By Alison@Creekside Who didn’t see this coming? CP: Statistics Canada is cutting five of its surveys after being told by the federal government to chop its budget by $7 million. The surveys include environmental and business statistics, and are in addition to other belt-tightening at the troubled agency. As Pogge blogged back in July: “Harper […]
BC’s watershed election
By Alison@Creekside “Environmental blah blah” is how retiring NDP MLA Corky Evans describes the privatization of B.C.’s waterways under the guise of addressing climate change. So-called “green” run of river hydro projects, also known as independent power projects or IPPs, divert water into a pipe several kilometres long and then into a turbine before returning […]
Will Canada become bank bait too?
I still haven’t made up my mind how to vote. But I do think that if any leader is going to beat Harper, who is still doing astonishingly well in the polls despite ample evidence that his party is populated by boorish ignoramuses, he or she has got to quit reacting and start providing a […]
Dion’s plan hits home
Let’s talk about real quality of life and how a decent government program can contribute to it. Many years ago, nobody could afford to get into the housing market in Alberta. So the provincial government offered new home buyers an interest-free loan of $5,000 to help out with their downpayment. I took one of those […]
Taking us for a ride
Last Monday, Nissan announced that it is partnering with NEC to make entirely electric, zero-emission vehicles. Reading between the lines and among the web pages, it is clear to me that if we are not very clear with policy-makers, we will be as stuck to big business as we ever were, zero emissions notwithstanding. Here’s […]
Tattletales have more fun
I wasn’t much of a snitch as a kid, even though my older brother tormented me. It was a pact, a point of honour not to tattle. So perhaps my enjoyment of telling on the bad guys now is a release from the strictures of childhood. Or perhaps they are just so much worse than […]
Harper has a good week
By Nora Abercrombie I am not a fan of Stephen Harper by any measure but we have to acknowledge that he conducted himself fairly well this week. He did not shy from telling Canadians that economic times are going to get tougher. He commended Manley’s report on Afghanistan without leaping to agree with it, asserting […]
Stop the snivelling, Mr. Harper
Crisis is the time when you hope your elected leaders buck up and do the right thing, bravely and without complaint. It’s when you look for a little inspiration, a little “we can do it” attitude. That is, I have read, the type of leadership that Winston Churchill supplied in Britain’s struggle against Germany. He […]
Sainthood and other half-measures
Why don’t Canadians demand outcomes? Why do we settle for mere progress when nothing short of full realization of the outcome will do? There are some evils that will always be with us, like crime and natural catastrophe. We will always have to address earthquakes and tornados, the tomfoolery of knuckleheads, and occasional desperate acts […]
How I became a Bad Ass Trucker (and why I might stop)
Bev Schellenberg My daughter spotted a sign on a big pickup as we drove home the other day. “Bad Ass Truck” it read. “Look, Mom,” she said. “That truck says Bad — [she paused, not wanting to use a naughty word] — you know, like ‘donkey’ — Truck.” The sign was right, though; it was […]
