Brace yourselves, Alberta, for a hard, circuit-breaker lockdown to rein in the province’s surging, out-of-control COVID-19 infection rate. We can be reasonably certain this is coming soon to Alberta’s error-riddled pandemic response because Jason Kenney informed us yesterday there’s no way it’s going to happen. The Alberta premier had taken to the airwaves to respond […]
Posted inBestsellers
Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You returns to top of 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, Sept. 19, 2021. The lists are compiled by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, and include sales at Audreys Books and Glass Bookshop in Edmonton. Some thoughts for today: “To love one’s self is the […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
It’s good the Two Michaels are on their way home – but let’s not forget they weren’t the only hostages
Surely most Canadians rejoiced last night when they learned the Two Michaels were on their way home from their long imprisonment in China. It’s equally certain that some very well-placed officials in the Canadian government rejoiced to know Meng Wanzhou was gone from Canada, heading home to China almost the instant a judge in Vancouver […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Napoleon’s advice to the Alberta NDP: ‘Never interfere with your enemy when he’s busy destroying himself’
VICTORIA – At least some in the Alberta NDP must have been offering up discreet prayers of thanks last night. Premier Jason Kenney, threatened with a vote of confidence yesterday by his rebellious United Conservative Caucus members, bluffed the lot of them into silence. The gathered MLAs, so the stories go, folded like a canvas […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta Health Minister shuffled to Labour; Labour Minister shuffled to Health … premier says he won’t quit
VICTORIA – Say what you will about Jason Kenney, he never fails to disappoint. When the buzz hit social media yesterday morning that Alberta’s premier would attempt to shore up his shaky perch atop Alberta’s government with a post-federal-election cabinet shuffle, the assumption was natural that he was about to make Health Minister Tyler Shandro […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
It’s Election Day in Canada: If you work, even if you don’t have a union, you’re entitled to three consecutive paid hours to vote
The Canada Elections Act entitles all eligible voters to sufficient time to vote on Election Day. This applies to employees without a union as well as unionized workers. Now, presumably most readers of this blog already know this stuff, but I thought I’d throw it in as a public service, this being a blog that […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Election 2021’s most significant 11th hour story: Can the PPC hang onto its unexpectedly strong support today?
Today is election day in Canada, typically presenting members of the pundit class with a practical problem. This is the day on which interest in election news peaks. It’s also a day when nothing much usually happens through the day except citizens voting. A journo can only collect so much B-roll and file so many […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Preston Manning, godfather of the Canadian right, charts a plan for dealing with another Liberal government
Neoliberals, like rust, never sleep. So we shouldn’t be surprised Preston Manning already seems to be looking ahead to a post-election go at the new Liberal government, same as the old Liberal government. Of course, nobody knows for sure what’s going to happen on tomorrow. Maybe all those People’s Party of Canada trolls will get […]
Posted inBestsellers
Irish author Sally Rooney tops Alberta independent booksellers’ fiction bestsellers list for week ended Sept. 12
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. The lists are compiled by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, and include sales at Audreys Books and Glass Bookshop in Edmonton. A thought for the day: “The person, be it gentleman […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Jason Kenney proves that Alberta provincial leaders can still influence federal election campaigns!
Who says Albertans don’t have influence in Confederation? Jason Kenney proved once again Wednesday that an Alberta political leader, just by calling a news conference and speaking a few words, can single-handedly influence the course of a federal election! One imagines, though, Alberta’s premier would have preferred not to have influenced the 2021 federal election […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Kenney, declaring public health emergency, to Alberta: ‘I apologize … I don’t apologize!’
The richest, most self-righteous province in Confederation has been forced to go cap in hand to other provinces to beg for beds in which to park our sick vaccine refuseniks and health care workers to travel here and help us keep our hospitals open. Thanks, Kenney! It wasn’t Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, of course, who […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Jason Kenney’s rotten record of COVID chaos has finally become an issue in the federal election
So it’s come to this: Jason Kenney has become an issue in the federal election. All that effort keeping his head down for all but a couple of days over the past five weeks while Alberta’s health care system appeared to fall apart, and here we are. Canadians are going to have to pay attention […]