It was inevitable that sooner or later someone would challenge the United Conservative Party Government’s so-called Critical Infrastructure Defence Act, which appears on its face to include patently unconstitutional attacks on fundamental rights protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In the event, the challenge was sooner and the challenger was the Alberta […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
The federal Conservative leadership race takes a turn both sinister and juvenile
Probably the last thing the Conservative Party of Canada needs right now is a side battle over allegations of dirty tricks and data theft between the campaigns of the two leading candidates in an already uninspiring leadership race. I mean, it’s not as if frontrunners Peter MacKay or Erin O’Toole are the sort of leaders […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
If he loves his country as he says, Jason Kenney needs to dump rebel MLA for peddling dangerous separatist twaddle
Jason Kenney can mildly admonish Drew Barnes for spouting separatist twaddle if he wishes, but the Alberta premier’s protestations of Canadian patriotism won’t be very persuasive if he lets the Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA remain in his United Conservative Party Caucus. I know, Mr. Kenney has a problem with the loony right wing of his caucus, […]
Posted inBestsellers
Sally Rooney’s Normal People returns to top of Alberta independent booksellers’ 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, June 14, 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. Normal […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
As predicted, ‘Fair Deal’ Panel reheats the Firewall Manifesto to manufacture consent for policies Albertans don’t want
Consider the report of Alberta’s “Fair Deal” Panel, released yesterday by Premier Jason Kenney with considerable fanfare. It strongly suggests the Harper-Kenney wing of the Canadian Conservative movement is made up of people who purport to be Canadian patriots when they’re in power in Ottawa but are Prairie separatists when they’re on the outs with […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alert the media! Fair Deal Panel recommendations to be trotted out today
Today we will see the results of the efforts of Alberta’s Fair Deal Panel throughout the first half of 2020. We know this because the Kenney Government yesterday emailed out one of those media notices beloved of all democratic governments (and some not-so-democratic ones as well) alerting the media to stand by for big news […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Athabasca U: The redheaded stepchild of Alberta universities faces a Cinderella moment
Is Athabasca University, long the redheaded stepchild of Alberta’s universities, about to have its Cinderella moment? After years of financial insecurity and deep angst about a mission seemingly made redundant by the Internet that sometimes gave the impression of an existential crisis about to go critical, there are signs the future of Athabasca U is […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Post-secondary review: Alberta prepares to train the workforce of yesterday, starting tomorrow!
Brace yourself for the First 10-Year Plan for the rapid modernization of post-secondary education! As a general rule, promises by highly ideological governments to enact ambitious transformational change in institutions they have targeted as hotbeds of opposition to their dogma and policies should be viewed with a certain amount of distrust. When they start talking […]
Posted inBestsellers
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline tops Alberta independent bookshops’ 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, June 7, 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
It’s late for snowflakes, but UCP gas minister melts down over criticism at St. Albert Pride flag raising
St. ALBERT, Alberta — My goodness, it’s rough being a government minister in this province! Sometimes people will even criticize you! I mean, seriously, the nerve! This never used to happen to the old Progressive Conservatives back in the day when they occupied all but one or two of the seats in the provincial Legislature. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
It’s not up to the premier’s staff to decide who’s a journalist — except when it is
Responding yesterday to criticism for letting Alberta Premier Jason Kenney take a question from a reporter for a controversial right-wing news site during Tuesday’s virtual COVID-19 update, Press Secretary Christine Myatt tweeted defensively that “I don’t think anybody wants the government deciding who is or is not a journalist.” Taken to task by Alberta Liberal […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Corrupt language corrupts minds: Police are civilians, under control of civilians
One of the bees in my bonnet has long been the misuse of the term civilian to describe people who are not sworn police officers. I wrote the post below almost a decade ago — as the startling appearance of the then-sitting prime minister in the text as if he were still a PM rather […]