When Premier Jason Kenney unveiled the list of his new cabinet last week, something of a slight gasp went through the media group when he named the new education minister. It was to be Adriana LaGrange. The contrast with David Eggen, education minister in the outgoing NDP government, could hardly have been greater. Hence the gasp.
It’s hard to imagine that anything could be more reassuring to the opponents of the besieged socialist government of Alberta than the seeming hysteria that has overtaken this government in the count down to the election on April 16. Consider their situation. They are governing a province that has suffered the loss of somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 jobs during their term in office. Many say the situation will grow much worse before it gets better. Now the big moment arrives. They call an election, and the government is setting up a special website that will, we presume, tell us how catastrophic is this economic crisis and what they plan to do about it.
I was not a happy person on that February morning in 1952 when I assumed my new job on what was known as "the rim of the desk" in editorial department of the Winnipeg Free Press. I was one of six sub-editors, seated on the outer circumference of a huge semi-circular table. We were pencil-editing copy and writing the headlines for the stories in that day's paper. In the centre of the semicircle, facing all six of us sat the "slot man," our boss, who must fire me if I couldn't do the job. I was frightened and had good reason to be.
A rebellion has broken out in the Trudeau harem, said a friend of mine gleefully last week. Three of his favorite lady MPs have already left, and more may follow. The sultan of that harem obviously has no idea what to do about this, and his efforts to resolve things keep making them worse.
The rising Canadian political leader that no one can risk recognizing -- [Ted Byfield] The impressive figure who has burst so spectacularly into the cold, murky world of Ottawa over the last few weeks suffers from an unusual disadvantage. Nobody active in current politics can safely mention this person as a formidable candidate for party leadership.. So let me do it for them. She is Madam Jody Wilson Raybould, fired by the Trudeau government for actually doing what she had sworn to do when they made her Canada's minister of justice and attorney general. When offered a lesser cabinet post, she quit on a point of principle. How staggeringly unique in today's Ottawa.
One Albertan in four said ready to go, but secession threats are no way to run a country The most intriguing aspect in Alberta's gradually developing election campaign is the almost total absence so far of any serious discussion of education. The election has not been called as yet, but the call is expected... Continue Reading →
Plainly the Rachel-Justin partnership cannot, and Alberta's prosperity is at stake "All the proposed pipelines in Canada have effectively been blocked." So reads a triumphant posting on the website of the anti-pipeline lobby known as "Corporate Ethics." A neighbor of mine had a considerably less exuberant reaction to Alberta's pipeline standstill. Because of it, she... Continue Reading →
"Traditionalist conservatism." That's a term I have invented. It is intended to embrace the "fiscal" conservatives and the "social" conservatives, and to put them both in the same tent because that's the only way they can get and stay elected. They certainly share one thing. Both types are understandably suspicious of all revolutions, and they... Continue Reading →
To be rid of Wells, a new dean of Ed puts him on leave and demotes him. So he quits Any way you look at it, the last couple of years have notturned out well for Alberta's Grand Guru of the Gaiety, Dr. Kristopher Wells. Go back a couple of years, and he was sitting... Continue Reading →
The National Post newspaper this month marks the 20th year of its publication. Ted Byfield was one of several Canadian journalists asked to comment on it. His commentary follows.
It's difficult to adequately portray the sudden and most improbable appearance of the National Post in the Canadian newspaper world as it existed in the closing years of the 20th Century. Metropolitan newspapers in that era were definitely not something people founded. They were something people terminated, or at best merged with another so that one name or the other slid into oblivion of journalistic history.
The above paragraph, with minor changes, has been excerpted from the frightening letter written last month by veteran Edmonton teacher and educator Richard Dietrich. It's the letter which the ever more left-leaning Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal have refused to publish. It was carried in this space two weeks ago, and it bodes very badly for Alberta's students in their future careers. They will graduate with wondrously social attitudes, but they may not be able to add, subtract, multiply, divide, read, write or earn a living. When Education Minister David Eggen promises "the most sweeping changes" ever wrought in the curriculum of Alberta's schools, it can only mean more of the same.
A top educator details the school system's deep flaws but the big dailies won't print it There's a little-known but vitally significant fact in the recent history of education in the Canadian province of Alberta. In the closing years of the 20th Century a team of conservatively minded educators somehow gained control of the city... Continue Reading →
Ted Byfield 