Apr 29 2013
Today, Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced that the Government of Canada was tightening the rules for companies wishing to use Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs) in their businesses. I found out about this when Joan Crockett, another Calgary MP, tweeted: Now, this isn’t the only change to the regulations. Kenney also announced: …
Feb 06 2013
The Province of Alberta has put out a website so Albertans can take a crack at balancing the books. I decided to take a crack. Now let me give you a little history. Twenty years ago, when I was at the University of Calgary, I lived through the Ralph Klein / Jim Dinning era …
Jun 09 2012
Has anyone else noticed the very interesting comparison of the air ambulance services in Ontario vs. Alberta (and soon Saskatchewan)? In Ontario, their air ambulance system, ORNGE, is owned and operated by an arm of the provincial government, largely from government funds. It spends an inordinate amount of money, and has been the subject of …
Jun 09 2012
Thomas Mulcair, the leader of the Official Opposition, has in recent weeks declared his belief that the oil industry has turned the Canadian dollar into a “petrocurrency”, increasing it’s value and making manufacturers in Ontario and Quebec. There are a number of reasons why Mr. Mulcair is completely incorrect and in my mind foolish. …
May 25 2012
Recently, the City of Los Angeles decided to ban the use of plastic grocery bags, ostensibly for the purposes of reducing litter and being good for the environment. Jay Beeber over at Reason.com explained clearly this week why it is a pointless regulation, other than to make some leftist enviromentalists feel better: There’s a crisis …
May 12 2012
In today’s National Post, John Ivison and Andrew Coyne provide an interesting dichotomy about the debta surrounding climate change, the oil sands, CO2 emissions and the politics of perception. Ivison starts by stating that Ottawa (i.e. the government of Canada) must act to reign in oil sands emissions, or else the critics will be proven correct …
May 12 2012
Jeff Rubin, former economist at CIBC, has in the past few years, turned into a modern Malthus, proclaiming the end of the world as we know it. However, his writings are lacking in the breadth of analysis truly required to understand the problems we face, and he underestimates the ingenuity of humanity to solve problems. …
Apr 03 2012
OK, so the Alberta Provincial Election is a week old, and momentum has swung from the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to the upstart and conservative Wildrose Party. The leftist parties, which comprises the Liberals, NDP and Alberta Party are trailing well behind province-wide, although they have greater support in Edmonton and Lethbridge and can probably win …
Feb 28 2012
This week, Alberta Premier Alison Redford went to America and Ontario to “sell” the oilsands and made the point that Ontario should be supportive because the oil industry buys billions of dollars worth of goods and services from Ontario firms and manufacturers. Ontario Premier McGuinty countered that the booming oil industry had turned the Canadian …
