You can hardly blame the United Conservative Party’s leaders for trying to get out there as quickly as possible to take credit for the arrival of the first planeloads of COVID-19 vaccine in Alberta. Premier Jason Kenney, who evidently enjoys cosplay, even got dressed up as a UPS deliveryman and ran out on the tarmac […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
10 months in the life of Jason Kenney: from bitter foe of illegal protests to fierce defender of protesters’ rights, or something
What a difference a year makes! Not even a year: Ten months in the life of Jason Kenney. Ten months ago, blockades in support of opposition by members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation to pipeline construction on ancestral lands in north-central British Columbia were springing up here and there in Canada. There weren’t actually all […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
New Zealand eyes reopening borders a crack while Calgary crowd protests ‘draconian’ COVID-19 restrictions
After being declared COVID-19 free last June, New Zealand is ever-so-cautiously moving toward reopening its watery borders to some international travel. With Australia, that is. Australia hasn’t done quite as well countering the coronavirus as New Zealand has, but it’s done very well just the same, using measures that have been roundly condemned here in […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Pretty much a dud, but still alive, Alberta’s ‘Energy War Room’ stumbles along after a year
Alberta’s “Energy War Room” was a year old yesterday and while the cash lavished on the self-described purveyor of a “fact-based narrative about Canadian energy” isn’t the worst investment ever made, or even the worst investment made by the Kenney Government, its return on investment is nothing to write home about. Touted as mighty voice […]
Posted inBestsellers
Thammavongsa and Obama remain at the top of Alberta independent bookshops’ bestseller lists
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, Dec. 6, 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. How to Pronounce Knife – Souvankham […]
Posted inGeopolitics
Why did China’s government pluck the Two Michaels from among 300,000 Canadians in China?
Soon after Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Vancouver two years ago at the behest of U.S. authorities, Chinese state security officers arrested two Canadian men, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. It was clear from the get-go the arrest on Dec. 10, 2018, of the Two […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Jason Kenney’s ineffective COVID-19 strategy mirrors his failing response to world demand for cleaner energy
Memo to United Conservative Party issues managers: Your boss will need to take some time today away from defending his COVID-19 response to attack the New York State pension fund for its decision to dump all fossil fuel stocks in the next five years and eliminate investments in companies that contribute to global warming by […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Will Jason Kenney risk cracks in his UCP coalition by enforcing new COVID-19 measures?
Better late than never, the Kenney Government sharply changed course yesterday and announced much tougher lockdown measures that have the potential to slow the spread of COVID-19. These will include closing bars, lounges, casinos, hair salons, libraries, and sports studios, restricting restaurants to take-out sales, mandating indoor masking and at-home work for many employers province-wide, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
COVID-19 measures put in place two weeks ago insufficient to reduce infections, Deena Hinshaw admits
Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw admitted yesterday that Alberta’s current response to soaring COVID-19 infection rates is “not likely to be sufficient to bring down our numbers.” Fielding uncharacteristically tough and focused questioning by reporters taking part in her afternoon COVID-19 briefing and news conference, Dr. Hinshaw wouldn’t quite let herself be goaded […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Australian state’s four-point plan to eliminate COVID-19 worked; Alberta did the opposite on every count
A few Albertans may still remember Stephen Duckett, the remarkably undiplomatic Australian health economist hired by Premier Ed Stelmach’s Progressive Conservative government to run the then-just-created Alberta Health Services in 2009. Dr. Duckett had a stellar resume and was obviously great in an interview. However, it turned out, he didn’t speak Albertan. Most Albertans can’t […]
Posted inBestsellers
Souvankham Thammavongsa’s How to Pronounce Knife returns to top of independent bookshops’ 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, Nov. 29, 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. How to Pronounce Knife – Souvankham […]
Posted inGeopolitics
Canada should quit stalling to let the U.S. save face and send Meng Wanzhou home now
Anyone who still imagines the Trump Administration’s partly successful effort to get Canada to seize and extradite Meng Wanzhou to the land of chaos and COVID had anything to do with “the rule of law” needs to consider the implications of yesterday’s report in the Wall Street Journal that the U.S. Justice Department is in […]