“History is a race between education and catastrophe.” — H G Wells HG Wells may not have had a time machine, but he was certainly prescient. In The Time Machine the narrator, known simply as the Traveller, invents a contraption that takes him to 802,701 AD. There he finds
Continue readingTag: Lukaszuk
Susan on the Soapbox: Alberta’s Climate Change Strategy Goes Up in Smoke
Alberta’s Auditor General blew a gasket. He called the government’s performance on climate change strategy “troubling” and “disturbing”. Hey, he’s a mild mannered accountant; this is as in-your-face as he gets. Our feisty Auditor General Mr Saher kicked off the July 2014 audit report with a lesson on the role
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Ric McIver Stumbles…the PC Party Falls
“Closed-mindedness or intolerance have no place in the PC [party].” —The PC party’s response to Ric McIver’s participation in the March for Jesus led by anti-gay pastor Artur Pawlowski. Instead of belabouring Ric McIver’s pathetic too-little, too-late apology for participating in last Sunday’s March for Jesus (led by Pastor Pawlowski
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Round One! Thomas Lukaszuk!
“Diamond” Jim Prentice (don’t you just love the “Brian Masonism”) adopted a “nobody moves, nobody gets hurt” strategy for his leadership campaign…and it works for the 99% of his election platform. There will be no change to the energy policy (full steam ahead with expanding the oilsands), no change to
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Jim Prentice: A Risk Adverse Banker Meets the Black Swan
Two energy company executives made a wager. The one who bet that Jim Prentice would never give up $3 million a year in exchange for power lost. True story. Mr Prentice On May 16, 2014, Mr Prentice entered the Progressive Conservative leadership race. After two months of dancing on the
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Premier’s Penthouse
“We run a $40 billion corporation that matters an awful lot to the people of Alberta and the economy of this country”—former Premier Redford in the Legislature, March 4, 2014 Excuse me??? The “government” is not a “corporation”, its premier is not the CEO and the cabinet is not the
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Where are the Ethical Lawyers?
In the last three months Albertans have witnessed a shocking display of raw power. The Redford government calls it “delivering the responsible change Albertans voted for.” The rest of us call it the abuse of majority power to crush the rights of environmentalists, land owners and labour unions. Black November
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Why Ms Redford will be Confirmed as PC Leader: The Wikipedia Factor
The pundits say Ms Redford will be confirmed as PC party leader. They’re right, but not for the reasons they think. Here’s why: The party cannot endure another leadership campaign. True, the skirmish between PC leadership candidates (he’s an idiot, no she’s an idiot) would present the Opposition with useful
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Campus Alberta: Converting Universities into Trade Schools
I like engineers but this is ridiculous (and I’m not talking about Supercow, the U of C engineering mascot). Supercow U of C Engineering Mascot The PC government just invested $142.5 million to expand the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary while at the same time hacking
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: “Campus Alberta”: Soviet Style Research and Development Comes to Alberta
Sigh…where to start? The barrage of bad news spewing out of the Premier’s office has been so intense that the government’s Machiavellian takeover of post secondary institutions and research and development slipped by with relatively little public outcry. Sure, some students and academics staged protests on the steps of the
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Strike While the Iron is Hot: The Edmonton Remand Centre Labour Dispute
For years I’ve wondered whether unions had outlived their usefulness and were simply using their collective bargaining power to crank up wages and benefits at the expense of…well…who knows what. But the wildcat strike arising out of the Edmonton Remand Centre labour dispute proved me wrong. Edmonton Remand Centre The
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: And Now…A Message from your Premier-In-Waiting: Mr Lukaszuk
We interrupt our regular programming—the PC spin on the cause of the $4 billion budget shortfall—to bring you an important public service announcement from the Premier-In-Waiting, Mr Lukaszuk. Mr Lukaszuk steps up to the microphone and says: Listen up you pesky union types, and this includes all you doctors who
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