Longer days are coming! Cheaper solar power, not so much
We are constantly being told that wind and solar power are really cheaper than fossil-fuel power if you tot up the true costs of using each type. These arguments have always been dubious on their merits, if not outright disingenuous. Yes, the wind is free and the sunshine is free, but nothing about capturing either…
Without that trust, public officials lose their social licence to govern
The heartbreaking death of Nathanael Spitzer, the cancer-stricken boy from Ponoka, exposed a most callous streak in Alberta’s medical bureaucracy. There’s no forgiving how Alberta Health Services appallingly used a child’s death to promote yet more COVID-19 fear. However, one should dismiss the promise from Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Deena Hinshaw, to process…
World leaders are doing everything Thunberg and people like her say, without batting an eye
It seems everything is about justice these days. As I drove home from the store recently, I saw a sign for the elections here in New York from the local Democratic Party, promising “equity, equality, and justice for all.” Beyond the obvious concerns any sane person should have about a promise of “equity,” the sign…
Dreams of a hydrogen future just another energy scheme to extract money from gullible governments
Once again, the world staged ClimateFest 26, aka the United Nations Conference of the Parties, where peddlers of alternative energy schemes try to plunge their dippers into the river of climate change funding that flows around the world. This funding is generated by governmental pledges cadged out of economically developed countries at prior COPs. One…
Actions speak louder than words
The age-old expression that actions speak louder than words conveys an important insight: character is best judged through action. Anyone can say or promise anything, but following through requires ability, skill, discipline, and commitment. So the simplest test of character is to pay attention to deeds. Plutarch, the first-century Greek biographer, refined the test. He…
NATO largely ignored the ethnic, cultural, religious and other aspects of how Afghans live
The hasty, defeatist and craven withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan in August has compelled the “civilized” Western nations and their leaders to confront the failures and errors of the past 20 years, which resemble those of earlier conflicts. The initial supposed conquest of Afghanistan relegated the remnants of the Taliban zealots to…
Declaring an environmental emergency without debate is manipulatively undemocratic
Calgary recently swore in its first female mayor, Jyoti Gondek, and she has already delivered a troubling message. A week earlier, less than 24 hours after winning the mayoral race, she gave her first post-election talk-radio interview to 630 CHED’s Ryan Jespersen, mostly involving a series of softball questions. He asked her the obligatory woke…
The EU's proposed Digital Markets Act poses a huge problem for Apple and Google
Apple Inc. recently warned that draft rules from the European Union requiring the company to open its mobile operating system to third-party apps would pose a security risk to its users. A statement from the company, which expanded on comments made by CEO Tim Cook, said that if it were required to support the “sideloading”…
Numerous studies prove that Canada’s health-care system is inferior to similar systems in almost every way
As we enter the year 2022, most Canadians will have lived their entire lives under the shibboleth that says we have the best health-care system in the world. Our beloved medicare is universal in scope, free of charge and offers equal access to all. What country could beat that? As it turns out, most countries…
Expect reduced jurisdictional choice and competition, higher tax burdens and more political patronage
Rhetoric is one thing; reality is another. As is becoming increasingly clear, the proposal from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) earlier this year for a 15 per cent global minimum for corporate taxation is nothing of the sort. Although the initiative slated for 2023 won’t and can’t achieve a level playing field…