Kris Samraj

I wrote this in 2018. It's a good time to refresh our memories about how we got here. It provides background information as we talk about strategic choices for Medicine Hat. http://samraj.ca//the-true-cost-of-the-medicine-hat-advant

Edmonton has 13 business improvement areas. Calgary has 12. This model has been successful in other cities. Why has our own BIA, the CCDA, been so controversial? Here is a plan to reform the CCDA and how to begin the disestablishment process if you don't agree. http://samraj.ca///1/10/the-city-centre-development-agency

I may occasionally complain about the Medicine Hat News, but I love newspapers. I was editor of my high school and college newspaper. A reporter from the MH News has been at every council meeting since the city's birth. The MH News is older than the city itself. Happy to renew my subscription for another year!

Jon Stewart, Tucker Carlson, and Scott Schmidt reduce complex debates to black and white and us versus them. This style reduces trust and impoverishes political debate. They also don't appreciate their own positions of leadership. http://samraj.ca/columns/2020/12/16/the-marketplace-of-ideas

This isn’t the first time public officials have needed to convince people to change behaviour to slow the spread of a disease. We've been down this road before with the AIDS epidemic and how to persuade people to use condoms. Shaming people didn’t work. What worked was education and easily available condoms. Slowing the spread of Covid requires a similar strategy: educate about risky behaviour and make mitigation easy to doin other words make masks easily available. http://samraj.ca/colu//11/27/masks-and-mandatory-mask-laws