Columns

Long ago, in this column, I wrote about the corporate men-in-suits whom democracies have elected ad nauseam in my lifetime. I called such a man Captain Denial, because so much of the political [...]

If you want to see elk or wolves in Banff or Jasper National Parks this winter, here’s a tip: look on an alluvial fan. Alluvial fans develop wherever a creek running down a steep drainage flows [...]

If all goes according to plan, Alberta will have a provincial election this spring. But what if it doesn’t go to plan? What if we don’t have an election this spring? Oh, I know we’re supposed to. [...]

This past September I signed up for a volunteer work bee with Trout Unlimited Canada (TUC) and spent a day with about a dozen people I had never met before, including an oil engineer, a banker, a [...]

Plastic was the result of humanity’s long search for a material that could be bent back and forth without breaking. It’s a long history, but things moved quickly after Hermann Staudinger fathered [...]

Each November I hunt elk. In the eerie darkness I set out into a silent world, hoping to spot elk feeding at first light. After that first hour or two, the animals retreat into dense cover to bed [...]

So, we are finally doing it: legal marijuana. Mind you, I feel I’ve experienced this twice before. In 2003 the Chrétien government had a bill in the House to decriminalize the possession of up to [...]

Read any of Alberta’s daily newspapers and you will know that our province’s only hope is new pipelines. Nothing else will save us. I took some convincing, but I’m in. In fact, I’d like to [...]

Even humorists feel dark about the world at times, and when I do I force myself back to the basics: food and family. Don’t worry, I’m not going to lecture on why food and water are essential to [...]

  I’m worried about government debt, but I don’t want to see any cuts to public services. And I don’t want a sales tax. What options are we ignoring? —Jocelyn, Red Deer Sadly, Jocelyn, half [...]