The Next Alberta
In the fall of 1996, Peter Gzowski announced he was stepping down as host of the long-running and much-loved CBC radio program, Morningside. Immediately, Canadian media were filled with nostalgic [...]
Wild Roses
Lucy Gray’s aunt had been an artist. Ruth Bentham was her name and she first painted the wild roses and the coulees of southern Alberta, where she had moved in 1937 as a young bride. She then [...]
Alberta Musicians Rock
Anne Loree was moving to Alberta and feared she might have to buy a banjo and a belt buckle the size of a dinner plate. It was 1983 and the aspiring singer- songwriter had decided to relocate to [...]
Oh, Wilderness
It began with a forest of promises in 1992. At least that’s how Tom Maccagno, a lawyer with a passion for wild orchids, viewed Special Places. In fact Maccagno, then the mayor of Lac La Biche, [...]
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Jason Kenney’s Vision for K-12
It was by all accounts, a fiery speech. Standing on a blue-curtained stage in front of a couple thousand supporters at the UCP’s inaugural policy convention in Red Deer in May 2018, leader Jason Kenney went on the attack against anti-oilsands activists and the foreign money he says funds them ...
Mandate Creep: National Parks and Tourism
I retired from a career with Parks Canada a few years ago, not long after signing off on a management plan that prescribed a 2 per cent annual increase in visitors to Banff. Local businesses were ecstatic that the new plan seemed finally to acknowledge tourism growth as a priority ...
Deficit-Free by 2023!
Alberta’s most recent budget (2018–19) projected an $8.8-billion deficit—a shortfall of $2,024 per Albertan. Although that estimate was revised to $6.9 billion in the February third quarter fiscal update, this remains the province’s third large deficit stemming from the recession starting in 2014. Maintaining expenditures even as revenues drop unexpectedly ...