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Aug 13 2023

BQ in NB. Booze problem. PM Questions.

Aug 13, 2023
David Akin's Roundup
Clippings of #cdnpoli, #media, and #tech content aimed at those with an interest in Canadian politics and policy. And sometimes Canadian postage stamps.
Canada
From the provinces
Premier Heather Stefanson climbed into the ring and threw a few punches at the union representing striking liquor workers Friday, just hours before all retail outlets in the province  — save for two in Winnipeg — locked the doors for the weekend. [Wpg Free Press]
Rural and private liquor stores in Manitoba are struggling to keep up with the demand for booze amid a Liquor Mart strike. [Global]
'Agricultural disasters' spread in Alberta, but local leaders say Ottawa's ignoring requests for help
Regions south and east of Calgary, are the driest in Canada. The federal government labels it an 'exceptional drought,' but has not responded to pleas for assistance. [National Post]
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Elsewhere
Homebuying gets harder for millennials as boomers’ market share grows
The median age of a first-time homebuyer climbs to 36, industry data show, as high interest rates and asking prices further erode spending power. [WaPo]
Over the past decade, Guatemalan presidential candidate Sandra Torres has been drifting rightward on the political spectrum as she repeatedly has tried to win the presidency. [AP]
Sci/Tech
Texas could get a bullet train between Houston and Dallas
The proposed electric railway line could travel 240 miles in under 90 minutes for over 6 million passengers per year. [Popular Science]
It's an exciting find because wet/dry cycles may be central to pre-life chemistry. [Ars Technica]

New study suggests effort users put in cracking these puzzles every day may be more trouble than its worth. [The Independent]
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Media
How to ask a prime minister a question
From 2003 until 2015 I published a blog  that ended its days with the title "On the Hill." I exported the 4,000+ posts I made to that blog when it was decommissioned in 2015 and, this weekend, had the chance to import them into a WordPress blog. It's an archive. I don't plan to be active posting new material there. But I may pull out some golden oldies from time to time and that's what I'm doing today: Providing some thoughts that I still think are useful 15 years on about some of the hows and whys press gallery journalists ask the questions they do of prime ministers.

This post was written in June, 2008. I had driven from Ottawa to Huntsville for a press conference where former PM Stephen Harper was announcing that Huntsville would be the site of the 2010 G8 summit (above). Stéphane Dion, then leading the Liberals, had just announced his Green Shift and I was writing, at the time, for Canwest News Service, which provided copy for what today we know as the Postmedia papers: National Post, Ottawa Citizen, Calgary Herald, etc. - DA

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