Gillian Steward is a Calgary writer and journalist, and former managing editor of the Calgary Herald.
by Gillian Steward
A Calgary for-profit hospital, once a beacon of hope for medical entrepreneurs across the country, declared bankruptcy last week. And who will have to pick up the pieces? None other than the public health-care system and ultimately Alberta taxpayers.
by Gillian Steward
Since our prime minister is so intent on pushing through ambitious resource development projects, should it be any surprise that his grand vision would boomerang into an explosion of resistance from Aboriginal people?
Does it not occur to him that every time he makes public pronouncements about our resource riches being the path to prosperity, when he invites Chinese investors into the resource sector, that Aboriginal people might feel somewhat resentful?
by Gillian Steward
CALGARY — Is this the year when Alberta and British Columbia become the new Quebec and Ontario? When the duels between two western powerhouses dominate the national agenda just as the constitutional and political battles of Central Canada once took centre stage?
It certainly looks like it. And it’s yet another sign of how much power has shifted westward.
by Gillian Steward
The Calgary Centre byelection saw yet another Conservative elected to join the ranks of Stephen Harper’s government. But unlike the seven other Calgary Conservative MPs, Joan Crockatt fell far short of a majority.
So now there is even more chatter among local opposition activists about how so-called progressive voters could form an alliance in order to elect someone other than a Conservative.
It’s just a byelection, but the raging battle for Calgary Centre is yet another sign that politics in Alberta is undergoing a radical shift.
How else to explain a Conservative candidate who has seen her support wither in the face of strong opposition candidates? Or a Liberal candidate who, according to some polls, is running neck-and-neck with the Conservative?
by Gillian Steward
CALGARY — Pipeline politics have been whipping us around for over a year now and they are about to get even more intense.
Just last week, Calgary-based TransCanada, which operates one of North America’s largest pipeline networks, confirmed that it is moving right along with plans to convert its natural gas pipeline that stretches from Alberta to Montreal into an oil pipeline that would deliver crude to refineries there and points further east. Not south to refineries in Texas or west to tankers in Kitimat, BC, bound for China but to Montreal, possibly Halifax.
by Gillian Steward
CALGARY — Who knew that poop could be used to heat buildings? Or that wind could power a train? It may sound funny, not to mention far-fetched, but these are more than just wild ideas. They are but two examples of innovative projects in western cities designed to make going green an integral part of urban life.
by Gillian Steward
Most of us don’t give much thought to exactly where the beef comes from that ends up on our barbecues and dinner plates. Or who has a hand in getting it there.
In Canada, much of that meat passes through a huge slaughterhouse that sits on the windswept prairie next to the TransCanada Highway near the small city of Brooks in southeastern Alberta.
by Gillian Steward
Will one of the tallest buildings in Calgary soon be emblazoned with the initials of a Chinese state-owned oil company?
That’s just one of the many questions that hangs over the proposed takeover of Nexen, a major oilsands player, by the China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC).
by Gillian Steward
For more than a year now, parents in Alberta have had the right to compel a teacher to defend herself before a human rights tribunal for discussing topics such as gay marriage or aboriginal spirituality in the classroom.
So far, no formal complaints have made their way through the HRC labyrinth. But that doesn’t mean that this highly controversial legislation isn’t having an impact in the classroom, especially in high schools.
