The last woods bison in the United States was apparently shot by a hunter in West Virginia around 1835. For many decades, the woods bison was presumed extinct – until an airplane spotted an isolated herd in the muskeg swamps north of Alberta, Canada. I was delighted to actually see another herd of the nearly extinct animals calmly munching on hay – right in the middle of the oil sands mining project in northern Alberta, which I visited a few weeks ago. Much of this oil is destined for the USA, to reduce imports from dictatorships, and more will come in the Keystone XL Pipeline, if President Obama ever approves it.
Year: 2012
First Nations court in Kamloops deserves exploration and caution
In 2013, Kamloops will become one of the few B.C. settings with a dedicated First Nations court. The court will feature elders and be modelled after restorative justice. The Kamloops court is modelled after a New Westminster First Nations courtroom, which has been in...
City politicians focus on utopian visions while citizens just want simple things, like passable roads
It’s the new urban blight. Across the country, city governments are in varying states of disarray, if not chaos. The range is wide, from the badly governed fiasco in Toronto to outright corruption in Montreal and boondoggle-prone governments in Vancouver, Calgary and other Western cities. Taxes are rising, spending is soaring, but roads are crumbling and the basics often ignored.
The Doha Wealth Redistribution Process Moves On: Climate alarmists didn’t get all they wanted – but they put us on a very slippery slope
The eighteenth Conference of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP-18) has ended. It was the latest chapter in the interminable negotiations over wealth redistribution and control of energy use and economic growth – in the name of preventing “dangerous manmade global warming.” Next year in Warsaw!
Featured News
Weaponizing the Law
The indictment of former U.S. president Donald Trump for crimes invented by his political opponents is the most egregious example yet seen of the weaponizing of the law. The United States is now full of examples. However, in Canada, we also see the law being...
“Looking At” Seizing Control Over Western Canada’s Natural Resources
OTTAWA, REGINA - Last week, two things happened that could have profound impacts on natural resources development in Saskatchewan. One is a hint the federal government might want to take control of natural resources away from the provinces, and the other is the...
Conflict on Alberta First Nation demonstrates limits of long term leasing
Trouble may be brewing on Siksika Nation, a Blackfoot First Nation located near Calgary, as community members rejected a new negotiated 50-year lease agreement with a non-aboriginal resort association. This means resort owners may have to abandon cabins they have...
No, Secretary General, developed nations did not cause global warming: UN chief errs again on climate change
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is misinformed when he states that developed countries have caused global warming and must bear the responsibility. Experts had written him a letter stating that there has been no overall warming or cooling of the planet for about 16 years and that the science is unclear on whether, when and how atmospheric warming will resume.
Man Made Global Warming Disproved
It takes only one experiment to disprove a theory. The climate models are predicting a global disaster, but the empirical evidence disagrees. The theory of catastrophic man-made global warming has been tested from many independent angles.
Average Federal Worker Costs $114,000: Budget watchdog
As the Conservative government lops thousands of jobs off the payroll, the cost of the average federal employee will continue to climb and could hit nearly $130,000 by 2015, says a report by Canada’s budget watchdog.
Obama’s Walt Disney energy policies: Wishes upon stars won’t make energy dreams come true – but will bring nightmares
President Obama and the radical environmentalists who helped him win a second term seem to believe that, if only they wish hard enough, they can make the sun, wind, waves, algae and fields of corn replace fossil fuels as the world’s primary energy sources.
A second Trojan Horse in U.N. climate change negotiations boosted in Doha, Qatar
"The Procession of the Trojan Horse in Troy" by Domenico Tiepolo (1773), inspired by Virgil's Aeneid Despite lamentations from impatient climate campaigners, the United Nations Climate Change Conference just completed in Doha has significantly advanced the dangerously...
Northern Ontario Government Worthy of Consideration
Ontario Liberal Party leadership candidate Glen Murray recently announced that as Premier, he would create a Northern Ontario government. This is an idea worthy of consideration.
The North American Gusher: We’re just beginning to tap the continent’s vast hydrocarbon resources
President Obama has promised to get the anemic U.S. economy going again by boosting exports. Besides the export of billions of freshly printed U.S. dollars from the Federal Reserve, it is not clear exactly what the president has in mind.
Media Release – Massive Cost Overrun for Calgary’s West LRT Line a Reminder that Rail is Rarely as Cheap as Advertised
Calgary’s West LRT line opened today. The project cost more than double the initial $700 million estimate. While the cost escalation is greater than occurs on average for urban rail projects, the reality is that the average North American urban rail project costs over 40 percent more than estimated, and garners 60 per cent less ridership than projected. Voters should be sceptical of rosy forecasts for light rail projects.