The Parkland Institute

Editorial

Where energy, the environment and economics meet

For those of us who live in cities, or rural areas without oil derricks or sour gas wells, the environmental damage created by the energy sector seems abstract. We go for drives in the country and everything seems hunky-dory. Then, we read the headlines. In Drayton Valley, just 20 minutes from my in-laws' farm, Petenco Resources had a nasty pipeline break that released salt water into a wetland just last year (which they neither reported to Alberta Environment nor cleaned up afterwards). Read more...

Environment

Nuclear energy for Alberta: Whose idea?

There are only two things in Alberta politics of which I am certain: Energy Minister Mel Knight will keep his word to present Alberta's policy on nuclear energy by the end of the year and, regardless of public input to the contrary, he will announce that nuclear power is the right fit for the province. On May 3, 2007, two days before the Tories cast their ballot for a potential nuclear future for Alberta at their annual convention, EAC and AECL gave a private presentation to Alberta Conservative MLAs. Read more...

The Tarsands

Alberta’s number game

Despite parliamentary debate on the oil sands elsewhere, Alberta sticks to its crude 'magic number' approach

Finally, a long-awaited parliamentary debate has taken place, and a vote has been held on whether or not oil development in the Alberta tar sands is worth its large environmental footprint— in Norway. That's right, the Norwegian parliament had the debate, not our Canadian parliament (nor our Alberta legislature, for that matter). Read more...

Women and work

Recession highlights wage discrepancies in Alberta

More and more families are relying on women's lower wages to make ends meet

This summer, Alberta Finance Minister Iris Evans confirmed that the Government of Alberta is facing a deficit of $6.9 billion due to a drop in natural gas prices. However, the Minister didn't illustrate how Alberta's labour force has been affected by the recession. The picture isn't pretty. According to current Statistics Canada data purchased by Vibrant Communities Calgary, the recession is having a significant impact on the structure of employment in Alberta. One of the many changes is the significant job losses among male workers. Read more...

Economy and politics

Born to fail: Neoliberalism and the meltdown

The recent global meltdown revealed the new economic order to be a financial house of cards. This should come as no great shock since the justification underpinning it is itself built on an intellectual house of cards. The only really surprising thing about the crash is that it took so long to happen. The market collapse was not an anomaly but rather a natural consequence—an inevitability contained within the contradictions and absurd premises of the neoliberal capitalism the world's governments have blindly pursued for the last several decades. Read more...

Economy and politics

Marketing a Myth: the Selling of Neoliberalism

The economic transformation of the 1960s and 70s didn't happen by accident. At that time, it looked as if the movements for social justice had led to an ever-increasing share of the economic pie for ordinary workers, but the '80s witnessed a massive structural economic shift to the right in favour of entrenched wealth and power. The rise of neoliberal market-fundamentalist economics in the past few decades is usually presented as an inescapable economic reality. In fact, it was the result of a well-financed, well-organized assault on the public by wealthy elites and their political and media allies. Read more...

Book review

Author’s insights on power offer hope in volatile times

Rebick draws heavily on her involvement with the women's movement in Canada in the early 1980s. She argues that the women's movement was powerful because of its political and personal relevance to women. "'The personal is political,' wasn't just a slogan, it was a lived reality," she writes. "To liberate women, we had to liberate ourselves— our minds, our bodies, and our emotions." It is interesting to note that feminist ideas and practices—specifically, egalitarianism and consensus politics—are among the most influential in the new movements and struggles described in this book. She sites the environmental and peace movements of the 1980s as two of the movements that benefited when feminists joined their ranks. Read more...