Stampede and the Westness of West
The first poem in Aritha van Herk’s new book, Stampede and the Westness of West, ends with something akin to a threat: “Stampede or else.” One can almost hear the film score of a gunfight in a [...]
God’s Province: Evangelical Christianity, Political Thought and Conservatism in Alberta
Alberta may be the only Canadian province in which two premiers collaborated to write a play. That William Aberhart and Ernest Manning were playwrights—in 1931, before either became premier—is [...]
Notley Nation: How Alberta’s Political Upheaval Swept the Country
It remains a pleasant shock that Alberta is no longer a political monolith. Why Rachel Notley’s NDP triumphed and how well they are governing have occasioned considerable debate since the [...]
This Land: Betrayed
Friday, January 13, 2017, was not Jessica Ernst’s lucky day. That’s the day the Supreme Court of Canada handed down a non-decision in her legal battle against the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER)—a [...]
Profile: Grande Prairie
Guess where the city ends and the county begins,” says Bill Given, the two-term mayor of Grande Prairie—the main retail and services hub for northwest Alberta. We’re driving past gas stations, [...]
The Sicilian Wife
Edmonton writer Caterina Edwards’s latest book is both an intriguing mystery and a sharp critique of how men often expect women to behave. As a mystery, The Sicilian Wife is a departure from [...]
Who Needs Books? Reading in the Digital Age
Lynn Coady is the Giller Prize-winning author of Hellgoing, as well as the author of Strange Heaven and The Antagonist, so answering the titular question of her 2015 CLC Kreisel [...]
The Digital Nexus: Identity, Agency and Political Engagement
Fake news. Filter bubbles. The influence of social media on the US election. Online harassment of female politicians in Alberta. These are just a few of the digital media issues competing for [...]
The Banker and the Blackfoot: A Memoir of My Grandfather in Chinook Country
John “Jack” Cowdry, the author’s grandfather, first came to my attention in L.V. Kelly’s Alberta ranching chronicle The Range Men (1913). The Cowdry brothers were the first bankers to set up shop [...]
In Focus: Festival of Animated Objects
Two years ago Xstine (pronounced “Christine”) Cook, founder of the International Festival of Animated Objects, passed the torch—an actual flaming torch—to Peter Balkwill, co-artistic director of [...]
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The Lesson of Lougheed
For 100 years, between 1905 and 2005, Albertans changed their government only three times (1921, 1935, 1971). The last of these elections, the most portentous, happened 50 years ago this August. Alberta has now changed government twice in the past six years. The next election may see yet another new government—meaning ...
The Assault on Higher Education
The Kenney government proclaimed in fall 2019 that Alberta’s post-secondary institutions were “overly dependent” on government funding—which is an odd thing to say about a public good. Then it declared that the province’s grant to the schools should be reduced by 20 per cent by 2023. The rationale for this ...
Rediscovering a River
The Cree called it Kisiskâciwanisîpiy—the swiftly flowing river. For the Blackfoot, it was omaka-ty—the big river. It starts in the Columbia Icefield, at the toe of the Saskatchewan Glacier, and cuts the province in half as it flows through Banff and Jasper national parks, northeast to Edmonton, then east-by-southeast across the ...