There is a lot going on these days down on the lands known as the East Village, that 49 acre parcel between Fort Calgary and the downtown core, and the Bow River on the north and 9 avenue SE on the south.

But first, a little history.

As the CPR pushed the main line west in 1882-83, it was generally acknowledged that the new townsite to be known as Calgary would be east of Fort Calgary, where the wonderful community of Inglewood now exists.

Land speculators, being land speculators, immediately began snapping up all that land which they believed they could then flip to the CPR for some handsome profits.

However, the CPR, being the CPR, (the closest thing to a local monarchy we have ever had), didn’t intend to be taken to the cleaners by Calgary’s first generation of land developers.

After having safely secured the lands to the west of Fort Calgary, particularly the strip along where the Palliser Hotel now stands, the railroad publicly announced that the townsite would be situated there, and the Inglewood boom went bust, as did many of the land speculators.

So, what would be some of the things to spring up around the new train station and townsite?

Hotels – including the now-legendary St. Louis Hotel.

In the picture accompanying this column is a picture that tells a story about the St. Louis Hotel – one moment in time.

It was billed as 90 minutes of history, but everybody thought it was only 8 of those 90 minutes that mattered.

The 2012 Alberta election Leader’s Debate, apart from the opening and closing statements and a couple of commercial breaks, was structured to have give-and-take among 4 party leaders on 8 broad subjects in roughly 8 minute blocks.

Of those 8 broad subjects, there were the usual health, education, economy, arts and culture – in short, the stuff that prompts predictable talking points that sound like blah blah blah that makes people switch to ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’ on cable.

But when it became known to campaign managers and then the twittersphere that there would be one segment on “Democratic Renewal’, everybody in Alberta knew what it meant:  Danielle Smith’s ‘democratic reform’ platform that called for a process for citizen-initiated referenda.

Rod Love, former long-time Chief of Staff to Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, will be the co-host of a new weekly national radio show on CBC Radio One, beginning Monday, January 23rd.

The show, entitled “Type A”, will be a weekly one-hour opinion-based show that examines aspects of Canada’s current economic malaise, and ways to recovery, through the perspective of business leaders, entrepreneurs, and their critics.

“I know this will come as a shock to my many conservative friends who have joined me in fighting the CBC for three decades,” acknowledged Love, referring to legendary battles between Ralph Klein and the Mother Corp over the years.

“During those years, the CBC believed we were dangerous, knuckle-dragging conservative cro-magnons, while we believed the CBC was a left-wing hotbed for dangerous socialst propaganda,” said Love.

Both parties have agreed to a non-disclosure agreement on what they really think now.