Art of the Poison Pill
Do outgoing political parties employ poison pills? That is, would a ruling party, knowing it’s about to lose an election, do something to mess up the incoming government? Some think it’s an [...]
By Fred Stenson
Politics
Politics
The Hunt for Blue October
Conservatives and guns seem to go together. For instance: photographs of right-wing politicians holding combat weapons at gun shows (Derek Fildebrandt, Rob Anders) and blasting away at firing [...]
By Fred Stenson
The Coal Phase-Out
“Jason digs coal.” That’s Jason as in Kenney, the long-serving Conservative MP for Calgary Midnapore, former federal minister and current leader of Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives. Also, [...]
By Chris Turner
Facts Don’t Matter
Like many Canadians, I’ve been surprised by the recent turmoil south of the border, where some politicians regard undocumented “alternative facts” as equivalent to the findings of science. The US [...]
A Gendered Lens
Stephanie McLean was doing the baby bounce. It’s the rhythmic up-and-down jiggle an adult holding a baby often does to soothe the child. Pediatricians suggest babies enjoy constant movement, as [...]
Fairly Unbalanced
Donald Trump’s war on US news media got me thinking about Alberta’s first Social Credit premier, William Aberhart. Like Trump, Aberhart did not enjoy the stories about himself he read in the [...]
By Fred Stenson
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 [...]
By Max Fawcett
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 [...]
No Free Lunch
Poleconomy, a 1980s family board game billed as “The Game of Canada,” has you move plastic beaver tokens, buy real-life companies and try to amass the most money. Occasionally you get elected [...]
By Evan Osenton
Aping America
Back when America was Great, it loved facts. Minnesota’s Mesabi Range was the biggest thing in iron ore in the 1880s (fact) and contributed to mountains of steel for US industrialization (fact). [...]
By Fred Stenson
MOST READ
MOST READ
Facts Don’t Matter
Like many Canadians, I’ve been surprised by the recent turmoil south of the border, where some politicians regard undocumented “alternative facts” as equivalent to the findings of science. The US is undertaking a science-trashing exercise without precedent. President Donald Trump has declared climate change a hoax devised by China and ...
The Gap
Dentists are trusted professionals. They’re also widely disliked. Having had a good dentist for decades, I was more trusting than disliking. But when my dentist reduced his hours, and new dentists joined his practice, the hygienists started to push frequent fluoride treatments and x-rays. I’m almost 40 and haven’t had ...
The Disappearing Critic
“Came here Saturday night to see the play A Christmas Carol. The theatre is a little small, lots of walking up stairs if you are seated in the higher rows. They need more bartenders and servers during the intermission though as there were huge lines. They do one thing that ...