Dec 10 2018 — Chris Nelson — Calgary Herald — We hear enough from politicians these days so it’s with trepidation I step aside for a few paragraphs to provide a platform for our prime minister to regale us with his worldview. You see, while hardly Churchillian in tone or content, his expressed view is vital in gaining true insight. Therefore it needs reading and […]
Dec 6 2018 — Chris Nelson — Calgary Herald — Peter Lougheed would later admit it was the biggest mistake of his long and successful political life. It was, of course, allowing himself to be photographed clinking champagne glasses with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau back in 1981 after the pair had made some tweaks in Alberta’s favour to the reviled National Energy Program, then devastating […]
Apr 2 2018 — Chris Nelson — Calgary Herald — Unlike our prime minister, I’ve always figured women are generally a bit smarter than us men. Certainly, when it comes to the actual doing of dumb things in life, the focus group containing all men usually wins hands down. Not being in the habit of patronizing people, I’ve never felt the need to do so […]
Jan 22 2018 — Chris Nelson — Calgary Herald — The good news is there aren’t lots of shady men driving around Calgary trying to lure innocent kids into their cars, offering candy or a chance to pat a puppy. Thankfully, while such worrying instances do occur, they are rare – much less frequent than most people believe. Reports of such happenings are not quite […]
Jan 15 2018 — Chris Nelson — Calgary Herald — The Rainmaker died seven years ago, but if ever his words were needed in Alberta and the rest of Western Canada, it’s today. That would be Keith Davey, believed by many to be the Godfather of the modern Liberal Party of Canada, and affectionately called The Rainmaker by those he helped grab or hang onto […]
Mar 20 2017 — Chris Nelson — Calgary Herald — Ben Franklin must be doing the old 360-degree roll in his final Philadelphia resting place at the latest muddle our provincial government has dragged us into. It was old Ben, in discussing the then-recently-signed U.S. Constitution, who declared: “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Maybe the premier […]
Mar 17 2017 — Chris Nelson — Calgary Herald — Such were the joys of childhood – throwing firecrackers into sewer pipes and anxiously waiting, homemade spear in hand, the resulting exodus of rats. And kids today think some new app is fun? They haven’t lived. So, arriving in Alberta many years ago, it came as a surprise that here was a land where such […]
Feb 27 2017 — Chris Nelson — Calgary Herald — If you told the Alberta Treasury that today is Monday, what are the chances they’d be able to correctly predict what day tomorrow will be? Probably they’d respond “Thursday,” judging from the hodge-podge of failed predictions and busted assumptions arising in the third-quarter financial update unveiled by Treasurer Joe Ceci. There must have been something […]
Feb 18 2017 — Chris Nelson — Calgary Herald — The problem with these so-called sunny ways that our prime minister is supposed to epitomize is they can easily blind you to the truth. Last week, I watched the much-anticipated first meeting between Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald ‘Tweeter’ Trump with a mix of trepidation and small-minded anticipation – half-expecting the younger Canuck to […]
Feb 16 2017 — Chris Nelson — Calgary Herald — The best opposition politician in Alberta right now is Rachel Notley. Her recent speech to the adoring NDP faithful at the University of Calgary, in which she savaged the parties trying to line up against her bunch of rascals, was the best bit of political grandstanding seen in many a month. “Whatever new name they […]
Dec 26 2016 — Chris Nelson — Calgary Herald — It’s the jobs, stupid. That variation on James Carville’s wise advice to Bill Clinton during the election fight with George H.W. Bush back in 1992, should double as Rachel Notley’s screensaver in the coming year. Because, make no mistake, the long, hard road to the next provincial election is about to begin here in Alberta. […]
Dec 8 2016 — Chris Nelson — Calgary Herald — It’s said if you live long enough, then nothing should ever come as a surprise. So I’ll assume I’ve a few more years kicking around this Earth of ours because, for the life of me, having this province’s economic future squarely in the hands of a Liberal prime minister and an NDP premier isn’t something […]
Nov 17 2016 — Chris Nelson — Calgary Herald — Perhaps pipelines are like those proverbial London buses — you wait ages for one and then two come at once. If so, then that would bring some serious relief to our beleaguered city. It might not do much for the thousands vainly looking for stable work before Christmas here in EI Central, but at least […]
Nov 7 2016 — Chris Nelson — Calgary Herald — We’re all Keynesians now, here in the True North Strong and not-quite-so-debt Free. Admittedly, it’s taken a while, but we’ve finally seen the light. There used to be outliers among us spendthrift Canucks, like those Albertan redneck rubes. Yes, the ones who didn’t much like jumping aboard the debt and deficit bus by spending more […]
Oct 31 2016 — Chris Nelson — Calgary Herald — Trick or treat is the question Albertans will still be asking, long after tonight’s homage to the pagan lurking in all of us remains little more than a cold, collapsed pumpkin on an early morning doorstep. Suddenly, we’re like that fabled farmer in Saskatchewan, who, staring hard and long enough, can see the back of […]