Looking back at the Severely Normal posts of 2017, a few blindingly obvious highlights stand out! The Good Alberta is slowly emerging from the difficult recession. The economy shrank by 6% in two years. There are some short-term reversals, but overall, the trends toward an improved economy are evident. We should remember too that we have been […]
Month: December 2017
Down on the Farm
The farmer in the delL, Hi-ho, the derry-o – Children’s nursery rhyme As Alberta becomes more urban and hipster like, we sometimes forget about where we are getting our daily bread, bacon, eggs and beef. Here is a quick roundup on what going on down on the 40,000 farms in Alberta. Primary Production Alberta grain […]
Updated Weather forecast for Pipes
Pipelines Line 9 to Wisconsin – The Minnesota regulators sent its government officials back for more environmental study on the stretch of the Enbridge pipeline that crosses northern Minnesota. The regulator will decide in April if it approves the small piece of line that runs through that state. In the past couple of months there […]
The Top 10 Severely Normal Albertan’s worst first world problems
There is not enough snowfall this Christmas to warrant me starting up my snow blower. And if I did my neighbours would mock me! My remote doesn’t always turn on the cable box with the TV – so I have to get up and do it manually. Is that fair? I have heated seats and […]
The Grinch is a First World Environmentalist
Most of us know that the First World Christmas is a great time for gift giving. But it is also a time of very high First World stress: What about the risk of a paper cut from licking envelopes for Christmas cards? And who hasn’t had a moment of guilt getting a card from someone […]
That economic Growth Thingy
If all the economists were laid end to end they would never reach a conclusion – George Bernard Shaw One of the main tools economists use to forecast economic growth is to estimate gross domestic product (GDP) for a country or province for a few years ahead. Since 2000 Canada has been growing about 2.4% […]