But they should
When it comes to scrapping the Trudeau government’s carbon tax, the hardest decision Conservative leadership hopefuls have to make is whether they would scrap it before or after lunch on their first day if elected prime minister. The bigger question is whether a Conservative government would scrap the impending second carbon tax. All candidates are…
The Jay lives and breeds from coast to coast to coast
My friend and colleague Dr. David Bird, formerly of McGill University, has been driving a movement to have a national bird declared for Canada. Although many thought it was a done deal already and we had affirmed the Canada Jay as our national bird, Canada has not yet done so. Starting in 2016, the community…
But building LNG infrastructure like long-haul pipelines in Canada is "challenging"
Canada’s potential to supply natural gas to Europe as liquefied natural gas (LNG) has gone from an afterthought to a critical part of the discussion on how to replace gas from Russia, according to analysts with Norway-based Rystad Energy. European countries are facing emergency measures to reduce energy use to ensure enough natural gas is…
There’s a way to reduce fertilizer use and make all agricultural production much more environmentally friendly: controlled environment agriculture
When we look at climate change, the future for many seems to hold only short-term despair and long-term disaster. Will humans be able to survive, let alone prosper? Before we let today’s doomsters depress us, let’s look at an earlier apocalyptic forecast. Around the turn of the 19th century, Thomas Malthus predicted the end of…
Detailed data will help community organizations in Alberta develop effective injury prevention programs
A new report from the Injury Prevention Centre is the first in Alberta to provide data on injury-related emergency department visits by people experiencing houselessness – information that will help community organizations deliver injury prevention programs tailored to the distinct health-care needs of this population. “This is the first step in understanding what the injury issues are,” says…
Ottawa must bring in legislation to ensure the project gets built now more than ever
Ottawa needs to finally declare through legislation that the Trans Mountain Expansion Project is to the national advantage of Canada. Doing so would prove to the Canadian public and Indigenous communities that the federal government is serious about seeing it completed. Make no mistake, killing the project would be devastating for many Indigenous communities along…
Do we or the government own our bodies?
Former B.C. deputy minister of health Lawrie McFarlane’s July 24 commentary on the “Cambie Surgery Centre ruling” (a descriptive that ignores two cancer patients and three children who were co-plaintiffs) contained some valid commentary. The crisis we now face in our health system is there for all to see and observe. Notably, McFarlane offers no solutions.…
Interest groups are weaponizing science to support a narrative that fits their biased view of what farmers should and shouldn’t do
Most Canadians have never been on a farm, let alone lived on one, which makes more than 98 per cent of our population agriculturally illiterate. For many Canadians, crop production is an unknown concept. Because of this, it’s relatively easy to use fear to influence public opinion on any food-related issue involving agriculture. Activists know…
Business administration, engineering, nursing, and biological and agricultural sciences ranked in top three in Canada and top 50 worldwide
University of Alberta programs in business, engineering, nursing and agricultural sciences rank among the top three in Canada, according to new global rankings. The U of A’s business administration program was ranked the best in Canada and 30th in the world, according to the 2022 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, or GRAS, after climbing steadily in…
Saudi Arabia isn’t ready to ditch Russia
After a brief lull and a price drop, crude oil markets are heating up again, surging by more than US$2 a barrel last week. The Aug. 3 expanded OPEC+ ministerial meeting, which includes Russia, is just around the corner. And signals from producing countries aren’t helping to stabilize the markets. In addition, the threat of…