Opinions
Veterans shouldn’t have to wait to receive money owed to them
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on November 9th, 2018
The federal government reportedly shortchanged 272,000 veterans on their pensions for more than eight years and now they’re saying veterans will need to wait another two years to get that money back. That this happened is bad enough but this weekend we are about to recognize veterans on Remembrance Day. We are going to recognize ... Read More »
Be the first to comment!Honouring those who died by never forgetting
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on November 8th, 2018
It’s been four years since Hatters and others around the Western World noted the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. This Sunday, we’ll mark 100 years from its conclusion. An August, 2014 News editorial noted at that time a feeling of curiosity in the community, even romance about the bygone era, ... Read More »
Be the first to comment!Changing birthright citizenship in U.S. a serious assault on democracy
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on November 7th, 2018
President Trump’s recent assertion that he could end birthright citizenship via an executive order likely is another attempt to stir up immigration as a campaign issue ahead of the upcoming midterm election. It’s a bad and almost certainly unconstitutional idea, and had the matter stopped there, it would hardly merit serious discussion. Then, a few ... Read More »
Be the first to comment!New solitary rules still fall short
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on November 6th, 2018
More than a decade after Ashley Smith’s death in solitary confinement, the federal government has introduced legislation inspired by her tragic case to overhaul the rules governing inmates in segregation. Bill C-83 takes positive steps to ensure prisoners held in isolation are treated far more humanely than she was, but the legislation falls short in ... Read More »
Be the first to comment!Outpouring of love and solidarity needed in wake of Pittsburgh synagogue attack
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on November 5th, 2018
The massacre two Saturdays ago at a Pittsburgh synagogue is heartbreaking. Eleven worshippers — all of them elderly and/or disabled — were mowed down by a gunman spewing anti-Semitic hatred. An attack on a peaceful place of worship should be unthinkable, but as Quebecers know all too well, it is not. As with the 2017 ... Read More »
Be the first to comment!The trouble with PM’s debate plan
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on November 5th, 2018
It is not necessary to doubt the independence of former governor-general David Johnston to find that the optics of his nomination as Canada’s first debates commissioner were less than optimal. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not consult the opposition parties on the choice of a debates referee nominee. The Liberal government set the criteria that ... Read More »
Be the first to comment!Drug treatment court would be beneficial in Medicine Hat
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on November 3rd, 2018
It’s clear to anyone who follows crime and the courts in Medicine Hat that our city is struggling with a drug problem. This issue isn’t unique to Medicine Hat by any means. The entire country, especially its western portion, is being ravaged by an opioid crisis, but southern Alberta appears to have a specific problem ... Read More »
Be the first to comment!Guest Column: ‘Ping pong’ game by oil critics must end
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on November 3rd, 2018
Albertans have every right to get upset and angry at the announcement of the $40 billion LNG Canada project scheduled to be built in Kitimat, B.C. It’s not that Albertans are envious of B.C. getting the project, but Albertans are livid at the hypocritical way they have been treated. Beaming and smiling broadly, Prime Minister ... Read More »
Be the first to comment!Report from Ottawa: Small business essential to Canada’s future
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on November 2nd, 2018
It was just over a year since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau first launched their attack on local business to pay for their out-of-control spending. While mounting pressure eventually forced the federal government to back off from the most extreme parts of their proposal, the Liberals did implement tax increases and ... Read More »
Be the first to comment!Proper checks and balances should be in place for all taxpayer-funded expenditures
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on November 2nd, 2018
In summer 2016 an RCMP credit card was cloned and fraudulently used for purchases totalling $104,555 before the RCMP discovered what was happening — about nine months later. When this was revealed in the last couple of days it was couched as … the RCMP wanting to warn others … We have not heard the ... Read More »
Be the first to comment!City’s next budget may need some major recalibration
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on November 1st, 2018
October marked the one-year anniversary since the most recent municipal election, an exercise that largely provided a steady-as-she-goes mandate to elected officials at city hall in Medicine Hat. So steady-as-she-goes, it turns out, that the one-quarter mark of the current council term passed two weeks ago without much notice. However, those easy summer days are ... Read More »
Be the first to comment!
