Why Coal Mines Always Get Approved
On February 8, 2021, after months of growing concern among Albertans at the thought of a half-dozen new coal mines in the headwaters of south-central Alberta’s rivers, Energy Minister Sonya [...]
By Jeff Gailus
Energy / Economy
Energy / Economy
Should Canada Be More Food Self Reliant?
Mary Beckie, the U of A professor and director of community engagement studies at the School of Public Health, says yes. This pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities and inequities in the global [...]
Rural Resentment
The rise of the right-wing, authoritarian populist movements across the Western world owes much to the support of rural citizens who are increasingly feeling left behind economically and [...]
By Clark Banack
Posted
Raise Revenues!
Three weeks after the UCP formed government in 2019, Premier Jason Kenney struck a “blue ribbon” panel chaired by Janice MacKinnon to recommend ways Alberta could address “a critical fiscal [...]
Alberta’s Carbon Revolution
Alex Walk was captivated. He had flown to Edmonton because he had heard that Alberta researchers might have found the Holy Grail of materials manufacturing: a cheap feedstock for carbon fibre. [...]
Don’t Panic
COVID-19, this microscopic bug, seems to have upended just about everything. History provides no perfect analogy for what has turned out to be a global health, social and economic catastrophe. [...]
An Environmentalist’s Case for Beef
“…If you knew how meat was made, you’d probably lose your lunch. I know; I’m from cattle country, and that’s why I became a vegetarian. Meat stinks, and not just for animals but for human health [...]
Crisis of Confidence
For more than 70 years, ever since Imperial struck oil at Leduc No. 1 in 1947, Alberta has sought to both manage and benefit from what has proven to be the world’s third-largest store of [...]
Deregulation by Stealth
As dramatic as the ICORE scandal is, the Kenney government’s changes to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) should be of even greater concern. This government is turning our regulatory clock [...]
By Ian Urquhart
MOST READ
MOST READ
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 ...