2023 in Review
I hate asking for money. But if you want to give me money, here's a reminder of what you'll be funding.
It’s almost the end of 2023, which has been a great year for The Orchard’s output, which — ahem — is funded by readers like you.
If you’re on the fence about becoming a paid subscriber, I’ve written a little year-in-review to remind you of the major stories I’ve written this year.
I kicked off the year with a reflection on my discomfort with Canada’s increasingly permissive medical assistance in dying regime, which was well received by many.
I followed that up a week later with the ultimate Food Professor takedown, which as of writing is the most read piece in Orchard history, no doubt fuelled by the Gastronomy Guru’s meltdown over it.
In between, I wrote a critique of Jordan Peterson’s increasingly desperate cries for attention after his bizarre induced coma saga in Russia and Serbia, and Postmedia’s investment in his perpetual self-victimization.
I also had some significant scoops on UCP fuckery, chief among them Premier Danielle Smith awarding a competitive $1.5-million contract to a firm run by her campaign manager after giving the company two sole-source contracts for the same work.
This story became the first Orchard piece to get picked up by a mainstream news outlet when the CBC’s Joel Dryden followed up on it, kindly giving me credit for the scoop.
The Orchard was also the first media outlet to report on MaKami College, the private vocational school that was quietly added to the province’s list of publicly funded Independent Academic Institutions (IAI) earlier this year, a development which was only mentioned in passing in a CBC News piece.
A few months later, MaKami hired former UCP staffer Erika Barootes, fresh off helping secure Danielle Smith’s electoral victory, to help them transition to a public institution.
In municipal politics, I broke the story of Calgary city councillor Dan McLean calling into a public hearing from the golf course.
Nobody else touched this story until it was confirmed by the city’s integrity commissioner.
In February, I revealed that Kalen Anderson, a top Edmonton developer lobbyist who helped write the City Plan, donated twice to the so-called “Freedom Convoy.”
More recently, I obtained a security bulletin from the City of Edmonton cautioning city councillors and their staff against attending pro-Palestine rallies or discussing the situation in Gaza online.
Speaking of which, I’ve also been publishing analysis on the situation in Israel and Palestine few are willing to provide.
A reflection on my own complicated relationship with Zionism in the context of the 10/7 attacks on southern Israel was my second-most read story of the year, and third-most read since The Orchard’s inception.
I wrote about the Israeli survivors of 10/7 who have warned against Israel’s vicious attacks on Gaza.
I also covered the wave of Palestinian-Canadians and their supporters getting fired from their jobs in the wake of 10/7.
With the news in the Middle East, it’s easy to forget that Canadian Parliament embarrassed itself internationally by giving a standing ovation to Waffen-SS veteran Yaroslav Hunka in the House of Commons in late-September.
I was the first to report that the University of Alberta was returning an endowment in his family’s name.
It turns out there was a lot more where that came from.
Finally, there was media criticism galore.
All this is to say, I think I punch well above my weight.
If you’re feeling generous this holiday season, please consider a paid Orchard subscription starting at $5 a month so I can continue challenging dominant media narratives.