More from the launch

Ernest Manning, some may be surprised to know, had a dry sense of humour. So did the civil servants who worked for his administration. Click here to see how I wrapped up my presentation at the book launch.

The Carrot and the Stick

Let’s take a few lessons in financial management from former Alberta premier Ernest Manning

BRIAN BRENNAN
SEE MAGAZINE
27 Nov. 2008

“For nervous investors, there appears to be no end in sight. The markets are tanking, the rest of the financial world is in a mess and even that savvy investor Warren Buffett says he doesn’t have the faintest idea when stocks will hit bottom…”read more

CBC Radio interview

Click here for an edited version of the interview I did with Terri Campbell, host of Daybreak Alberta, to talk about The Good Steward: The Ernest C. Manning Story. Pour yourself a coffee before you listen because it runs for 10 minutes. The full interview, heard all across the province, ran for close to 15 minutes. My thanks to Terri for giving me such a generous amount of air time.

The big Calgary launch of The Good Steward will be on Thursday Nov. 27 at Pages Books on Kensington, starting at 7:30 pm. Wine and munchies will be served. A friend has pointed out the sweet irony of serving alcohol at an event celebrating a book about the man who once was Alberta’s most prominent teetotaller!

Voices from around the world

What a splendid turnout we had at Pages Books on Kensington for the Calgary launch of The Story That Brought Me Here. Eight writers from seven countries were on hand to tell how, in the elegant words of our editor, Linda Goyette, we ended up leaving behind what we loved to move “north of nowhere.” If Alberta seemed like a suburb of nowhere then, it certainly doesn’t feel that way today, because this is where we have chosen to put down roots, raise our families, and make a life for ourselves.

As Linda notes in the book’s introduction, our reasons for coming here were many and various. Gary Garrison left the United States to avoid being drafted and sent to Vietnam. Love for a good man brought Therezinha Franca Kennedy here from a university in Brazil. Love for family brought Patricia Lopez de Vloothuis from Mexico. Love for family also enticed Comfort Adesuwa Ero and her daughter Ikponwosa (I.K.) Ero from NIgeria. A good job in the oilpatch brought Sudhir Jain from Libya. A job in the newspaper business brought Mansoor Ladha from Tanzania via Ontario. And a spirit of adventure brought me from Dublin.

If you want to learn about the multicultural experience in Canada, The Story That Brought Me Here is a good place to start. I’m proud to have been a part of this project; honoured to have been invited to add my voice to this wonderful chorus of voices from around the world.