Posted inAlberta Politics

Pay and benefits for long term care workers must be protected — and not just during the COVID-19 crisis

It should be obvious by now that if a society wants to keep long-term care for the frail and elderly from turning into a deadly nightmare during pandemics, it must ensure privately run long-term-care centres provide their employees with the same wages, benefits and working conditions as those who work for the public health care […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Jason Kenney offers medical equipment to Ontario, Quebec and B.C.; pitches national solidarity on resource development

One hates to play the skunk at a garden party, but somebody needs to ask the question a lot of Albertans must be thinking. To wit, if less than a week ago we barely had enough N95 medical masks for Alberta’s hard-pressed nurses, doctors and other front-line health care workers to work for the next […]

Posted inBestsellers

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel tops Alberta independent bookstores’ fiction bestseller list

Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, April 5, 2020. The lists are compiled by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, and include sales at Audreys Books in Edmonton and Glass Bookshop in Edmonton. ALBERTA FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. The […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Docs fight Alberta pay cuts in court, seeking $250 million, while battling COVID-19 on the front lines of health care

Yesterday morning, Christine Molnar, president of the Alberta Medical Association, announced that the province’s doctors are launching a constitutional challenge and seeking $250 million in compensation from the United Conservative Party Government for the way it tore up their contract two months ago. Yesterday afternoon, Health Minister Tyler Shandro showed up at Chief Medical Officer […]

Posted inGeopolitics

OK, Canada’s good to go for those 3M medical masks — at least until Donald Trump changes his mind again

As is often the case when dealing with Donald Trump, the saga of the five million N95 respirators built by Minnesota’s 3M Co. and purchased by Ontario keeps changing. On Saturday, the U.S. President invoked the Defense Production Act to force the Maplewood, Minn.-based multinational to stop sending Canadians the suddenly precious pieces of medical […]

Posted inCanadian Politics

Virus-blocking masks are part of our future — it’s time to dump Canada’s unconstitutional anti-mask law

Universal adoption of homemade face masks would have huge health and economic benefits in the current global coronavirus pandemic, says a paper published a few days ago by seven Yale professors. “We estimate that the benefits of each additional cloth mask worn by the public are conservatively in the $3,000-$6,000 (US) range due to their […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

The premier is disappointed? Where did Alberta’s Mr. Belligerence go when Donald Trump told 3M not to ship N95s to Canada?

Where’s the tough guy we got to know during the last Alberta election campaign, the Jason Kenney of the Summer of Repeal, the War Room and the War on Foreign Funded European Urban Greens? The Alberta premier’s favourite American president, Donald J. Trump, say’s he won’t let 3M Co. of Maplewood, Minn., ship any more […]

Posted inBestsellers

The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel tops independent Alberta bookshops’ fiction bestseller list for third week

Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, March 29, 2020. The lists are compiled by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, and include sales at Audreys Books in Edmonton and Glass Bookshop in Edmonton. Sorry about missing this list […]