Trevor Harrison

Trevor Harrison was born and raised in Edmonton. He holds a B.A. from the University of Winnipeg, an M.A. from the University of Calgary, and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Alberta. His areas of specialty include political sociology, political economy, and public policy. He is currently professor of sociology at the University of Lethbridge and Director of the Parkland Institute. Dr. Harrison is best known for his studies of populist politics in Canada and the political culture of Alberta and the Canadian west in particular. In addition to numerous journal articles and book chapters, he is the author, co-author, or co-editor of eight books dealing with politics, economics, and sociology. His op-ed columns frequently appear in national newspapers.

Albertans think protest groups are valuable: survey

May 202013

Canadian politics

NDP supporters favour proportional representation, while Wildrose supporters favour recall votes.

by Trevor Harrison

As Albertans watch the Stanley Cup playoffs with their own two hockey teams once again on the outside, a recent report published by Parkland Institute shows similar shared grief and angst over the state of politics in the province.

The report, which I co-authored, uses data from an extensive survey of Albertans conducted by the Population Research Laboratory at the University of Alberta in June 2012 to examine attitudes toward governance and how to possibly improve the processes of political decision-making.

Ralph’s mighty machine enfeebled

Apr 082013

Canadian politics

Conservatives keep promising diversification, as the oil economy sinks slowly in the West.

by Trevor Harrison

How ironic that, at a time when many Albertans are mourning the death of Ralph Klein under whom Alberta's Tories won some of their greatest victories, some political observers are wondering whether the party and government have run out of steam.

The immediate economic cause of these musings is the government's recent budget, a pastiche of cuts to public services amid a fiscal deficit and growing debt, things Klein's government had proudly eliminated in the mid-2000s.

Alberta’s new export is the petroleum trap

Feb 232013

Features

Sole-resource economy subject to price volatility.

by Trevor Harrison

Recent statements by federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty that the government’s budget plans have been thrown into disarray by a decline in Alberta’s oil revenues should come as no surprise. The differential between the North American benchmark price for crude and the price Alberta gets for its thicker brand of oil has been played up in recent months by the provincial Progressive Conservative government as a major cause of its fiscal woes. Now its federal counterpart is using the same argument to explain its declining revenues.

Certainly the differential rate is part of the story for both governments. And complaints of insufficient pipeline access to new markets hold some merit. But the differential rate is not something new, and the idea that more pipelines would solve Alberta’s and Canada’s growing revenue problems is, one might say, a pipe dream.