CBC Calgary | The Road Ahead

The recent string of issues with Alberta government investments calls public investments into question, but each case holds key lessons on how to ensure future public investments benefit the public, says macro energy systems researcher and assistant professor Sara Hastings-Simon.

To deal with the systemic discrimination that LGBTQ2S+ and other marginalized Canadians face, universal public housing, just like universal health care, is necessary, says law student Charlotte Dalwood.

No one does innovation and improvement like Canada’s energy industry, that's why I'm placing my bet on the oil and gas sector to win the race to net zero, says Michael Binnion, the executive director of the Modern Miracle Network.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has done many things in government that would come as a great surprise to the Jasons Kenney of the past, but perhaps none so much as the decision to purchase a 50 per cent interest in the Sturgeon Refinery, writes Andrew Leach, an energy and environmental economist at the University of Alberta.

The city can add all the murals, banners, hanging baskets, street furniture, public art and public spaces it wants in the downtown, but first they are going to have to deal with the safety and comfort issue, says urban affairs writer Richard White.

High oil prices means more than a smaller deficit, says economist Trevor Tombe. Higher oil prices may generate higher rates of economic growth — which means higher incomes and more jobs for Albertans.

My issue with the term “people of colour” wasn’t just that it was lumping all non-white people together, it’s with the term itself, which is why “BIPOC” doesn’t do it for me, says Calgary writer Tomi Ajele.

The passage and rollout of pandemic benefits acknowledging the extraordinary costs and unique hardships facing individuals with disabilities and their families has been inadequate and slow, says Amelia M. Kiddle.

Decision makers preach a single road to wellness; one that is known only to them. They will share it – impose it actually – because they hold the power and make the rules, says addictions medicine practitioner Dr. Bonnie Larson.

Net zero by 2050 is the most ambitious, expensive and complex restructuring of an essential component of human existence in history, says Calgary writer and oil service executive David Yager.

Oil and gas is a key reason for Alberta's lagging recovery, according to economist Trevor Tombe. Total compensation in the mining and oil and gas extraction sector is over $85 million lower in March 2021 than it was that same month a year earlier.

Vivian Krause, the erstwhile detective who inspired Premier Jason Kenney's beleaguered inquiry into un-Albertan activities, is back in the news insisting she never said U.S. commercial interests were behind a campaign against the oilsands. The confusion lies in that what she's said isn't what people heard, writes economist Andrew Leach.

It will be interesting to see if the private sector can make the numbers work with the help of the city’s new subsidy program to convert old office buildings into new market housing, says Richard White, who writes about Calgary's urban development.

Opportunities are concentrated in large urban centres, but with rising housing costs, the ability of those without financial means to pursue these opportunities is increasingly limited. The solution is to read a right to the city into the charter, says law student Charlotte Dalwood.

Until the COVID-19 pandemic has been brought under control and Jason Kenney improves his polling and mitigates the internal fissures within the United Conservative Party, the Alberta premier will remain susceptible to further caucus revolts, says political scientist Duane Bratt.

The most-important factor when it comes to vaccine hesitancy is populism, according to a new poll commissioned by CBC News. The most-populist respondents have a 50/50 chance of being vaccine hesitant whereas the least populist have only an eight per cent chance, says data scientist John Santos.

It is too easy to exaggerate regional differences and make sweeping narratives about people based solely on where they live, says political scientist Melanee Thomas.

Red Deer city council believes relocating its shelter to the suburbs will make the downtown safer. It won't, says Dr. S. Monty Ghosh.

The west coast contingent was so dominant, I heard Calgary’s downtown referred to as “Vancouver East” a few years ago. However, some Vancouver developers have quietly begun to leave, says Richard White, who writes about Calgary's urban development.

Polling data shows that Albertans who say they will refuse to take a vaccine are more likely to be conservative, less educated, and pessimistic about the financial future.

The fundamental problem with agreeing to reduce our emissions by the same percentage as the U.S. is that we’d require more stringent policies to reach that outcome, says economist Andrew Leach.

It remains to be seen what impact the UCP strategy of putting an equalization referendum on the ballot will have on conservative voter turnout. The future of the big city councils, and their relationship to the provincial government, may hinge on that question, says political scientist Duane Bratt.