I’m writing this a couple of days after Anthony Fauci was brought before a hostile American Senate committee where he was accused of creating covid and told he should be in prison. Former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States, Fauci was the reluctant poster-boy for controversial policies…
We do have free will, just in case you were wondering. We are responsible for our decisions, at least in part because we can choose otherwise. But our free will doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Some choices are so easy to make that they barely feel like choices at all; others are so difficult to…
For a long time I congratulated myself on not having any enemies. I can reluctantly accept that not everyone positively likes me, but I thought that at least I didn’t have any real enemies; there was no one I would go out of my way to hurt or who would do the same to me….
The federal government announced in mid-April that it was going to suspend its excise tax on gas, diesel and aviation fuel. This is meant to address the problem of affordability in the light of increasing fuel costs resulting from the U.S.’s war with Iran. But the problem is that fuel is scarce, which is why…
There is a concept in Catholic Social Thought called “the principle of subsidiarity.” It’s a bit like the Reformed concept of “sphere sovereignty” but not exactly. The idea is that human dignity in all its richness is best served by a variety of communities – ranging from families to schools, neighbourhoods to churches – and…
Even before the bombs started falling on Tehran, many observers and pundits were saying that going to war with Iran (particularly under the present circumstances) would have disastrous consequences. Those people are almost certainly correct. From civilian deaths to the entrenchment (rather than replacement) of a hard-line regime in Iran and from global energy prices…
Even as the dark rumblings from down south continue and some Alberta separatists meet with Trump officials (an act that – while not strictly treasonous – could be seen as treasonish), Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has resisted calls from other leaders (most notably B.C. Premier David Eby and Ontario Premier Doug Ford) to take a…
When politicians make policies specifically targeting transgender kids, as they are doing in Alberta, what is their aim? Who wants you to be preoccupied about trans kids, and who benefits when you are? Politics is about principles, rights and formal justice, but it’s also about emotion, power and competition. Though we need to ask “principled”…
It’s difficult to pay attention to contemporary public life and not wonder how public figures get away with it. I don’t mean how do they get away with evasions, half-truths, partisan inconsistency and “spin.” These rhetorical tricks and petty hypocrisies are probably unavoidable in mass democracies. They are wearying, and can be demoralizing to folks…
I’m not normally a “baseball guy.” I have the bandwidth for basically one sports fandom and one team and that’s reserved for my beloved Edmonton Oilers. But, like millions of other Canadians, I got on the Blue Jays bandwagon this fall. It took until halfway through the Yankees series for me to get interested, then…
I’m a proud Albertan and Albertans are very proud of their low taxes. Just watch an Albertan in B.C. theatrically sigh and roll their eyes when confronted with a 7% Provincial Sales Tax. We have a slogan for our low-tax regime: “The Alberta Advantage” and we’ll be darned if we’re going to give it up….
Here in Alberta, separatists are calling for a referendum on the question “Should Alberta leave Canada?” But they’ve been beaten off the starting line by a petition calling for a referendum that changes the question to: “Should Alberta remain in Canada?” The hope of the “Forever Canadian” campaign is that placing the onus on affirming…
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