Dave Yager has spent nearly half a century in Alberta’s oil and natural gas industry and 40 years in journalism, notably with the oilfield trade magazine, The Roughneck. His first book, From Miracle to Menace: Alberta, A Carbon Story, combines his extensive experience in a well-written and fact-centred analysis of the economics, politics and history…
The outspoken academic might have had a chance running for the Conservatives. When they dropped him and he joined the PPC, his chances diminished significantly
Like most Canadian conservatives, I’ve made no secret about my serious reservations about Maxime Bernier and the People’s Party of Canada. But many of us also recognize that the PPC, like other new political parties, will experience its fair share of hardships and growing pains. Bernier deserves credit for picking up one very good candidate…
Contrary to a university professor's snide remark deriding Conservatives, every vote matters in an election, from a garbageman to a neurosurgeon
Various academic studies in the U.S. have examined a voter’s level of education and juxtaposed it with his/her political preferences. In most cases, voters with more education tend to lean liberal rather than conservative. The Pew Research Center noted in a March 2018 study, for instance, that 54 per cent of college graduates either identified…
All institutions of higher learning should make a robust free exchange of ideas a key part of their learning environment
Last month, the Association of Administrative and Professional Staff (AAPS) of the University of British Columbia (UBC) wrote a letter to university president Santa Ono on behalf of its 5,000 members. The letter claimed UBC was serving as a platform for “bigoted, anti-transgender hate speech” by bisexual transgender anti-SOGI 123 activist Jenn Smith. The association…
After years of being the best team in the world, they continue to fight for equal status and respect at home
Sexism sucks. And nobody knows that better than the U.S. women’s national soccer team. The current team members, and their predecessors, have been fighting gender discrimination on the part of the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) for decades. The U.S. national team has been the best women’s…
The relatively low value Canadians assign to religious freedom and the tepid opposition to secularism laws are worrisome
Have we lost all sense of proportion when it comes to our fundamental rights in Canada? Two recent cases suggest we have. Both cases involve the notwithstanding clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which allows legislatures to temporarily bypass certain constitutionally-protected rights. Two premiers have sought to invoke the much-discussed clause recently. Yet…
We don't need to disparage masculinity in order to celebrate the qualities and contributions of women, or to encourage social equality of the genders
One of brightest students in my university department was seriously intellectual and widely read, always taking an active and constructive part in seminars. The student was approached by two others who complained that the student took up too much space and time, and should step back. No professor ever advised such a thing to this…
This is good political and economic news not only for the province, but the entire country
Albertans will head to the ballot boxes today. Who will they choose to lead the next provincial government? Recent public opinion polls show Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party leading Premier Rachel Notley’s NDP by a comfortable margin. Pollara Strategic Insights has the UCP ahead by 45 to 38 per cent (April 10), Nanos Research suggests…
Instead of eliminating racism and sexism, we've established a new set of rules that ignore merit and competition
On Dec. 1, 1955, a tired seamstress was making her way home on a bus after a long day in Montgomery, Ala. The driver angrily informed the woman that the law required her to sit in the back. But the woman wasn’t just tired from work, she was tired of a law and a system…
Ontario lawyers are being asked to agree to principles that may run counter to their beliefs
The Law Society of Ontario wants to compel all lawyers who wish to practise in the province to agree to the society’s version of a progressive agenda. It would be a dangerous precedent. The society may also make it mandatory for lawyers to attend sessions on such subjects as “unconscious bias” and apparently any other…