OK, so Ottawa’s going to buy the Trans Mountain Pipeline for $4.5 billion and run it as a Crown corporation. That’s a good start. (Caveats to follow.) Theoretically, it could ensure transparency and accountability, even responsibility, to a business in which the private sector adamantly refuses to deliver any such thing. Possibly, if there’s an […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Pipeline politics in Canada circa 2018: Destroying the rule of law in order to save it
Obviously, we have to destroy the rule of law in order to save it! With Kinder Morgan Inc.’s do-or-drop-it deadline set to arrive on Thursday, that seems to be the idea behind the argument advanced by the increasingly furious Canadian pipeline lobby that the Trans Mountain Expansion project must be approved, finally and irrevocably, right […]
Posted inBestsellers
Indian Horse by the late Richard Wagamese leads Audreys Books Edmonton Bestseller List for fiction
Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended May 20, 2018, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Indian Horse – Richard Wagamese 2. Warlight – Michael Ondaatje 3. Sign for the Migrant Soul […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
28 years and counting, Conservatives in Alberta and Ontario continue to misrepresent Bob Rae’s record
Now that he’s sworn to be nice to Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Opposition Leader Jason Kenney is running against Bob Rae. Ralph Klein was a high school dropout & TV reporter before becoming Mayor. Bob Rae was a Rhodes scholar & accomplished MP before becoming Premier. Who do you think did a better job? The […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Shark Jumping in Alberta: NDP and UCP strive to outdo each other with ridiculous statements
As the Alberta Government’s fight with British Columbia over the Trans Mountain Pipeline takes on comic opera proportions, Premier Rachel Notley’s New Democratic Party and Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party Opposition appear to be struggling to see which one can come up with the most ridiculous things to say about it. I know, I know […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Guest Post: Canadians should be on red alert over Redwater Energy case
Guest Post by Regan Boychuk Regan Boychuk is an independent researcher in Calgary and part of ReclaimAlberta.ca, which advocates solutions to the crisis of aging and expired Alberta oil and gas wells. He is the former public policy research manager of the Edmonton-based Parkland Institute. DJC It’s time for Albertans to wake up! Alberta’s Energy Regulator […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
11 days from the brink, and Rachel Notley’s dice roll brings back memories of Mulroney and Meech
Rachel Notley, Alberta’s tough NDP premier who has clearly concluded her government’s survival depends on there being shovels in the ground building a pipeline by the time she asks the lieutenant governor to call an election next year, rolls the dice a lot like Brian Mulroney. Well, not exactly like Mr. Mulroney. She is more […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Andrea Horwath is going to win Ontario on June 7 – that’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it!
Happy Victoria Day! I’m feeling good about my prediction that the next Premier of Ontario will be Andrea Horwath. When I made that prediction back on Feb. 27, scads of commenters on social media and quite a few on this blog and at Rabble.ca said I was crazy. This being a blog that leans toward […]
Posted inBestsellers
Cobra Clutch by A.J. Devlin tops in fiction last week on Audreys Edmonton Bestseller List
Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and noir-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended May 13, 2018, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. By the way, my apologies to Audreys and the BPAA for missing the previous week’s Edmonton best-seller list while I […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
‘NRA Strategy’ to block connection of climate change dots won’t work when the climate disaster’s in B.C.
As fear rises in British Columbia this week along with the province’s record floodwaters, the likelihood B.C. voters will connect the dots between man-made climate change and “natural” catastrophes is rising too. Politically speaking, this is not exactly good news for the determined advocates in Alberta and Ottawa of aggressive westward pipeline expansion, or the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Dispatches from the front lines of Alberta politics: Jason Kenney reveals his nasty streak … again
My, my, Jason Kenney’s vow to become the new Mr. Congeniality of Confederation sure didn’t last very long, did it? Twitterists are having fun comparing the Alberta Opposition leader’s response to a gentle jab by Premier Rachel Notley in the Alberta Legislature Tuesday afternoon with what he had to say about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Prominent labour activist, plus well-known chanteuse and LGBTQ+ activist, named to Alberta Order of Excellence
What a pleasure it was yesterday to see Reg Basken’s name on the 2018 list of eight new members of the Alberta Order of Excellence. There was a day I wasn’t at all sure it was even possible for someone associated with a trade union to be honoured in this way. But, for sure, Mr. […]