Paint it or rape it: would the Group of Seven condone the tar sands?
Lawren Harris, Lake Superior Sketch XLV (collection: A.K. Prakash) Rather like waiting for a London bus, you wait some time for a decent exhibition of landscape art and then two…
Alberta
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…
Alberta’s Electrolux Throne Speech: breathtaking in its vacuity, but quite possibly effective
Your blogger with Tory campaign mastermind Stephen Carter. Below, Charles Dickens, who also wrote a good story; Finance Minister Ron Liepert. It was either the best of Throne Speeches or…
Alberta and Saskatchewan vie for pollution title
Alberta is generally considered to be Canada’s pollution champion. And it deserves the honour. With 11 per cent of the country’s population it contributes 34 per cent of the country’s…
Enemygate: Harper’s divisive politics
Margaret Atwood has dubbed it ‘Enemygate’. ForestEthics whistleblower Andrew Frank accuses Harper of bullying tactics. John Bennett of the Sierra Club frets that this is “a scary time for Canadian…
Odious profits and the Enbridge pipeline
Two obvious but generally unstated details about the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline are climate change and that oil and gas companies stand to make mega-profits. An honest appraisal of the…
The sum of some
Earlier today, federal, provincial and territorial justice and public safety ministers finished their annual meeting in Charlottetown. Among the items under discussion, was Quebec’s request that the Harper Tory government…
Dances With Oil
If Stephen Harper were a character in a Hollywood epic movie about the western Canadian frontier, and went to live with the First Nations people, I can’t help but think…
Job Vacancies vs. Unemployment
Progressive economists have advocated expansionary fiscal and monetary policies to boost demand and create jobs, given the high rate of unemployment. By contrast, employers and conservative commentators complain of unfilled…
Education disadvantage
If a cash-strapped province or state had to make painful cuts to public services, the immediately noticeable effect would be the outright elimination of some of them. One would not…
Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Environics’ polling on inequality shows over 80% of Canadians wanting to see governments reduce the disparity between the rich and the poor –…
Alberta supports Quebec long gun registry
Last week while we were busy doing other things, Alberta Premier Alison Redford visited Quebec. Over the course of the visit, the Premier was asked about her views on the…
Double whammy
We all understand that, sometimes, financial hardship is simply a fact of life. And I do believe that most of us are willing to endure painful sacrifices, in the pursuit…
Are Enbridge’s job numbers credible?
Putting aside the impact of the proposed Enbridge pipeline on GHG emissions or spills on land and at sea, the case in favour of the pipeline rests on creating jobs.…
Canadians Ignore the Warning Lesson of Haiti’s Environmental Destruction At Our Peril
Today marks two years since the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti where more than 200,000 died and an estimated 1 million were left homeless. We are used to hearing that Haiti…
On Kitimat…
The proposed oil pipeline from Bruderheim, AB to Kitimat, BC will spill. It is not a question of if, but when — and by how much. FYI, oil and gas…
Rainbow Pipeline Leak — Eight Months Later…
It has been 8 months since Plains Midstream Canada reported that there had been a Rainbow Pipeline leak, 100 km NE of Peace River, Alberta. As of December 2, 2011,…
Chiquita si, tar sands no
Chiquita Brands has caused a bit of a flutter on the Canadian scene by announcing it will avoid using fuel from Alberta’s tar sands. The company says it has joined…