Will Frances Widdowson get her job back?
Frances Widdowson was not Miss Popularity at Mount Royal University in Calgary. Over 6,000 people signed a petition calling for her firing. They wanted her gone. And gone she was.…
Alberta
FINDING OUR WAY IN UNCHARTED TIMES
FINDING OUR WAY IN UNCHARTED TIMESA sextant was an indispensable navigation tool in the early days of European ocean going discovery. Unlike Heisenberg's Theory of Uncertainty, a sextant could tell…
FINDING OUR WAY IN UNCHARTED TIMES
FINDING OUR WAY IN UNCHARTED TIMESA sextant was an indispensable navigation tool in the early days of European ocean-going discovery. Unlike Heisenberg's Theory of Uncertainty, a sextant could tell you…
Why this Albertan doesn’t want the feds to “butt out”
Our quasi-separatist premier insists that her infamous Alberta Sovereignty Act was all about forcing Ottawa to “butt out” of areas that constitutionally belong to Alberta. She has however been somewhat…
Rachel disappoints me
After Rachel Notley recently suggested Ottawa should trash its proposed “just transition” legislation, she was asked if her position might alienate her base. As someone who qualifies as a member…
Constitutional ramblings
Constitutions are in the news these days. More perhaps in Alberta than the rest of the country because of Premier Danielle Smith’s separatist manifesto the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United…
Today’s news: Its a "Tridemic" now
I guess they’re calling it a “tridemic” now — the triple hammer of Covid, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that is destroying our hospitals. This time, its the children:…
Homo sapiens—a hierarchical species
Observing the recent political shenanigans in Alberta one notes an intriguing pattern of human behaviour. During the recent competition for leader of the UCP, and therefore for premier of the…
Jason Kenney, a moderate?
During Jason Kenney’s reign over our province, I never thought of him as a particularly nice man. Actions like de-indexing the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped program from inflation…
Queen Danielle and the separatist coup
When Danielle Smith first proposed her sovereignty act, I assumed, naively, that she meant the sovereignty of Alberta. Now, after the act has been presented and has seen the light…
Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Greg Iacurci discusses how long COVID is set to cause trillions of dollars of damage to the U.S.’ economy (to say nothing of…
Today’s News: Feeling so misunderstood
I don’t understand why Alberta and Saskatchewan feel so misunderstood and persecuted and hard-done-by all the time. Fact of life: Canada’s population is not fairly distributed across the country and…
Cold weather blues and other news
So pending Twitter’s possible demise, I have now signed up at Mastodon and at Tribel — I’m not sure either of them can work as easily as Twitter did so…
Gain Danielle Smith, lose Deena Hinshaw—not a fair exchange
On Monday Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, was in effect fired. Thus our new premier, Danielle Smith, kept a campaign promise. We get Danielle Smith, a conspiracy-spouting…
Methane EMIT
There’s a European satellite watching for methane pollution. It spotted a big leak in Alberta. ISS has a camera called EMIT attached and it can see methane plumes on Earth.…
Alberta’s very own tax cut fiasco
A recent tax cut for the rich managed to achieve international notoriety. Former British Prime Minster Liz Truss, a neo-liberal zealot à la her idol Margaret Thatcher, ushered in her…
Why I support Collin May’s lawsuit
In May of this year, lawyer Collin May was appointed by cabinet order as chief of the Alberta Human Rights Commission after serving on the commission for three years. Then…
Spare us the dogma, ladies
Normally, I am pleased to see women emerge as political leaders. We need more women in positions of leadership in our governance. What we do not need are more free-market…
The amazing Mr. Madu
Jason Kenney warned us. Prior to stepping down as premier, he suggested it was important he stay on to prevent the UCP from being taken over by “lunatics” and “kooky…
Alberta, a renewables leader?
OK, Alberta creates more greenhouse gasses than any other province. Let’s get that out of the way. We are, after all, the country’s major oil and gas producer—being the emissions…