How did Alberta residents respond to the invitation to turn off their electricity during a hockey game between the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers? Well, what do you think?

Edmonton saw a spike in power usage during this year’s Earth Hour when Canadians are asked to shut off all non-essential power, officials reported Sunday.

According to Epcor, the city used 1058.15 megawatts of power between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. This represented a 1.01 per cent rise over the same day and time last week. Cold temperatures may be to blame, Epcor officials said.

Meanwhile in Calgary, utility provider Enmax reported no noticeable drop in power consumption.

[...]

British Columbia, however, shone during Earth Hour.

Well, “shone” might be an overstatement. The province’s energy consumption dropped 1.8 per cent, or roughly the same chance the Green Party has getting an MP into the House of Commons this spring.

Although I forgot about Earth Hour on Saturday, which precluded the possibility of turning all the lights on, I doubt the planet will hold it against me. The Earth and I are cool like that.

A Cannonball Press report, August 26, 2020:

New York (CBP): Russian TU-95 Bear bombers yesterday were intercepted and identified over three northern cities, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal, by F-16 fighters of the US Air National Guard responding under the American Aerospace Defense Command [more here].

A Pentagon statement said the interceptions were a routine indentification of Russian aircraft approaching US airspace that posed no threat to American southern sovereignty.

In response to questions at her daily news conference Pentagon spokesperson Amelia Earhart said that the interceptions were performed by F-16s instead of F-35s since the primary role of the stealthy 300 Joint Strike Fighters now with the US Air Force was initial attack on ground targets against adversaries with heavy and effective air defences.

Ms Earhart responded, upon further questioning, that it would be some time before sufficient of the problem-plagued F-35s [more here and here] could replace F-16s and F-15s in the role of continental air defense.

In the country formerly known as Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Alberta issued a statement saying that if only Canada had bought F-35s–and only F-35s–the Russians would have been deterred from creating such an annoyance for his American allies.

When asked why the Alberta’s 24 AF-18s based at Cold Lake had not been used to intercept and identify Russian Bears, Mr Harper replied that Alberta’s sovereignty was “non-negotiable“.

While F-35s might have deterred the Russians, the prime minister added, his AF-18 Hornets were perfectly capable of dealing with any real threat.  As would be the 24 Super Hornets Alberta has recently contracted to buy from Boeing.

Mr Harper also noted that Alberta was very interested in Gazprom’s offer to increase its stake in the oil sands to 68%.

Earlier in Toronto, Ontario Prime Minister Dalton McGuinty in a statement said his government was pleased that the United States was capable of dealing with issues that might affect its own airspace.

Quebec President Gilles Duceppe, replying to a question in the National Assembly, said his country’s 12 QF-18s, based at Bagotville, had not been scrambled since “One does not want to break eggs when there is no need for an omelette.”

President Duceppe went on to reiterate his government’s intent to replace the QF-18s with Joint Strike Fighters if an agreement, now under negotiation, could be reached to assemble the aircraft in his country.

Professor Michael Ignatieff of the University of California at Berkeley, in a Tweet to the Cannonball Press, said:

bearish antecedents time real canadians debate if better off as Americans Canucks need my help

Much more here.

Update: From the current government:

Conservative MP Laurie Hawn, a former CF-18 fighter pilot, just twitted (or is it tweeted!) this, laughing off a question about why Canada is buying 65 Joint Strike Fighters. Here is what he writes:

“NDP MP Jack Harris asks why Canada is buying 65 F-35s while “similar” country Norway is only buying 48. It’s a good question. Canada is 26 times area, 7 times population and 3 times GDP. Jack’s math would demand between 144 and 1248 F-35s for Canada.

I guess we’re being pretty prudent with only 65, eh?

Ya gotta laugh.”

Not quite, Mr Hawn. Norway has, like Canada, selected the F-35; but, also like Canada, no contract has been signed yet. And there are tough negotiations going on with Lockheed Martin–one wishes our ministers would speak as cogently as this Norwegian one.  It should also be pointed out that Norway had a competition for its new fighter and that the planned purchase was approved by its parliament.  Both unlike Canada.

Mark (“Cannonball“)
Ottawa

Was just out in Wild Rose Country from Ottawa on matters familial. My wife and I flew from Calgary and back within Alberta with these people:

The Esso Avitat terminal in Calgary was a delight, leather chairs and sofas, free coffee.  A  Northwestern person (the co-pilot) checked us in while sitting in the terminal, then later had a chat with us outside.  Rather like commercial flying over five decades ago when rather younger.  One understands current realities but it sure is nice that the good old days are not all gone.

And on our return flight to Calgary, with a bit of a glitch with the hotel shuttle bus, Northwestern Air without a thought drove us on their own one.  Fast and not furious.

A delightful airline experience, an exemplar of free enterprise. Our co-pilot will soon get his fourth stripe. The aircraft, which does have its comfort limits:

Update: Read the August 17 Slave River Journal for a major piece on the airline (see first comment).

Mark
Ottawa

It sounds counter-intuitive, but it’s true what they say: most of the people panhandling are doing it to feed an alcohol or drug addiction. The ones who don’t beg for change are usually the ones who are trying to hold down a part-time job even as they sleep on park benches:

[...] it just wasn’t in me to ask complete strangers for money, to panhandle. But I know of many who did, and every one of them did so to feed an addiction.

I would hear guys who hadn’t found work at the temp agency gather together and discuss ways of getting money. What stories worked best, and what kinds of people to approach. The easiest and fastest way to make money occurs at the LRT stops. I’ve even heard them claim proprietary ownership of certain train stations and sometimes the argument would get so intense that a fight would break out. LRT stops are lucrative and sought after because the “marks” are easily identified.

Whenever somebody asks me for change I always have the same rehearsed answer: “I have 2 kids, 1 job, and 0 money for you.”

h/t Five Feet of Furious Blogging

Photo: Robin Kuniski/Metro Calgary News

Just like the Canadian Army, the Calgary Police Services would love to see more “diversity” in their ranks. But up until now, it hasn’t happened. For whatever reasons, many visible minorities don’t want to sign up for the work. So in an attempt to “increase diversity in culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation and age,” the police service has collected 21 volunteers to form a community recruitment team:

“We live in a diverse community and our police service should represent the community that it serves,” Acting Insp. Craig Skelton said at a news conference Saturday.

“We should be able to have representation from all the communities in Calgary as members of the Calgary Police Service and make that connection for people between the community and their police service,” he said.

Predominantly white males are interested in policing, and so the Calgary Police want to work hard to develop programs that encourage more minorities and women to apply. So what is it that makes the police force such an old white boys club?

Well, according to this article, it’s not because visible minorities simply don’t want to be policemen. It’s because the police are racists. Of course:

There are various reasons why people from different backgrounds may be reluctant to become police officers.

“Some perhaps are not accustomed to police who are honest and treat them fairly. In some cases, maybe they have had bad experiences, even here in Calgary,” Ellis said.

Allright. So what’s their excuse for not joining the Army? Perhaps they were bombed by NATO?