PHOTOS: A couple of strikers picket the Calgary Herald Building, proudly bearing its National Post sign, in 1999 or 2000. You’ll probably recognize one of them. The other is my friend, the late Brock Ketcham. The building is now for sale and its tiny journalistic staff is holed up, appropriately
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Alberta Politics: Nobody can wreck an economy faster than an elected New Democrat, and that’s a Certified Kenney Fact!
PHOTOS: Jason Kenney, candidate to lead the United Conservative Party of Alberta, perhaps thinking up another Certified Kenney Fact. Below: B.C. NDP Premier John Horgan, former Saskatchewan premiers Roy Romanow, a New Democrat, and Grant Devine (CBC photo), a Conservative, and federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, a Liberal. According
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Foreign influence’ had nothing to do with Tory Joan Crockatt’s Calgary Centre election defeat in 2015
PHOTOS: Joan Crockatt, during her brief spell as Conservative Member of Parliament for Calgary Centre. Below: Liberal Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr, who beat Ms. Crockatt in 2015; environmentalist Chris Turner who ran against her for the Greens in 2012 and did very well; and environmentalist Harvey Locke, who ran
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Seriously? Tories about to dump candidate Jason Kenney, columnist predicts …
PHOTOS: Members of the Progressive Conservative Party executive get ready to send Jason Kenney down the old skid road. … Actual Tory executive members may not appear exactly as described in some publications. Below: Calgary Herald political columnist Don Braid and PC leadership candidate Jason Kenney. “Faced with the end
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: A carbon tax—an ethical imperative
The following article was published in the Calgary Herald on January 7th under my byline. You can read it here, along with comments, or below. A carbon tax allows us to clean up after ourselvesLike most people, one of the life lessons I learned at my mother’s knee was that
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: A carbon tax—an ethical imperative
The following article was published in the Calgary Herald on January 7th under my byline. You can read it here, along with comments, or below. A carbon tax allows us to clean up after ourselvesLike most people, one of the life lessons I learned at my mother’s knee was that
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Fred Henry, departing Catholic bishop, held strong pro-labour stance in addition to controversial social conservative views
PHOTOS: Frederick Henry during his 19 years as Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Calgary. (Screen shot from a diocese video.) Below: Two scenes from the picket line at the Calgary Herald during the 1999-2000 strike. In the first, striker Murdoch Macleod and others bravely face down a truck
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Trading press barons for social media behemoths: not an improvement for people who want news
PHOTOS: The Calgary Herald newsroom, back in the day. (Photo grabbed from Facebook, of course.) It’s quieter, nowadays. Below: Brodie Fenlon, managing editor of CBCNews.ca, and Gillian Steward, former managing editor of the Herald. I have bad news for you, people: mainstream media in Alberta is a trainwreck! Of course,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The puzzling legacy of Calgary mayor Rod Sykes: not even one pathetic cul-de-sac has been named after him!
PHOTOS: Former Calgary mayor Rod Sykes sometime during his heyday between 1969 and 1977 (Glenbow Museum photo). Below: The cover of Thin Power, How Former Calgary Mayor Rod Sykes Stamped His Brand on the City … And Scorched Some Sacred Cows, and its author, retired Alberta journalist Andy Marshall. Rod
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Schiaparelli lander missing; ground control still in contact with Postmedia; prognosis grim for both
PHOTOS: An artist’s impression of the Schiaparelli Mars Lander descending gently toward the Martian surface. Schiaparelli’s actual Mars landings may not have unfolded exactly as illustrated by the European Space Agency. Below: The evocative cover of today’s National Post. About 178 million kilometres from us yesterday, give or take, Europe’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Mel Hurtig, a great Canadian – and, full of beans, as we used to say
PHOTOS: Mel Hurtig with his Canadian Encyclopedia, without which, once upon a time, no respectable Canadian home was considered complete. I am grateful to Mr. Hurtig for one thing not mentioned in the short commentary below, and that is my accidental i…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney makes it official with fresh-faced extras and unattributed tribute to the Nixon Era
PHOTOS: A screen grab from yesterday’s video feed of Jason Kenney announcing his candidacy for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party in Calgary. Immediately behind him is Caitlyn Madliner, who has prominently figured in anti-PC…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney: Conservative saviour or a guy with the appeal of a trip to the dentist?
PHOTOS: Jason Kenney at a NATO do, looking positively Nixonian (from his Facebook page). Below: The only shot I ever managed to get of Mr. Kenney myself; former Progressive Conservative saviour Jim Prentice; Mr. Kenney letting his hair down at Toronto
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It’s official: Departure of oil sands and hockey billionaire Murray Edwards had nothing to do with taxes
ILLUSTRATIONS: Alberta’s terrifying Temple of Tax, found on the media midway. So scary it even frightens billionaires away. Really! Below: Dr. Samuel Johnson, noted wit, N. Murray Edwards, oil sands billionaire (CBC photo), and Mr. James Boswell, bio…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Fallout from the ‘Rebel Media’ brouhaha: maybe it’s time to abolish Alberta’s anachronistic Press Gallery
PHOTOS: A screenshot of some of the partisan materials sold on Ezra Levant’s Rebel Media website. Below: Another image of a sale item from The Rebel, in this case a T-shirt with the website’s logo on the back and a slogan supporting the Conservativ…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It’s going to take more than Valentine cards and chocolate to unite Alberta’s fractious right
ILLUSTRATIONS: Hey Wildrose Party … the Tories send their love to you! But will this idea “bomb”? Actual Progressive Conservative strategists may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Former PC cabinet Minister Rick Orman, photographed during…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Hints of Sun news-management style emerge in plans for Edmonton’s combined Postmedia newsrooms
PHOTOS: “Well, Fred, they used to wrap the grocery flyers in these things. They were called ‘newspapers.’” Below: Gerry Nott, senior Postmedia functionary, and Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister most hated by the Canadian newspaper ind…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Can one newsroom plus one editor add up to two newspapers? That’s Postmedia’s story and they’re stickin’ to it!
PHOTOS: The Edmonton Journal’s building in downtown Edmonton as it appeared today. Below: Margo Goodhand, Paul Godfrey (Toronto Star photo) and Stephanie Coombs. After a day of merger mania accompanied by brutal newsroom cuts at Postmedia’s daily n…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Senior editorial heads roll at Edmonton Journal and more may drop soon
PHOTOS: The Edmonton Journal’s headquarters in downtown Edmonton, one of the Postmedia assets that still retains some value. Below: Departing Journal editor-in-chief Margo Goodhand and managing editor Stephanie Coombs. There’s already blood on the …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta NDP defies voters by continuing to govern as if it won the election that put it in power: political scientist
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, running the province as if she had a majority government! What next? Below: University of Calgary political scientist and Calgary Herald columnist Barry Cooper, Broadbent Institute Director Rick Smith and Wildrose…
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