin Trudeau. How might it impact your corporate environmental policy? To help guide your outlook we highlight notable…
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…