First, a thank you to Stephen Mandel for his years of service to our city. Politics — particularly civic politics — is a tough way to make a living, and in my view Mandel has acquitted himself very well in his nine years as mayor. If you can be in charge of a city for […]
For months now, the city has been watching a tedious production called Waiting for Stephen to come to its end — is Mayor Mandel in, or is he out? All other potential or rumoured candidates — Karen Leibovici, Don Iveson, Kerry Diotte and Amajreet Sohi — have kept their powder dry waiting for the mayor […]
If you read just one book this year, it should be Salt Sugar Fat. And if you read only one book this year, you really should read a lot more. Part business book, part guide to healthy eating, Salt Sugar Fat (McClelland & Stewart) is an eye-opening, sometimes shocking, always fascinating book by Pulitzer Prize-winner […]
1. Americans are overwhelmingly the world’s most influential people. I count 63 of the 100 as American. This certainly reflects America’s dominant position in the world, and the fact Time is an American publication 2. No Canadians made the list of most influential people in the world, not even Justin Beiber, with his 38 MILLION […]
Is Canadian English dying? Or should I say, Canadian English is dying, eh? First, is there such a thing as Canadian English? The answer is — and this is classically Canadian — yes, kind of. Canadian English is a typically Canadian compromise between our British heritage and the inexorable pull of the Excited States of […]
Everybody in Edmonton, it seems, is complaining about potholes. This is a yearly phenomenon in Edmonton that arrives as surely as the first snows of October, and the last snows of April … or May. It’s all part of the rich fabric of life that is being an Edmontonian. Up until today, I thought all […]
I’m taking some perverse pleasure in watching NDP leader Thomas Mulcair try to finesse the Keystone XL pipeline issue. Not too long ago — in fact, anytime before the 2011 breakthrough election — the NDP would have had no problem staking out a position on the pipeline. Mulcair would have been loudly opposed to the […]
