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Creative Microbrewery Taps Into Your Childhood Cartoon And Sci-Fi Fandom

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4 minute read

Located in North East Calgary, the Zero Issue microbrewery stands out within Alberta’s growing brewery landscape for its commitment to personality, creativity, and local celebration. Founded in 2017 by brothers and self-proclaimed comic book nerds Kirk and Mark Macdonald, Zero Issue features the unique mash-up we’ve all been searching for: awesome beer and all our childhood cartoon and sci-fi fascinations. The taproom offers a friendly, neighborhood feel where patrons can play board games and read comic books as they sample flights or enjoy their after-work pints.

The Zero Issue approach to brewing is rooted in science fiction and comic book creativity, beginning with the name itself, and extending into each individual beer created. Zero Issue products include brews like the Multiverse Pale Ale, Cryostasis German Pils, and the Nemesis IPA, along with a number of other seasonal and “one-time-only” brews. Each beer features its own mini comic book backstory, while the beer cans themselves stand out on the shelves for their brightly coloured original designs, all of which are drawn by local artists.

In addition to displaying local artwork on their beer cans, Zero Issue celebrates Alberta in more ways than one. The Zero Issue taproom in North East Calgary doubles as a gallery in which local artists can also display their work. “We wanted to use our taproom space to allow them to showcase what they do and give them an opportunity to gain exposure in a unique way,” says Mark regarding the taprooms Seasonal Feature Artist display.

“We all agree it is so important to highlight local artists,” adds Kirk.

As a microbrewery, Zero Issue faces difficulties similar to those of all small business owners, including competition with others within the craft community itself, as well as with larger brand beer companies. According to Kirk, the brothers are committed to “changing people’s ideas and pallets in regards to craft beer. [They] are always trying to show people that there is so much more to beer than just the macro breweries.”

When it comes to the craft beer industry, Mark and Kirk highlight that people may be shy of venturing out into their local craft breweries because of some existing stigmas that surround craft beer. These most commonly include words like “hoppy”, “pretentious”, and “unapproachable”. However, they are determined to change people’s minds. According to Mark, “You can still like lighter lagers and easy drinking brews and be a fan of craft beer. There can be something for everyone who enjoys beer, sometimes even for people who didn’t think they liked beer at all.”

And Kirk follows up with some sound, age-old advice, “You don’t have to know anything to try it, you just have to be open to trying something different.”

As such, the future of Zero Issue lies in a non-compromising commitment to quality beer (and comic books), and the continued support and expansion of the growing craft beer industry in Alberta.

 

For more stories, visit – Todayville Calgary

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Can’t afford Rent? Groceries for your kids? Trudeau says suck it up and pay the tax!

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Watch Canada’s Prime Minister tell an anti-poverty group, your ability to buy “groceries for my kids” is less important than sacrificing to pay his carbon tax.

In case you still thought there might be even the tiniest chance Justin Trudeau might come around.. well this settles it. He is as they say, ‘beyond the pale’.

Sure we’ve pieced this together over the last number of years, but it’s still SHOCKING to see him say it directly, proclaim it proudly. This week Trudeau received applause from an audience of the intellectually suffering at something called the “Global Citizen Now” panel discussion on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rio.

Much appreciation for the first short video below to Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre who shared his ferocious reaction to Trudeau’s anti-human comments, challenging the current PM to call an immediate election.

Or course there will be no quick election call. To Justin, it’s more important to cling to the undercarriage of a taxpayer funded jet so he can fly the globe stunning audiences unfortunately already stunned by their utter terror of losing the planet.

In their horror at their inability to turn the switch off and let us all freeze/starve to death this winter, they applaud lovingly for their intellectual leader/sock model as he describes how hard it is to convince angry, hungry people they really need to suck it up.

If only he read a history book.. any history book.. apologies, any book at all. Truly even spending some time with the literary version of an Al Gore video rant would at lest keep JT occupied so he couldn’t speak for a few moments. I’m pretty sure every time he opens his mouth, the temperature in Canada rises as millions of frustrated hotheads (hello there) explode, spewing steam high up into the upper atmosphere where water particles do much more damage to our planet than the final exhaling of a non grocery-eating-planet-loving-Canadian.

Watch Pierre Poilievre’s video and assuage the ensuing headache by mapping out your route to a polling booth. If this doesn’t sell a couple of those ‘Axe the Tax’ shirts for the Poilievre team, well.. enjoy your stroll to the foodbank.

Here’s a link to his entire discussion. If you have a strong stomach and 20 minutes of your life to donate to a higher cause… No silly, not the intended cause of the anti-poverty group… But to the intellectual cause of understanding just how twisted the logic has become for those who fly around the world to wine and dine, only to break long enough to tell us they think it’s perfectly fine if we can’t buy groceries for our kids.

By the way, please save a bit of your shock and disappointment for the hapless host of the ‘anti-poverty’ Global Citizen. This was apparently on the sidelines of a G20 Summit.  I would expect this drivel to be called out at a respectable middle school debate. Apparently the ‘anti-poverty’ Global Citizen people aren’t overly concerned with poverty. Do we need to say that not being able to afford groceries is in fact THE definition of poverty?  Or course not. It would be much easier for them to change their name to Former Global Citizens.

You were warned.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sits down for a conversation with Michael Scheldrick, co-founder of the anti-poverty group Global Citizen, on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Carbon tax bureaucracy costs taxpayers $800 million

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From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

By Ryan Thorpe

The cost of administering the federal carbon tax and rebate scheme has risen to $283 million since it was imposed in 2019, according to government records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

By 2030, the cost of administering the carbon tax is expected to total $796 million, according to the records.

“Not only does the carbon tax make our gas, heating and groceries more expensive, but taxpayers are also hit with a big bill to fund Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s battalion of carbon tax bureaucrats,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Trudeau should make life more affordable and slash the cost of the bureaucracy by scrapping the carbon tax.”

The government records were released in response to an order paper question from Conservative MP John Barlow (Foothills).

The carbon tax and rebate scheme cost taxpayers $84 million in 2023, according to the records.

There were 461 federal bureaucrats tasked with administering the carbon tax and rebate scheme last year, according to the records.

The CTF previously reported administering the carbon tax cost taxpayers $199 million between 2019 and 2022.

Projected costs for administering the carbon tax and rebate scheme between 2024 and 2030 are $513 million, according to the records.

That would bring total administration costs for the carbon tax and rebate scheme up to $796 million by 2030.

But the true hit to taxpayers is even higher, as the records do not include costs associated with the Fuel Charge Tax Credit for Farmers or the Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses.

“It’s magic math to believe the feds can raise taxes, skim hundreds-of-millions off the top to hire hundreds of new bureaucrats and then somehow make everyone better off with rebates,” Terrazzano said.

The carbon tax will cost the average household up to $399 this year more than the rebates, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the government’s independent, non-partisan budget watchdog.

The PBO also notes that, “Canada’s own emissions are not large enough to materially impact climate change.”

The government also charges its GST on top of the carbon tax. The PBO report shows this carbon tax-on-tax will cost taxpayers $400 million this year. That money isn’t rebated back to Canadians.

The carbon tax currently costs 17 cents per litre of gasoline, 21 cents per litre of diesel and 15 cents per cubic metre of natural gas.

By 2030, the carbon tax will cost 37 cents per litre of gasoline, 45 cents per litre of diesel and 32 cents per cubic metre of natural gas.

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