James Madison said tyranny arises “on some favourable emergency”. The COVID-19 pandemic is today’s “favourable emergency.” It’s being used by unscrupulous politicians as a smokescreen for undemocratic behavior in Alberta’s…
This whole Babylon smartphone app partnership between the Alberta government and Telus Corp. is starting to look like a major blunder. If he’s smart, Health Minister Tyler Shandro will recognize…
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Adam Tooze writes that the coronavirus pandemic has offered a reminder that the economy (particularly defined in terms of shareholders’ interests) can’t be…
Get ready for the new two-tier medicine! Real doctors for the rich; Internet apps of the rest of us. Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro (Photo: Government of Alberta). You think…
The novel coronavirus hit China first. Today was the first day China reported no new local infections since the global pandemic officially began in Hubei province in the fall of…
According to Bill Morneau, “as Minister of Finance, my only job is to make sure that Canadians can keep food in the fridge.” That’s actually a rare useful thought for…
As Lyndon B. Johnson famously explained, in politics, chicken poop can turn over night into chicken salad. Those weren’t exactly the words used by the late United States Senator from…
Faced with the embarrassment of having to rewrite Alberta’s budget to acknowledge economic reality and public health necessity in the midst of a global pandemic or stick with one that…
Community transmission of COVID-19 is now taking place in Alberta as numbers of cases grew by 17 over the past 24 hours to 56, Premier Jason Kenney told the province’s…
“The first role of government is to help people in crisis or need. That’s why we have government.”– John McCain Crisis separates the leaders from wannabes. We will be watching…
Beware the Ides of March! It’ll be interesting to see if Premier Jason Kenney can find a way to pass his budget, prorogue the Legislature, and get the heck outta…
Hey! It’s Friday the 13th in the age of the coronavirus. Are you feeling lucky? Apparently Tyler Shandro and Tara Jago are. Alberta Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw…
Come into my office, Alberta, and sit down. I’m sorry to have to tell you that your prognosis is not good. I’m not talking about coronavirus. That will be painful,…
Anybody remember Stephen Harper’s plan to turn Canada into “an energy superpower”? That was in July 2006, a dream articulated in Mr. Harper’s first speech abroad as Canada’s prime minister.…
Dr. Elaine Hyshka, associate professor at the University of Alberta School of Public Health, joins Dave Cournoyer to discuss supervised consumption clinics in Alberta and the flaws in the United…
On Feb 27, 2020 the Kenney government released Budget 2020. The day it was tabled it was under water, less than two weeks later it drowned. It sank beneath the…
A big fight with Alberta’s doctors might have seemed like a good idea when the United Conservative Party’s strategic braintrust came up with the plan a few weeks ago. But…
COVID-19 has arrived in Alberta. But first, we need to talk about how the United Conservative Party Government has found a nearly perfect formula for dealing with science when it…
After my father died in Victoria in 2008 at the age of 91, my sister opened his safety deposit box and discovered $5,000 in shares in the British Columbia Resources…
U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s incompetent and ideologically driven response to the international coronavirus crisis poses a serious national security threat to Canada. Can we do anything about it? Say,…
