The Medicine Hat woman who is the public face of the GoFundMe campaign that has now theoretically raised more than $5 million to support the “Freedom Convoy 2022” motorcade protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates remains a senior officer of the separatist-leaning Maverick Party. The Maverick Party website identifies Tamara Lich as secretary of the party’s […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
With ‘red alerts’ plaguing Alberta ambulance calls, health minister Jason Copping forms advisory committee to search for a fix
With EMS “red alerts” spiking in Alberta and both Calgary and Edmonton running out of ambulances to respond to emergencies roughly every 90 minutes, Health Minister Jason Copping yesterday announced he’s forming an advisory committee to study how to improve ambulance services in Alberta. To be fair, Mr. Copping also announced a “10-point plan” he […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Is the UCP suggesting it’s time to show Russia a thing or two by halting the TMX pipeline expansion?
Will members of all Canadian political parties soon demand that we halt the TMX pipeline expansion project? I ask because, with the current great power tension in Ukraine likely to reach some kind of a climax soon, we are already hearing fierce calls in Canada for severe and even warlike sanctions against Russia for any […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Online fund-raising campaign for rolling truck blockades to protest vaccine mandates linked to right-wing separatist groups
An online fund-raising campaign organized by a person associated with the Maverick Party and other western separatist causes now indicates it has raised close to $2 million in the week to bankroll highway disruptions by truckers angry at Ottawa for imposing a vaccine mandate on cross-border essential workers. The “Freedom Convoy 2022” campaign’s GoFundMe page […]
Posted inBestsellers
To Paradise by American novelist Hanya Yanagihara tops Independent bookshops’ Alberta 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, Jan. 16, 2022. The lists are compiled by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, and include sales at Audreys Books and Glass Bookshop in Edmonton. I don’t have much to say about any of the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Not much edification in yesterday’s COVID-19 newser as Premier Kenney and officials ‘filibuster’ the hard questions
There was little informative or edifying about the mostly successful effort by Premier Jason Kenney and three of his senior health care enablers to run out the clock on reporters’ questions at yesterday’s COVID-19 news conference. Facing not only the potential for difficult questions about the chaos in Alberta’s schools and hospitals driven by spread […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
As energy minister, acting Alberta justice minister Sonya Savage also has a less-than-stellar record
While Kaycee Madu cools his jets in the political penalty box for phoning Edmonton’s police chief about a traffic ticket, it’s worth noting that acting justice minister Sonya Savage has not exactly covered herself in glory during her two and a half years as energy minister. Touted as a high-profile oilpatch insider when Premier Jason […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
What did Jason Kenney know about Kaycee Madu’s phone call and when did he know it?
What did Jason Kenney know and when did he know it? Those are the most important questions arising from now-suspended justice minister Kaycee Madu’s telephone call a little over 10 months ago to tell Edmonton Police Chief Dale McFee he’d been ticketed by a city traffic cop for distracted driving. Whatever the purpose of Mr. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Kenney benches Justice Minister Kaycee Madu after revelation he phoned Edmonton police chief about traffic ticket
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney put his justice minister on the bench last night after a CBC story revealed one of the first things Kaycee Madu did after a traffic cop handed him a $300 distracted driving ticket for talking on his cellular phone as he motored through an Edmonton school zone was to call the […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Research paper argues Canadian Taxpayers Federation pushed ‘anti-Indigenous political rhetoric and policy’ over 21 years
Locating the Canadian Taxpayers Federation clearly in the ecosystem of neoliberal advocacy, a recent paper in the Canadian Review of Sociology analyzes more than 400 documents published by the CTF over 21 years to argue the organization has pushed “anti-Indigenous political rhetoric and policy.” Lead author Kyle Willmott, a professor at B.C.’s Simon Fraser University, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Concordia University of Edmonton strike ends as faculty association members ratify new collective agreement
After 11 days on the picket line, members of the Concordia University of Edmonton Faculty Association have ratified a tentative agreement, ending the first strike by university faculty members in Alberta history. The agreement opens the door for classes to begin at the university on Wednesday, Jan. 19, the faculty association said in a news […]
Posted inBestsellers
Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard tops independent booksellers’ non-fiction bestseller list for week ended Jan. 9
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022. The lists are compiled by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, and include sales at Audreys Books and Glass Bookshop in Edmonton. I was mildly disappointed not to see Nora Loreto’s Spin […]