While mostly ceremonial, it can still mean something very important
Troy Media's commentary minute The embarrassing schmozzle involving our most recent governor general, Julie Payette, has a lot of Canadians questioning why we still have a vice-regal. Actually, the close brush with a self-appointed president-for-life just to the south of us provides a pretty compelling reason for Canada to hang on to the seemingly…
A collection of ordinary adventurers are preparing to travel at the speed of life, seeking to connect with fellow Canadians across the country
Of all the things we do that have changed since the arrival of COVID-19, one that has altered the most is travel. And it’s not only about when and where we go, but also why. Spending Christmas in a sunny, warm resort is no longer a legitimate reason to travel, as a few politicians have…
Road to Reconciliation: An examination of what meaningful consultation and economic reconciliation look like
If you relied on the headlines alone, you might conclude that the Indigenous peoples of Canada are squarely against oil and gas development. You would be wrong. Headlines, by their nature, highlight crisis and conflict in simplified terms. But the debate over Indigenous support for resource development is highly nuanced. Readers must go beyond the…
Visitors just have to be prepared to go with the flow, consider unconventional approaches and be flexible enough to adapt to travel with no reservations
To say it is a challenging year to travel out of province is to put things mildly in the extreme. With the enduring COVID-19 threat, most provinces have residents-only campsite reservation policies and national campgrounds have been booked tight for months. Yet with a little ingenuity and adventurous spirit, we discovered that British Columbia is…
The government of Premier Jason Kenney has decided to end a 44-year moratorium on open-pit coal mining in southern Alberta
Desperate times sometimes lead to catastrophic measures. In Alberta, the beleaguered provincial government is in a financial situation that could be characterized as desperate, suffering from the double-whammy of collapsed resource revenues and, of course, the massive spending required to address the social wildfire known as the COVID-19 pandemic. The desperate measure that the United…
If the Conservative Party of Canada truly wanted to turn its party-of-angry-old-white-men image on its head, to herald a new era or principled conservatism, and to reach out to voters who have not considered them in the past, then members would choose Leslyn Lewis as their new leader. But they should not do that. This…
Adding more weapons, equipment and officers doesn’t provide a straight line to happier and safer communities
Putting more force into our police forces might seem intuitively like a logical way to more effectively fight crime. Real-life experience suggests that’s not necessarily so. Experts say when using force is available, then it’s human nature for a trained police officer to fall back on that option when the going gets rough. Too often,…
The WE mess shows sunny ways have been replaced with dark days of the same old cronyism in the halls of power
Just when you think our prime minister may actually be growing into his job, he does something so ill-considered, so tone-deaf and so contrary to generally accepted political convention that all the confidence he has earned in the past few weeks evaporates in a flash. Such was Justin Trudeau’s foolish and inexplicable attachment to the…
Referendums have been the source of high anxiety and popular uprisings in recent years. Whether they’re a truly democratic way to make vital decisions that best serve the public interest is a matter of great debate. However, there really should be no debate – nine times out of 10, they’re a bad idea. Alberta Premier…
It’s time to reduce funding to police and reallocate those dollars to more proactive ways to reduce crime
Here’s a couple of questions that might have seemed crazy to many people just a few short years ago but are gaining purchase today. Do we really need as much policing as we have? Or are the ever-growing police budgets actually inadvertently leading to greater violence? A lot of us have believed that police exist…
First in a series on the crisis in policing. Routine traffic law offenders like myself are often struck with the arrival of each new ticket about how a lot of police enforcement is built around the model of ‘force.’ The point of issuing a ticket doesn’t really seem to be about changing behaviour but rather…
There are people behind the scenes working hard to provide answers to hard questions, even if they’re hard to unravel
There’s been a lot of chatter over what was behind Justin Trudeau’s pregnant pause during a news briefing on June 2. Now, stopping to think before answering is not something politicians are known for. But in this case, it wasn’t a bad idea. After all, the prime minister had just been asked a very tricky…
We must be prepared to stand our ground and face whatever economic and political consequences that may follow
Diplomacy is a dirty business. When two countries are trying to build or repair a relationship, they often resort to tactics that are illegal, immoral, mendacious or just generally offensive to our sense of what’s right and wrong. Just ask the two Michaels. Diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor have been in prisons in…
The notion that we can pile on debt ad infinitum is at the very least counterintuitive. In fact, it just seems reckless
Canada’s federal and provincial governments have rightfully focused on doing all they can to support people and businesses idled by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to keep people working where possible. But most advocates of aggressive spending always knew there would come a day of fiscal reckoning, in which we’d have to figure out how to…
It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out we’ve been had on this whole pandemic thing
A video goes viral, and the next thing you know it’s yanked off YouTube. It’s also pulled from Vimeo, and all the other popular platforms. In fact, it’s pretty hard to find. I’m talking about Plandemic, a 28-minute documentary that tells the truth about COVID-19. About the heroic Dr. Judy Mikovits, who had the courage…
Trudeau, for example, has learned that just standing in front of a mic and sounding sincere is about all he needs to do to emerge a political winner
A lot of us are finding we have the luxury of unexpected spare time while we wait to bust out of COVID jail. I am happily using some of my newfound time to slog my way through Churchill: Walking with Destiny, Andrew Roberts’ brilliant and exhaustive examination of one of the greatest leaders of the…
Governments are run by politicians and bureaucrats who think they can manage our affairs better than we can alone. Sometimes they’re right, if you think about something like pooling our tax dollars to build roads we can all use or building a health-care system accessible to all. But sometimes they’re wrong. They’re particularly wrong when…
Most springs, Canadians are overjoyed just to hear the words “sun” and “temperatures in the pluses.” But this year, they’ve been supplanted by one simple phrase: “We’re flattening the curve.” We are feeling cautious optimism that the very worst of the COVID-19 threat has passed, and that our country is beginning to gain some ground…
Canada has shunted vulnerable people to nursing homes where staff slave in sometimes filthy, and now dangerous, conditions
I hadn’t really thought of moving to Norway until the last week, when I began to pay attention to how that country cares for its elderly citizens. While North Americans warehouse aging people, who have spent lifetimes contributing to society, there are cultures around the world that take a completely different approach. And Norway, it…
Digital technology has, for the most part, been a boon to consumers. Think of how digital technology has enabled Uber to break the taxi oligopolies, Amazon to open up the world of online product choices and Airbnb to deliver affordable alternatives to hotel stays. None of this, however, justifies the use of digital technology to…
We’re in this together – let’s all try to remember that some people just need a helping hand rather than insensitive criticism
The pandemic disaster the world finds itself in the middle of is bringing out both the best and worst in people. And some behaviours are just annoying. One of the most annoying trends is the emergence of busybodies who are eager to pass judgment on others before they have all the facts. They’re the ‘pandemic…
The COVID-19 pandemic has sent all but essential workers to their homes for self-isolation. This is forcing a lot of people who are used to working in offices to quickly adapt. Our Troy Media columnists and contributors are no exception. Some are among the many who are learning how to work from home. Others, we…
Maybe the problem isn’t the mischief-makers who are planting claims. Maybe it’s the social media themselves that are the problem
Did you know that the Covid-19 virus was created by the emergence of 5G networks? I know this information may come as a bit of a shock to you, but it’s from a doctor in the U.S., so, you know, we have to take it seriously. Dr. Thomas Cowan claimed in a video released on…
Allowing the project to proceed – responsibly, with best available environmental practices – really is in the national interest.
To say the Teck Resources’ Frontier oil sands debate is fraught has become a bit of an understatement. At times, it appears the fate of the world hangs in the balance. On one side, political proponents are telling us that the very future of Alberta’s economy hinges on this project moving ahead. On the other…
Alberta has had a rough six years – to the point where we’re tired of hearing the bad news. Since oil prices collapsed in 2014, there has been a steady stream of downers about massive job losses, head offices hollowing out, and a lot of talent that we can’t afford to lose packing up and…
Nallai showed us there are no differences that we cannot overcome if we show the desire and ability to approach them with an open mind
The quiet passing a couple of weeks ago of a retired economics professor from Calgary’s Mount Royal University is a footnote in Alberta history worth noting. As an immigrant from Sri Lanka more than three decades ago, Vettivelu Nallainayagam not only helped shape the economics program at that school, but also became an influential fixture…
Despite a struggling economy, Calgary’s restaurant scene is more robust than ever, with new and exciting venues opening regularly. Last week, I attended the media preview of another great restaurant in the downtown area – NUPO, in the Hotel Arts, smack dab in Calgary’s up-and-coming East Village district. NUPO features a predominantly vegetarian menu with…
For business, an ideology-driven agenda – whether from the right or the left – doesn’t create favourable conditions for investment
Common sense is not so common, observed the 18th century French writer Voltaire. Sadly, he could be talking about politics in Alberta today. Albertans have been whipsawed by two back-to-back political parties that govern more by ideology than common sense. The NDP governed from the ideological perspective that the state should tax more and use…
Alberta’s economy needs a break after five brutal years since oil prices fell, driving our economy into an agonizing period of stasis
We’re told 2020 could be the year Alberta’s economy turns the corner. So, if we do get some economic breathing room, what are we going to do with it? Alberta’s economy is ready for a break. It has been five brutal years since oil prices fell, driving our economy into a long and agonizing period…
When one government offers incentives and another one doesn't, then the comptetion to attract new businesses is no longer a level playing field
When Toronto-based Wattpad chose Halifax over Calgary as the site of its second headquarters last month, the question on many people’s minds was: Which of the two cited factors was the deciding one – concerns about Western separatism or cuts to Alberta’s tax credits for tech companies? The answer isn’t quite as simple as either/other.…