It’s only half as bad as you were told by the media, Alberta Investment Management Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kevin Uebelein says in a letter to stakeholders — the Crown-owned funds-management corporation only lost $2.1 billion gambling on market volatility. The first news reports on April 22 indicated the loss was about $4 billion. A […]
Posted inBestsellers
The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya 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, April 26, 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. The […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Hot take: your gut’s probably right, it’s too soon to declare COVID-19 vanquished
At least Alberta Premier Jason Kenney didn’t have a “Mission Accomplished” banner hanging behind him. But then, being landlocked and all that, Alberta doesn’t own an aircraft carrier even if it now owns a hunk of a U.S. pipeline. Plus, Mr. Kenney wouldn’t look all that good in a flight suit. Still, like president George […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Should we welcome Michelle Rempel Garner home with a festive serving of Oklahoma’s official state meal?
Did you know Oklahoma has an official state meal? The State Legislature in Oklahoma City designated the repast as an official state symbol in 1988. And, I must say, it sounds delicious: fried okra, squash, cornbread, barbecued pork, biscuits, sausage and gravy, grits, corn, black-eyed peas, chicken-fried steak, strawberries and pecan pie. I’m certainly ready […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Are cracks appearing in the wall of the Kenney Kremlin over Health Minister Tyler Shandro’s fight with Alberta’s docs?
Have the first hairline cracks started to appear in the Kenney Government’s hitherto solid front in its war with the province’s physicians, which is inexplicably being carried on in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic? Is someone inside the Kenney Calgary Kremlin signalling it’s almost time for Health Minister Tyler Shandro to be replaced […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Ted Morton, worst premier Alberta never had, has had another big idea, this time about a sales tax
From time to time it’s worth reminding ourselves that Ted Morton is the worst premier Alberta never had. That’s because now and then Dr. Morton, now 71, pops up like the proverbial bad penny with some scheme so ridiculous we need to give our heads a shake and recall this person was once minister of […]
Posted inBestsellers
Emily St. John Mandel’s The Glass Hotel returns to top of 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, April 19, 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. The […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
New management is now required at AIMCo to restore trust after $4-billion loss
Having lost more than $4 billion on an incomprehensible gamble on market volatility, senior management of the Alberta Investment Management Corp. needs to apologize and resign. AIMCo is supposed to manage working Albertans’ retirement savings and what’s left of Peter Lougheed’s Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund. In other words, working people’s life savings and public […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Already reeling from bad news, Alberta learns its Crown investment corporation just lost $4 billion on a bad bet
Albertans reeling from the shock of a week that’s included oil prices so low you have to pay people to haul the stuff away and a mishandled COVID-19 outbreak at a slaughterhouse south of Calgary that sent infection rates soaring were rattled again yesterday by news the province’s Crown-owned money-management corporation had somehow managed to […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta safety inspection of Cargill slaughterhouse done by FaceTime, with no actual inspector on site
Alberta Labour’s occupational health and safety inspector didn’t actually visit the Cargill Inc. meatpacking plant in High River when the ministry inspected its COVID-19 safety measures on April 15. Instead, the Labour Ministry inspector watched with FaceTime as three employees conducted “a virtual plant inspection.” With the United Conservative Party Government determined to keep the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Hard to believe keeping meatpacking and oilsands plants running hasn’t contributed to COVID-19 spread
If you listened carefully to yesterday’s COVID-19 briefing in Edmonton, it was difficult to avoid the conclusion the Kenney Government’s reluctance to regulate certain industries has contributed to the spread of the disease, and not just inside this province. Particularly interesting was Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw’s carefully worded description of how the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Devin Dreeshen’s happy talk about workplace safety undermines the battle against COVID-19
By insisting Alberta’s meat-packing plants are safe to work in despite crowded conditions and ignoring workers’ pleas to temporarily close large slaughterhouses to halt the spread of COVID-19, Alberta Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen appears to be actively undermining the provincial fight against the coronavirus. It may have seemed faintly credible when Mr. Dreeshen told the […]