Ten Canadian Writers in Context
Let us consider that not-quite form, the literary excerpt. The excerpt is by definition a truncated thing. It faces its readers, as it were, stripped of its party clothes, its beginning and [...]
The Rise and Fall of Emilio Picariello
Emilio Picariello, or “Emperor Pic” as he was known, has garnered fascination since he was hanged, along with Florence Lassandro, at Fort Saskatchewan Gaol on May 2, 1923. He has, as this [...]
Teardown
Teardown is Clea Young’s debut collection, but her work has already received much-deserved approbation, appearing in the prestigious Journey Prize Stories three times. Set in Young’s native BC, [...]
Where the Truth Lies
Rudy Wiebe’s new collection, Where the Truth Lies, is a volume of essays, newspaper articles and speeches, covering 40 years, that speaks with authority and feeling on a range of subjects, [...]
Storm Over The Castle
It should have been easy but it wasn’t. It should have been easy because the headwaters of the Castle, Carbondale and Waterton rivers were always meant to be a park. Until 1928 the windy mountain [...]
Profile: Midfield Mobile Home Park
When Midfield Mobile Home Park was built in northeast Calgary in 1968 the site was then on the city outskirts. A private company developed it atop an old dry dump next to the Trans-Canada [...]
How I Did Not Try to Kill Andrew Suknaski
Andy, late lamented friend, celebrated author of Wood Mountain Poems, The Ghosts Call You Poor and many other texts: you were too frail and too medicated, the last time I saw you alive, to chew [...]
Holy Healthcare
Just tell them we don’t have it here.” That’s what the nurse told me in Killam Hospital, an hour east of Camrose. I’d asked what would happen if a woman came into our ER asking for the [...]
Getting Big Money out of Alberta Politics
Even by the dubious standards of Alberta politics at the time, it was still a brazen move. Tom Brown, an executive with Ledcor, was part of a coalition of construction companies that donated [...]
Partisan Job, Public Pay
When Premier Rachel Notley presented her State of the Province address in Calgary last October, she did it in front of a hand-picked crowd of 700 supporters who applauded at all the right [...]
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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 ...