The Long View
There must be a rule that you’re not supposed to ask executives at a commercial country music awards show to think about the oil companies in their stock portfolios. Corb Lund broke that rule. [...]
Shannon Phillips
Shannon Phillips
Glass Ceiling
Premier Ed Stelmach chose a new Cabinet In January, and among the fresh faces was 40-year-old Thomas Lukaszuk. The new Minister of Employment & Immigration promised economic stimulus for our [...]
On Its Last Legs?
Scenes of rolling pasture, grazing cattle and towering mountains are quintessentially Albertan; in the south of the province, west of Pincher Creek, High River or Nanton, any tourist with an [...]
Head in the Sands
Some journalists would describe it as the gig from hell: get access to oil sands mining sites and oil company spokespeople in Fort McMurray on behalf of Al-Jazeera English. Produce that tour and [...]
Buried Treasure
Few people on the planet would suggest that Lethbridge has anything in common with Bilbao, Spain. Lethbridge is a town where the prairies sigh under the weight of yet another Wal-Mart squatting [...]
Blowing in the Wind
People who live in southwestern Alberta learn to park their cars facing west. In a 60-kilometre-per-hour gust, opening the door becomes a substitute for a visit to the fitness centre— but a [...]
MOST READ
MOST READ
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 ...
Should Post-Secondary Education be Free?
Hugh Mackenzie
The economist and research associate at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says yes.
Free tuition would redress a massive intergenerational inequity created over the past 30 years. In 1990–91, average university tuition in Canada was $1,464; adjusted for inflation, that would be $2,541 in 2019–20. Today the actual average ...