Ph.D. Epidemiology, P.Eng. U of A Alumni, U of C Alumni. Father of three beautiful smiling kids: #bringbackthesmile
Alberta
Joined April 2011
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Observation: Public health is not only about unavoidable respiratory viruses. Public health messaging should focus on risk based mitigation but public health should also seek to prop society not divide it or diminish people & their individual life goals.
bbc.com/news/world-asia-chin…
JonesPhD retweeted
I absolutely LOATHE how the NHL is weirdly militant about calling stick lifts that touch or breeze near a player's hands, but that is how they've consistently called it for a couple seasons now. No goal for Liam.
Russian Kids. God forbid we invite them here and show them what a peaceful, accepting nation Canada is so they can go home and tell others what a great place Canada is and lead by example… or we could just ban the kids and their families from coming. What sounds moral to you @YourAlberta @ABDanielleSmith @MarkJCarney @nenshi
I’m pleased to hear that the federal government will not allow Russia to compete in the World Junior Hockey Championship here in Alberta.
Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine continues, and Canada has welcomed hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the war, many of whom now proudly call Alberta home.
Canada has opened its arms and hearts to the Ukrainian people, and we must never forget why so many were forced to leave their homes in the first place.
Our solidarity with Ukraine must extend beyond words.
JonesPhD retweeted
So Ovechkin and others get to play in NHL and travel to Canada, but Carney wont allow kids to come play world jr tournament.
JonesPhD retweeted
Her post is not about the Olympics, but bear with me.
The modern Olympics weren’t created so governments could use them as another sanctions tool.
Pierre de Coubertin revived them because wars start when nations don't understand each other. His idea was to get young athletes from competing countries together on a regular basis so they could test each other fairly and maybe reduce some of that ignorance.
The ancient Games operated under a truce that protected travel to the competition while wars continued elsewhere. The point was competition amid conflict, not exclusion because of it.
Canada’s latest statement does the reverse. It turns sport into another extension of foreign policy.
See my Joint Statement with @LenaMetlegeDiab and @vankayak on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international sport.
JonesPhD retweeted
Watch for this trick in this week's Canadian budget.
Ottawa will brag about “low net debt.” They started doing this when CArney got elected. What they won’t tell you is that the only reason that number looks good is because they’re subtracting roughly a trillion dollars in CPP and QPP assets.
Those funds are not government money. They’re held in trust for workers and retirees. The feds can’t spend them, borrow against them, or use them to cover their own deficits. Subtracting them is not standard accounting. In fact, most other countries don’t do this because the money is earmarked and legally unavailable for general government spending.
This is how they plan to conceal the real borrowing binge. Gross debt keeps rising, debt-service costs are exploding, and they’re using our pension savings as an accounting offset to pretend there’s still fiscal room.
Don’t fall for the “net” number. It's a deliberate sleight of hand.
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It seems this article keeps getting quoted by those who fail to critically appraise said article and methods used… even a superficial critical review…
As I've been saying for years, fossil fuel emissions do not explain changes in atmospheric CO2. xitter.cf/JunkScience/status/178…
Here's a new paper from @cohler and @williesoon8 backing up my assertion: "The claim of fossil dominance is therefore not merely empirically weak; it is nconsistent with the arithmetic of the isotopic constraint applied to the standard measurement record." papers.jcohler.com/keeling
JonesPhD retweeted
I'm seeing a lot of confusion and misinformation about time zones in Canada this week.
(This was made worse by people sharing maps that looked messier than the real situation, simply because they weren't fully updated yet.)
So, if you're interested, here's a really detailed look at how our time zones really work:
First, it's important to understand that time zones are not just info about "what time it is in this place".
Time zones are a set of rules about what time it is relative to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) and - crucially - on what dates those times apply.
Pacific Standard Time, Pacific Daylight Time, Mountain Standard Time, Mountain Daylight Time, Central Standard Time, etc are NOT time zones - they are temporary statuses of time zones.
There is a Pacific Time Zone, a Mountain Time Zone, a Central Time Zone, an Eastern Time Zone, etc (often just called Pacific Time, Mountain TIme, Central Time, and Eastern Time).
Each of those time zones tells you what UTC they are on on which days.
"Pacific Time Zone" means that the time is UTC-7 between the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November, and UTC-8 between the first Sunday in November and the second Sunday in March.
So, it's kind of nonsensical to say that British Columbia is now observing permanent Pacific Daylight Time, or that Manitoba is now observing permanent Central Daylight Time.
(Yes, the UTC numbers are correct, and so as a shorthand it's not wrong, but... it causes confusion.)
So, if BC's time zone cannot be "Pacific Daylight Time All Year Round", because Pacific Daylight Time is not a time zone, then a new time zone is needed.
The new time zone specifies that the time in BC is UTC-7 for the entire calendar year.
Where the provinces have gone wrong (and caused even more confusion) is in their naming of the new time zones.
They should have gone with "British Columbia Time - BCT" to make the difference more obvious.
Other provinces made this mistake too.
Western Canada's current (new) time zone names are:
BC: Pacific Time - PCT
AB: Alberta Time - ABT
SK: Central Standard Time - CST
MB: Manitoba Standard Time - MBT
BC's new time zone "Pacific Time" is far, far, far too similar to the existing "Pacific Time Zone".
SK is making the mistake I pointed out earlier, of nonsensically saying they're permanently on a temporary time - but this name was set decades ago.
Manitoba got close to something sensible, but introduced unnecessary complication by using the word "Standard," which can be too easily confused with Central Standard Time.
Here's what the new time zones should be:
BC: British Columbia Time - BCT
AB: Alberta Time - ABT
SK: Saskatchewan Time - SKT
MB: Manitoba Time - MBT
If the provinces make these fixes, then most of the confusion will go away.
Each province will have its own time zone, which explains what time it is and which dates those times apply to (all year).
If people then want to use shorthand to say that, functionally, BCT = PDT, ABT = MDT, SKT = MDT, and MBT = CDT, then go for it.
To be fair, the worst possible choice is continuing with biannual time changes. And then this… @YourAlberta @ABDanielleSmith
Your UCP is hard at work ignoring science and what was supposed to be a binding referendum vote five years ago.
#abpoli
reddit.com/r/AlbertaNow/comm…
JonesPhD retweeted
I can’t see this going well. I do a lot of business calls daily. Imagine going forward and explaining what time zone you’re in? You can’t refer a time zone and know what time it is anymore.
JonesPhD retweeted
Studies have shown Standard time is the best choice for our health but no consultation done
JonesPhD retweeted
Who made the decision to stay with daylight time and not standard time and why? Standard time would been much easier to adapt to. 11pm and the sun still up in the summer and still dark at 9am in the winter is just nuts
JonesPhD retweeted
AM I A DEI HIRE?
What a terrible question to have hanging over someone’s career simply because of the colour of their skin.
Imagine spending years studying, working hard, making sacrifices and earning your qualifications, only to have someone quietly wonder whether you got the job because of your abilities, or you are another DEI hire?”
Think about how insulting that is. Years of hard work and achievement reduced to race. And here’s the cruel irony: policies intended to empower minorities can sometimes leave them having to defend the very success they worked so hard to achieve.
Let’s be clear. Racism and discrimination exist everywhere you go in the world. And for sure, civilized societies must confront them. And I believe many people who support DEI genuinely want to create a fairer society. But good intentions don’t always produce good outcomes, and we should be willing to question whether our approach is helping or hurting.
I want an Alberta where every child can grow up believing something simple: If I work hard, develop my abilities and earn my qualifications, I will have a fair opportunity to succeed.
Not because someone owes me a position. Not because an institution needs someone who looks like me. And certainly not because my background should define what others expect of me. But because I have something valuable to contribute.
That’s what true inclusion should mean. Creating a fair opportunity for people to enter the room, contribute, succeed and be respected without anyone questioning why they’re there.
That is why I wholeheartedly welcome Premier Danielle Smith’s government decision to introduce legislation aimed at putting merit and qualifications at the centre of public-sector hiring. Credit where credit is due!
The Premier is bringing an important debate about merit, fairness and individual dignity into the open.
We should NOT lower the bar but definitely remove the barriers. That’s exactly what this legislation is going to fix.
DEI is nothing but replace discrimination with another form of unfairness. And don’t reduce anyone’s achievements to their race.
Your skin colour is part of who you are. It should never be the explanation for what you’ve achieved.
That’s the Alberta I believe in.
And that’s why I support Premier Danielle Smith’s proposed public-sector hiring reforms. I admire her courage in tackling an issue that too often gets buried under political correctness and fear of controversy. Whether people agree with every detail or not, this is a debate worth having.
Leadership sometimes means having the courage to challenge conventional thinking, ask uncomfortable questions and stand up for what you believe is right, even when it isn’t politically convenient.
That’s the kind of courage I respect in Premier Smith. And that’s why I support her.
JonesPhD retweeted
This is a major reason why new homes aren't being built.
Municipal and provincial red tape is adding at least 40% more costs to the price of a new home. In some jurisdictions, red-tape is more than the value of materials and labour.
JonesPhD retweeted
Across the rich world, nearly a quarter of all development aid now goes to climate projects.
The core problem is opportunity cost. Every dollar subsidizing solar panels or carbon accounting is a dollar not spent on schools, maternal health or clean water.
financialpost.com/opinion/op…
JonesPhD retweeted
The cheap green lie
You are told that solar and wind are cheap
But you need near-100% backup when no sun or wind, paying for two systems
Data for 2025 shows that
cramming in more solar and wind makes electricity overall more and more costly
Sources:
Electricity prices, households and industry, 2025
iea.org/data-and-statistics/…
Solar and wind generation, electricity use and consumption weights
iea.org/data-and-statistics/…
Solar and wind for countries without IEA 2025 data
ember-energy.org/data
Electricity trade partners, plus industry prices for Norway, Albania, Iceland and Kosovo
ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/en…
US industry price
eia.gov/electricity/annual
Australia, IEA 2021 prices updated with official price indices
abs.gov.au/statistics/econom…
South Africa industry price
eskom.co.za/wp-content/uploa…
Taiwan industry tariff
taipower.com.tw
Egypt industry tariff
egyptera.org/en/TarrifAug202…
Tunisia tariffs (archived copy, the STEG site is unreachable)
web.archive.org/web/20250614…
Azerbaijan industry tariff
regulator.gov.az/en/istehlak…
2025 tariff changes applied to IEA 2024 prices
Pakistan: nepra.org.pk
Thailand: erc.or.th
Ghana: purc.com.gh
Paraguay: ande.gov.py
Kazakhstan: stat.gov.kz/en/industries/ec…
GlobalPetrolPrices 2025 averages for 18 countries, read from archived 2025 pages
globalpetrolprices.com/elect…
web.archive.org
Sri Lanka 2025 tariff changes
pucsl.gov.lk/end-user-tariff…
Indonesia solar and wind estimated from official 2025 capacity
esdm.go.id/id/media-center/a…
Statista 2025 averages for China, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, Singapore, Peru, Argentina and South Africa (data from GlobalPetrolPrices)
statista.com/statistics/1369… (business prices worldwide)
statista.com/statistics/1461… (household prices worldwide)
statista.com/statistics/1173… (Latin America business)
statista.com/statistics/1123… (Latin America households)
statista.com/statistics/1373… (China business)
statista.com/statistics/1372… (Mexico business)
statista.com/statistics/1372… (Mexico households)
statista.com/statistics/1617… (South Africa households)
JonesPhD retweeted
Since 2015, the Liberals have spent more than every other government in Canadian history COMBINED.
What's really scary is that all that borrowing was done at extremely low interest rates, and now those bonds are rolling over into new, and more expensive, debt.
That's not stopping Mark Carney. He's spending more, and faster, than at any time outside of World War II and COVID.
The combination of massive deficits and a large national debt, with ever-increasing costs to service that debt, is a genuine threat to the economic future of this country.
We've seen this all before too. Guess who pays when the bill comes due? You.