Word Prisms

I was sad to hear about the closing of  180  provincial parks recently. The wilderness has always been an important part of my life as it was to my father and my father’s father. The love of the wilderness brought my mother and father together and so could be considered responsible for the existence of me and my siblings. They were both members of the outdoor club at university. On weekends, the club would engage in such activities as skating on Whitemud Creek in Edmonton. After the skate, they would retreat to the  club’s cabin that featured a potbelly stove used both for heat and cooking.  When my father extended his handkerchief to my mother after she’d cut her hand opening a tin of beans  to feed the hungry skaters, you could say she lost her heart.   I don’t think Mr. Kenney gets it. He pretends to  be  an Albertan and speak for us but he isn’t Kihiwin Provincial Park and he doesn’t. I support the Rachel Notley’s NDP and a progr...

This quid quo pro proviso of the United Conservative Party requires that a province must first be prosperous before a province can be caring and compassionate. From this statement, a number of questions arise. First, at what point can a province consider itself prosperous? A recent article in the Globe and Mail addressed the complaints of Alberta's UCP leadership candidates about equalization payments to other provinces. It states that Quebec receives "$11 billion in equalization payments enjoying a budget surplus while Alberta has a $10.5 billion deficit and receives none." The reason for this seeming injustice is that Quebec taxes are almost twice that of Alberta's. If both provinces were to tax their citizens at the Canadian average, Quebec would suffer a deficit and Alberta would be enjoying the surplus. However, implementing a sales tax would be tantamount to political suicide for any ruling party in Alberta. That's despite the fact that, according to...

Jason as nationalist cowboy. Jason Kenney’s an interesting guy. He’s not likeable like Ralph Klein or Justin Trudeau. He’s not a policy wonk like his mentor, Stephen Harper. And, like Jim Prentice, he's a federal politician who's come to Alberta to make it big in provincial politics.  So, what does he have going for him? First, he works 80 hour days. Second, he’s kind of nutty and in this day and age of populist rhetoric, people like nutty. Just think of Donald Trump’s brag when he was running for president. “I will build a Great Wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me – and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, Great Wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words” Who talks like that and who believes it? Nutty right? But the people ate it up chanting “Build the wall. Build the wall” in many of his speeches. Jason doesn’t say anything that nutty because, even here in Alberta, we don’t ...