Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Former Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi is quiet and elusive about a potential run for the provincial NDP leadership. That’s because it’s not easy being orange, especially when you’ve always been purple. We should hear from Nenshi on March 11. He can be expected to run — if the party accepts him, that is. For an NDP outsider, it might be easier to ask the Vatican for sainthood . . . . CLICK HERE for the full story

In the United States, the Republicans can't be trusted, but neither can Joe Biden. In Canada, it'll depend on genuine conservatives holding the line in Poilievre's party ... ... For any Conservatives reading this who are going squishy about Ukraine, you may well be upset with what I have to say here. But you should pay close attention to what Shuv Majumdar (Conservative MP in Stephen Harper’s old Calgary riding) says ... CLICK HERE for the full story

I would invite my fine readers at The Line to stop and imagine what the world would be like today if Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek had decided to simply do her %$##$%^&* job on Thursday night. Let me paint this picture for you: close your eyes and allow this scene to play out in the theatre of the mind ... CLICK HERE for the full commentary NOTE ... language warning  

  When it comes to people moving within Canada, Alberta looks like the place to be.   Recent numbers from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) show more than 31,000 people arrived in the province from elsewhere in Canada — mostly B.C. and Ontario — in the first quarter of 2023.   CREA said that is a rise of 44.7 per cent compared with last year ... CLICK HERE for the full story

  The man hired to turn around the flagging fortunes of Suncor Energy Inc. said Tuesday he believes the company has been too focused in recent years on the energy transition and must get back to an oil-centred business strategy.   CEO Rich Kruger, who took the reins at the Calgary-based energy giant this spring, told analysts on a conference call that the company’s board of directors agrees with him that a “revised direction and tone” at the company is necessary.   He said he believes Suncor must not neglect “the business drivers of today” in favour of future-focused, clean and low-carbon energy pursuits.   “We have a bit of a disproportionate emphasis on the longer-term energy transition,” Kruger said, adding that while lower emissions energy is important, it is not what is going to make money for shareholders today ... CLICK HERE to read the full story

City hauls in millions from high electricity prices while province dawdles   Regular Albertans are getting walloped by high electricity prices. Here in Calgary, city hall adds a layer of blatant profiteering with its appalling franchise fee.   This is a grim situation that hurts individuals and every business. It requires both provincial action and an about-face by the city ... CLICK HERE to read to full story

In a news story in the Western Standard this morning , Calgary Nose Hill Conservative MP Michelle Rempel said   ... she plans to ask the leadership organizing committee to disqualify (Richard) Decarie . “ If he had made those statements as a candidate during the federal election he would have been turfed, so why should he be allowed to run?” she said. Calgary Conservative MP Michelle Rempel speaking in Kamloops during last Falls federal election I for one believe this IS good news for the health, and the future, of the Conservative Party of Canada. Calgary Conservative MP Michelle Rempel said to be concerned the West won’t be represented by those who are now in the running As for possible plans to seek the leadership of the party by running as a candidate in the race to succeed Andrew Scheer?   Well Michelle Rempel is still playing her cards close. In that same Western Standard news story, they stated she is ... still debatin...

Imagine if Alberta was famous not for its prodigious oil reserves, but for its banana plantations. It’s a bit difficult to picture banana trees carpeting our northern prairie, but it might have been possible once.  Forty million years ago Alberta was a tropical paradise, rich in ferns and fauna.  Giant sequoia trees stood watch as dinosaurs roamed. Then the climate changed. Imagine, for the purposes of this essay, if it had not.  Imagine that modern-day enterprising Albertans took advantage of the fertile environment to grow bananas.  Not just ordinary bananas, but the most succulent and delicious of fruits, and organic to boot. Imagine, further, that this new industry sprouted in a world hopelessly addicted to bananas, global production spiraling ever upward to satisfy the insatiable appetites of banana-mad earthlings. Imagine that, with time, the output of Alberta’s wondrous plantations swelled to 5% of global banana p...

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” — Winston Churchill Once upon a time in French Indochina, administrators in Saigon decided to do something about a rat problem that was developing in the city. Their solution was to put a bounty on rats, to be claimed by anyone who could produce a rat tail (since the shelf life of entire dead rats was presumably quite short). Strangely, a few months after the bounty was introduced, the number of rats in Saigon actually increased, although it was remarked that many of the rats were now without tails. Upon investigation it turned out that enterprising Vietnamese had heard about the bounty and turned their talents to creating rat farms on the outskirts of the city, where rats were bred, de-tailed, and set free. What had been conceived as a measure to reduce the number of rats, actually had the opposite effect. So, it is with harm reduction and half-measures at opioid treatment . ...

CALGARY —The federal government could provide greater certainty for major resource development projects—such as pipelines—by establishing clear consultation guidelines and recognizing Indigenous property rights, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank. “ Uncertainty surrounding Indigenous consultations is the biggest impediment to resource development in the country right now, and unless a clear framework for what adequate consultation looks like is established, Canada will continue to lose out on investment ,” said Jason Clemens, Fraser Institute executive vice-president. The study, Assessing the Duty to Consult , was written by Malcolm Lavoie, assistant law professor at the University of Alberta. It finds that the duty to consult, which is a constitutional obligation, creates uncertainty because the specific requirements for consultation are determined on a case by case basis. The du...

Senators call on Suits and Boots for Bill C-69 input ~~ March 28, 2019 Suits and Boots has been invited to appear before the Senate committee examining Bill C-69.    The organization’s founder, Rick Peterson, and Honorary Chair Brad Schell, a retired oil patch hauler from High River, Alberta will appear at the hearings being held by the Standing Senate committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources in Calgary on Tuesday, April 9. “ This is an amazing honour ,” said Peterson, an Edmonton businessman who launched the not-for-profit with six investment industry colleagues last April, “ and we’re humbled that the Senators would like to hear the voices of our 3,700 members from coast to coast .” “ This invitation is testimony to the hard work and persuasive abilities of every one of our supporters who phoned, emailed and wrote the Senate about this campaign since we launched it last September. And the fact that our lobbying on behalf of ...