It is a truth universally acknowledged that a woman in possession of a leadership position must be in want of a man to explain it to her. At any given time, there is a loud chorus of male politicians (and opinion columnists) generously ready to offer their sage advice on how women in powerful positions should do things, whether or not they themselves have even close to the same education or experience. The difference these days is that powerful women aren't taking it anymore. Just this past week, three important female Canadian leaders dared to speak out despite the mansplainers, and it was glorious. Calling out mansplaining and sexism in general is having a moment, not just in Alberta but across the country, as women dare to name the real nature of the criticisms levelled against them and refuse to back down despite them.  Canada's Governor General Julie Payette found herself the beneficiary of the ample generosity of men sharing their dubious wisdom when she dar

Those with political aspirations who realize their current position would conflict with their ambitions often resign their job in order to run in an election. For instance, the publisher of a newspaper may resign in preparation for a run at being Mayor. Not so though for Mac Olsen, reporter for the local Falher paper the Smoky River Express . Olsen was elected one of the Village of Donnelly's new councillors , and apparently, he kept his day job. Not only for the campaign, but since he won, too.  If ever you wanted proof that we still live in the wild west when it comes to journalistic ethics here in the Peace, this is it. The Village of Donnelly is part of the coverage area of the Express , and the Express regularly publishes the actions of the Donnelly council in its council notes. It's not as if Olsen is at least working for a paper that covers a different area than the one where he's on council. Words almost fail me in trying to explain why this is such

The United Conservative Party's leadership contest is over, and to almost no one's surprise, Jason Kenney is the new leader of the new party. Poor Brian Jean may finally have to accept that he signed his own political death warrant with the party merger, now that he's not only lost the leadership role but also been completely shut out of Kenney's leadership team . Kenney has also apparently gone to swift work firing any staff member who supported Brian Jean , and getting an MLA to step down to leave room for a by-election so he has his chance to win a seat in the Legislature. Peace River will be one key battleground in the provincial election coming up in what UCP supporters believe will be the “2019 summer of repeal," if the fact the constituency saw visits from all three UCP leadership hopefuls in recent weeks is any indication. Even before the merger, the constituency was already seeing meetings featuring Wildrose MLAs from neighbouring constituencies

A lot of people have been asking me lately why I care so much about Peace River. They want to know why I ask so many questions about what happens in town, why I cared so much about a municipal election I couldn't vote in myself, and why I started a blog with posts specifically about candidates in the Peace River election. The implication is I shouldn't care, or I don't have a right to be involved, or that I'm not a part of Peace River at all. I've tried to explain why I care about Peace River many times in short comments about our daughters going to school at Glenmary, and our business often doing work in town, or my long history of living and volunteering and working there. But in this emotional week where not only did we have hotly contested municipal elections, but my oldest daughter is also going away to college, and I said good-bye to my last and closest grandparent, it's become a deeper question than I originally thought. Peace River does mea

Since I wrote my first blog on mayoral candidate Jami Paras' failed attempt to get the Peace River Minor Hockey Association to launch legal action against the Town over the borrowing bylaw for the arena, one of the major questions that has emerged is whether or not candidates for council are truly running as independents, or whether there is some kind of voting bloc, coalition or coalitions operating behind the scenes. When I had first asked Paras in our interview about the leaked email whether he had mentioned any other candidates, he had stated he didn't, which was at best only partially true. While he didn't mention anyone by name, he did mention in the leaked email that he had “2-3 other candidates” and was looking for more of the “right people”. The implication seemed to be that if he won he would not be only a single vote on council, and had others who would vote with him. His public note of support for Bryon Schamehorn and Chelsey Friedt, posted to his p