Opinion

The study of language has revealed many interesting things – like an appreciation that connotation (the understood meaning of a word) may be more important than denotation (the dictionary definition of a word).

Society must trust parents to tackle the complex job of child rearing. There is no means test to determine worthiness of potential parents, nor should there be: the goal shouldn’t be cookie-cutter children, it should be informed, equipped and open minds.

Back in the flood of 2005, a lot of farmers whose property touches the Red Deer River lost a good chunk of their land to erosion. A lot more also gained hundreds of tonnes of new topsoil, as murky river water dropped a heavy layer of fertile silt on the flat fields and pastures that make up the river’s ancient floodplain.

I don’t make much of a secret of the fact that the warmest feeling I’ll likely ever have towards the federal government is one of clenched-teeth disdain.

The federal Conservatives are running negative advertisements about Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff.

Social philosophers call it a contract, not a deal, but here it is: Millions of ordinary people agree not to holler too loudly as long as the powerful few don’t abuse public trust too obviously.

It is not nice to say “I told you so,” but this time has to be an exception.

To Sam Denhaan, president of the Central Alberta Council on Aging, for holding the provincial government’s feet to the fire concerning health care in Alberta.

Until last week, it appeared Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett would be permitted to remove an offending section from Alberta rights law. But a party in office for decades, faced with a matter of principle that can’t be resolved by spending, gave in to inertia and failed arguments and undercut the minister.

The defeat of the terrorist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on the weekend has left many Canadian-Tamils feeling devastated.