Opinion

Weekly newspaperman, Sun columnist, and good friend Jack Tennant died Sunday, May 20. He was 82. Jack hired me at the Airdrie Echo in February 1992. We first met at the Home Quarter restaurant in Cochrane in December 1991.

I understand that the council of the day has made a decision to discontinue direct marketing activities on the lots that they have developed in the Town of Innisfail.

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path….. That line, co-authored eight decades ago by Bill Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith, a pair of down-and-out drunks, is one of the planet’s most iconic recovery statements.

Over the last decade, the number of women in Canada's jails has spiked by 30 per cent. Even more troubling, Indigenous female prisoners now account for 37 per cent of all incarcerated women, and 50 per cent of women in maximum security.

With spring comes extremely dry conditions, and most of us should know what that means. Fire season is here, and it’s vital that everyone keep in mind the importance of taking extra steps to prevent fires from spreading.

Canada, the true north strong and – wait, how does the rest of it go? Over the past week, the last month rather, Canadians have shown their true form – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The support for victims of sexual assaults in Alberta will hopefully be markedly improved through the use of a new best practices guide released by Alberta Justice and Solicitor General last week.

Canada is endowed with the third largest oil reserves in the world, but lack of access to world markets means our oil is sold far below world prices. Each day, this captive market discount hands a $40-million gift to Americans.

Canadians 65 years and older now outnumber children 14 years and under, which means our needs as a society are changing. We're succeeding in shifting the aging curve through preventive interventions and better public health -- that's good news.

There has been considerable talk recently about reforming the justice system. The talk has become particularly shrill following the Colten Boushie and Tina Fontaine murder trials in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.