Small groups of supporters of James Coates, the temporarily jailed pastor of an Edmonton-area church who has been defiantly refusing to obey Alberta’s COVID-19 restrictions, protested in front of the Edmonton Remand Centre Thursday and yesterday. They rallied outside that monumental piece of critical Alberta infrastructure demanding the GraceLife Church’s pastor be freed. Pastor Coates […]
Posted inBestsellers
Romance novels by Julia Quinn top independent bookshops’ fiction bestseller list for week, of course, of Feb. 14
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021. The last day of the week was was Valentine’s Day, so one supposes we shouldn’t be surprised that the top two spots on the week’s fiction bestseller list were […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Judge hopes to rule on Ecojustice effort to shut down energy campaigns inquiry before May 31 – why that shouldn’t be a problem
We’re all just going to have to wait to find out how the legal effort by Ecojustice Canada Society to shut down Alberta’s so-called “Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns” turns out. After hearing arguments for two days last week from lawyers for Ecojustice, the province, inquiry Commissioner Steve Allan, and a group of about […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Is the Kenney Government’s EMS dispatch consolidation plan a prelude to ambulance privatization?
Is the Kenney Government’s determination to force reluctant municipalities to turn over 9-1-1 calls to a provincial Emergency Medical Services dispatch centre a prelude to privatization of provincial ambulance services? It’s certainly unlikely to be the paltry $6 million the United Conservative Party Government claims this will save, especially given the high political cost of […]
Posted inGeopolitics
With the Taliban on the cusp of controlling Afghanistan once again, we owe it to our dead to ask, ‘Was it worth it?’
Yesterday morning, the New York Times reported the Taliban is on the cusp of total victory in Afghanistan. The Times being the Times, of course, it didn’t put it quite that way. “The Taliban Close In on Afghan Cities, Pushing the Country to the Brink,” said the American national newspaper of record in its eccentrically […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Our annual Family Day toast to Don Getty, whose best-known achievement was one for the ages
The winters around here are long. Even with social media Canadians need a February holiday. Come to think of it, given what the Internet has turned into in the few years since it arrived on the scene with such promise, we need a February long weekend even more than we did in the dark ages […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The Annals of Alberta poetry: The United Conservative Party sends us a Kenney Valentine
I choo-choo-chooose To get a fair deal for you — Actual United Conservative Party Valentine’s Day Twitter meme Keystone is dead The billions are lost I blame Joe Biden But I’ll probably get tossed — Response by @DaveCournoyer The ocean is blue The sky is the same Steve Allan’s still lookin’ for someone to blame […]
Posted inBestsellers
Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi is Alberta independent bookshops’ fiction bestseller for week ended Feb. 7
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021. 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. Butter Honey Pig Bread – Francesca […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Mayor in the heart of the oilsands dares Jason Kenney to fire him in fight over deteriorating ambulance service
In case you missed it, while Alberta Premier Jason Kenney was trying to pretend the embarrassing rebellion of two COVID-skeptical MLAs in southern Alberta wasn’t happening, another political rebellion against his policies was coming to a boil in the heart of the oilsands. On Tuesday, defiant members of the council of the Regional Municipality of […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Jason Kenney chooses the cake department to unexpectedly announce one-time pandemic ‘bonus’ for front-line workers
Was Jason Kenney channelling Marie Antoinette when he appeared in front of an Edmonton grocery store’s cake counter yesterday to announce a one-time $1,200 pandemic payment to front-line workers? Many of the front-line workers risking COVID-19 to deliver us services from health care to retail confections may be badly paid, but they’ll have a little […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Defying Jason Kenney’s pleas to take COVID-19 seriously, two UCP MLAs join ‘End the Lockdowns National Caucus’
Two MLAs from Premier Jason Kenney’s government caucus have joined a national coalition of elected and former politicians dedicated to the proposition restrictions on social and commercial activities intended to slow the spread of COVID-19 must end. Needless to say, centrifugal force is not a good look for a United Conservative Party that’s starting to […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
In dizzying turnaround, Alberta abandons plan to drop Lougheed-era coal policy … for now
In what appears to be a tire-screeching reversal, Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage yesterday announced full restoration of the Coal Policy established by premier Peter Lougheed’s government back in 1976. “An important part of being a responsible government is to admit when you’ve made a mistake, and to fix it, and that’s what we are […]