Musings of the Technical Bard » Provincial

Alberta electricity “market” is broken

Taliesyn — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:00:49 +0000

Back in 2000, the PC government of Ralph Klein purported to “deregulate” the electricity industry, with the promise that more competition and the free market would provide more choice and better prices for Albertans. But something went wrong. Today, although many power plants have been built and the total installed base of power generation …

Yes, patients die on the waiting list

Taliesyn — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:46:48 +0000

Raj Sherman, the outspoken medical doctor and Member of the Alberta Legislature (Ind. former PC), has caused an outrage by claiming in the Legislature that 250 cancer patients died while waiting for treatment and that Alberta Health officials covered it up and penalized people in the system for speaking out. The outcry should be about …

Merit Pay for Teachers?

Taliesyn — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 01:20:25 +0000

It is ridiculous to me that we, the people, are even having this discussion. All jobs/professions should be paid based on merit and performance. Experience should lead to better performance. Education should lead to better performance. But that fact it that you can’t take that for granted. Just because someone has been doing a job …

You can’t work in this province…

Taliesyn — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:16:12 +0000

Yet another example of interprovincial trade restrictions that exist for no reason other than to prevent competition and create work for government bureaucrats. Contemporary Security Canada, which also provided private security for the Vancouver Olympic Games, was selected by the RCMP to provide approximately 1,100 private security guards to screen pedestrians throughout the summits in …

Nice to see, but do they understand?

Taliesyn — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 21:22:12 +0000

It was nice to see thousands of people protesting tax increases in the streets of Quebec this weekend, but I am suspicious about what they really understand: Participants called for the government to clean up its own spending before imposing new taxes But, like the protestors in Greece a few weeks ago – do these …

Environmentalists accused of fraud? Can’t be!

Taliesyn — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:05:04 +0000

I am fascinated by this news story from Toronto. A group representing dozens of lawn care companies trying to bring charges against Ontario’s environment minister and senior bureaucrats over the province’s controversial pesticide ban is now calling for charges against 23 activists. Group spokesman Jeffrey Lowes of MREP Communications said Wednesday that information has been …

Quebec’s ridiculous green car rule

Taliesyn — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:33:57 +0000

Quebec is taking it’s own crazy socialist path by imposing restrictions on car makers and dealers with so little warning that it is impossible for them to meet the deadline. The result will be that car sales in Quebec will necessarily drop off, residents of Quebec will buy cars in Ontario, New Brunswick or the …

On eHealth and Medical Accounting

Taliesyn — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 04:17:31 +0000

Terence Corcoran, in another of his excellent descriptions of the flaws of government bureaucracy, explains better than I can why the eHealth fiasco in Ontario is doomed to fail (as such things have failed elsewhere). But the best part is this quote from Arnie Aberman: It is unlikely that the government will succeed in developing …

On Greyhound and Manitoba

Taliesyn — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:38:28 +0000

Greyhound has announced that it is going to curtail it’s service in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario because it can’t make money on those routes. Federal Transport Minister John Baird is playing politics when he said: This is clearly an attempt to shakedown Canadian taxpayers for tens of millions of dollars a year from this Texas-based …

Dr. Swann has no solution

Taliesyn — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:05:40 +0000

Dr. David Swann, the leader of the Alberta Liberals, is once again up in arms about the Alberta government’s plans for health care. He complains that the government should: The Premier must reverse the physician hiring freeze immediately and take rapid steps to increase the capacity of the health care system: more beds, more health …