Now that we are in the midst of a closely fought federal election campaign, it’s interesting to see the Conservative Party of Canada is open at least to some of the ideas of prime minister Trudeau. I speak, of course, of prime minister Pierre Trudeau and the National Energy Program implemented by his Liberal government […]
Posted inBestsellers
A Better Man, by Louise Penny, tops Audreys Books Edmonton Fiction Bestseller List for week ended Sept. 22
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton during the week ended Sept. 22, 2019. The lists are compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. A Better Man – Louise Penny 2. The Difference – Marina Endicott * 3. The Testaments […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The UCP takes a powder as 4,000, and maybe a lot more, Climate Action strikers gather at Alberta’s Legislature
I don’t know if the thousands of young Climate Action Strike protesters who gathered on the frigid doorstep of the Alberta Legislature yesterday frighten Premier Jason Kenney and his angry fossil fuel warriors, but they ought to. Yes, the fired-up but well-behaved crowd of truants and their supporters in Alberta’s capital, estimated by its organizers […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Appointment of Stephen Mandel to AHS board proves failure’s no barrier to success in Jason Kenney’s Alberta
Who says Premier Jason Kenney can’t unite Albertans? Sometime today, Mr. Kenney will appoint Stephen Mandel to the governing board of Alberta Health Services. Well, the announcement will be made by Health Minister Tyler Shandro. Late yesterday, as the word of the appointment leaked out, moans of despair could be heard quietly issuing from all […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Court’s decision to turn off Alberta’s turn-off-the-taps law should surprise no one
Alberta’s so-called turn-off-the-taps law was pretty obviously unconstitutional when Rachel Notley’s New Democratic Party passed it and it continued to be unconstitutional when Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party had it proclaimed into law. So yesterday’s ruling of the Federal Court of Canada granting British Columbia a temporary injunction blocking application of the risibly named Preserving […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The students are revolting – and so is Trustee Michael Janz as far as Alberta’s education minister is concerned
The students are revolting – and as far as Alberta’s education minister is concerned, at least one of the school trustees is too. This Friday, students from all over the Edmonton area will abandon their classes to participate in the global strike for climate action. Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government, which grudgingly admits the climate […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Winding up the gun nuts: Liberals respond to Trudeau’s self-inflicted brownface crisis with a classic counterattack
Years ago, I worked with a union organizer who deployed an effective tactic when one of his unionization drives met resistance from an employer: Launch a diversionary attack from an unexpected quarter. This was the poor-man’s version of the doctrine of both the Prussian officer corps and the United States Marines: turn toward flanking fire […]
Posted inBestsellers
Us, by Edmonton’s Satya Brata Das, leads Audreys Books’ Edmonton Non-Fiction Bestseller List this week
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton during the week ended Sept. 15, 2019. The lists are compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. The Testaments – Margaret Atwood 2. Taking the Lead – Karen Spafford-Fitz * 3. Just Three […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Which is more distressing, the idiocy of our PM or the hypocrisy of our Opposition leader?
Which is more distressing, the immaturity and sheer idiocy of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or the nauseating hypocrisy of Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer? One of them, sad to say, is still the most likely person to emerge as prime minister of Canada after Oct. 21. The former dressed up in blackface at an age and […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Ecojustice throws down the gauntlet; Kenney, in New York, responds with bravado; stand by for legal action in 30 days
The Ecojustice Canada Society threw down the gauntlet yesterday and the sound of it landing may well reverberate around the country. It was certainly heard here in Alberta. The respected Vancouver-based environmental litigation charity handed an ultimatum to Premier Jason Kenney’s “public inquiry into anti-Alberta energy campaigns” on Tuesday. Its message in a nutshell: Stop […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Where’s the crisis austerity is supposed to fix? Not necessarily in the numbers the government’s consultant crunched
In the decade between 2008 and last year, the number of civil servants in Alberta on a per capita basis fell by 5 per cent. In the same period, Alberta’s population grew by almost 20 per cent. I know, I know, that isn’t what your heard. You certainly didn’t read it in a government press […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Jason Kenney’s fuming response to Amnesty International was not the adversaries’ first go-round
Returned to power after four years, Alberta’s Conservative party is governing pretty much as you’d expect from a government that, as Talleyrand supposedly said of the restored House of Bourbon, has learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Consider the matter of the controversial letter from the head of Amnesty International Canada to Jason Kenney. No, not […]