Northside Delacroix
A homeless man once grabbed Shannon by the ponytail and tried to drag her into the trees in Rundle Park. It happened a few months after her mom drank herself to death; Shannon was just eighteen [...]
The Sandbox
The earth is a reluctant storyteller. Unless prodded by a backhoe or the blades of a plough, the soil retains its secrets. Perhaps today our inquisitive shovels will loosen its tongue. The [...]
Economic Diversification
When I sat on the Alberta Treasury Board, but a few short years ago, we were talking about investing provincial surpluses in the Heritage Fund. Today? Our oil-and-gas-dependent economy is in free [...]
Beer Boom
Lacombe, just north of Red Deer, may not be the first place you think of when the conversation turns to craft beer. But these days some good brewing is definitely happening in town. In fall of [...]
It Takes A Village
During the Second World War the Ernest Manning government refused to invest in wartime day nurseries for Calgary and Edmonton—despite the fact that so many Alberta women with young children had [...]
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Missing Answers
On February 23, 2021, something amazing happened—almost a miracle, as far as I’m concerned. I got to ask Premier Jason Kenney a question during a news conference (about the upcoming legislative sitting). Before that, the last time I’d been called on to ask a question was December 18, 2020—67 days ...
The $120 Billion Question
The Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) has lately come under intense criticism. The Kenney government’s changes to the Crown corporation’s mandate in 2019—the transfer, without prior notice, of several public pension funds to AIMCo—alarmed pension fund members who worried about ceding control of their pensions and were unsure about AIMCo ...
My Mother’s Story
My mother was a refugee, and Canada was her refuge.
My mother died this August, a few days before her 81st birthday. And as I sat down to write her eulogy, I kept thinking about the confluence of events that brought her to Alberta, and about Alberta’s legacy as a home ...