The province needs to begin ensuring students are graduating ready for citizenship and the workforce It’s everyone’s favourite time of year in Alberta: not only was there a recent provincial budget, but we’re also just three months out from the spring election. So naturally, keyboards are clacking away in corporate boardrooms and C-suites across the…
So why are we so rude to each other? I have been avoiding watching the news. It appears to me that we are spending far too much time engrossed in discussions that reduce our community-mindedness and personal accountabilities. Instead, we spend a great deal of time attacking individuals for their beliefs and/or lineage. Even the…
Product website gatekeepers might be better off allowing some profanity on their platforms
Profanity in online reviews can pack a powerful punch, says a University of Alberta business researcher. According to Katherine Lafreniere, an expletive or two in a review can enhance an evaluation of a service or product, especially when qualifying descriptions of a given attribute. That means a dishwasher described as “damn quiet,” for example, is…
An important lesson for nation-building in Canada
As a new Canadian, I was fortunate to have had the guidance and mentorship of many outstanding Canadian role models. They helped pave my integration into a new society and provided me with invaluable advice for my professional career. There’s an important lesson here for nation-building in Canada. Bringing immigrants to Canada is only half…
You can disagree with the opinions but you must always show respect to the person who presents them
As a Canadian, I was deeply saddened by a recent exchange in the House of Commons between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and members of the Opposition. Trudeau said, “Conservative Party members can stand with people who wave swastikas. They can stand with people who wave the Confederate flag.” In fact, interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen…
Attack on the Coastal GasLink site was far more violent than the Freedom Convoy
What Canada offers to its citizens isn’t glamorous or sexy, and it doesn’t inspire the beating of drums. It’s peace, order and good governance. These modest goals are accepted and expected by most Canadians. We may even have tended to take them for granted. But our peace and order have been threatened. For the past…
Our policymakers must start reflecting on the consequences of their actions
The more time that passes, the more the restrictions on our lives seem to have run their course in the eyes of the population. At least that’s what a February 1st Angus Reid poll indicates: Fifty-four per cent of Canadians believe it’s time to lift the restrictions and let people who have COVID, or who…
It changed my view of Canadians and perhaps of human nature itself
So, we enter another year under a cloud. Omicron is on a rampage. Airlines are cancelling flights. Putin is playing brinksmanship with Biden. Colorado is experiencing wildfires in the winter. House prices are on speed. And Canada’s national debt is at historic levels. There’s a lot to be stressed out about. It’s a bad year…
If the price requires sacrificing civility and honour, we've lost ourselves
Status is a constant in human life, although much of the time we don't think about it because it's everywhere and takes so many forms. It’s been said that “if it doesn’t happen on YouTube, it didn’t happen.” But are those messages helping or hindering? Are we unintentionally inviting individuals to seek their moments of fame…
Nova Scotia’s authoritarian response to the pandemic
Born and raised in Halifax, I currently live in Munich, Germany. I have been monitoring the Nova Scotian response to the pandemic from abroad by reading the news and keeping in touch with family and friends. I write this article to lend some perspective on the pandemic through the lens of a Bluenoser living much…