On a trip back to Toronto this week I attended the launch of a new report commissioned by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, and written by Aimee McArthur-Gupta from the Conference Board of Canada. The report presents some estimates of the economic, fiscal and social benefits of public education
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: Going offline for a while.
See you later.
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Greedy Canadians and the Pipeline Follies
If I was the Prime Minister of Canada I probably definitely would not have done this. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet have again approved the Trans Mountain expansion project, a crucial next step for the much-delayed pipeline project designed to carry nearly a million barrels of oil from Alberta's oilpatch
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Bad Omens
In this day and age, we tend to parse every single new piece of information and what we hear to see if there is more in there than meets the naked eye. It’s a feature of our political environment too, which means sometimes we get stories in the media that
Continue readingHalf an Hour: Whence the Virtue of Open
The word ‘whence’ means “from what place, source, or cause”, and that is the question I would like to address with respect to the virtue of ‘open’. The question is raised in the context of Heather Morrison’s recent comments on The Dialectic of Open. Unfortunately I don’t have the full
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Meanwhile, What About Fracking?
The Trudeau government is looking for climate kudos for Canada’s success in fracking natural gas. The idea is that, methane leaks aside, fracked gas is a lower-carbon alternative to other fossil fuels and, for that, Canada deserves to be rewarded with carbon credits. Of course British Columbians know that fracking
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: I’ll Trade You a Jason for a Greta
I am a democrat and therefor I must accept the election of Jason Kenney and his United Conservative Party as government of my province. The UCP won convincingly, after all, with 53 per cent of the popular vote. But it ain’t easy. This is one of those times when accepting
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: A ‘Little’ Perspective, Please
One of the great lies hatched by the Oil Patch and gleefully adopted by the Tories and now the Trudeau Liberals is that, when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, Canada is just too small to matter. We don’t make a difference. Sort of like ‘no harm, no foul.’ Small
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Cat Got Your Tongue? Liberals, Please, Defend This.
Our contingent of Liberal supporters has fallen mute. No one, it seems, wants to defend the Trudeau government’s decision approving the Trans-Mountain/Justin Trudeau Memorial Pipeline. That the pre-ordained approval was announced less than 24 hours after those same Liberals stood in the House to support a motion declaring a state
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: U.S. Sanctions: Economic Sabotage That Is Deadly, Illegal, and Ineffective
Protest against sanctions in Canada, August 9, 2018 (@compartycanada) While the mystery of who is responsible for sabotaging the two tankers in the Gulf of Oman remains unsolved, it is clear that the Trump administration has been sabotaging Iranian oil shipments since May 2, when it announced its intention to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellanous material for your mid-week reading. – David Dayen interviews Elizabeth Warren about the role of government in ensuring that the needs of people take precedence over the power of corporations. And Press Progress duly challenges the claim that corporate directors are overworked in putting in five to seven hours
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: A Preview of Life Under a Scheer Government? – Part 2
Last week I wrote a piece laying out more of the cuts made by Conservatives in Ontario and Alberta and put forth the thought about how this could be a preview of what we might see under a Scheer Conservative government in Ottawa. I didn’t plan on it to be
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Belgium’s Left Breakthrough
On May 27th, Europe awakened to what seemed to be like a new stage in the resurgence of the populist right and reactionary forces, and a major retreat for the radical left in the elections to the European parliament. In Italy, the growing political hegemony of Matteo Salvini’s project was
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Some Resurrections Shouldn’t Be Celebrated
David Brooks is a disillusioned conservative. In his book, The Second Mountain, he writes: “I have become radicalized … I now think the rampant individualism of our current culture is a catastrophe. The whole cultural paradigm has to shift from the mindset of hyper-individualism to the relational mindset.” For fifty years, we have
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The bothersome business of booze.
Assumptions, B.S., chicanery, deceit, the evils of demon rum and beer’s contribution to flatulence are all mixed in to the current dialogue on who can sell booze in Ontario. And politics is somewhere down the list. It is definitely not an issue that drills down party lines. The attempted modernizing
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Summarizing Disaster Capitalism – Jason Hirthler
Mainstream 101: Supporting Imperialism, Suppressing Socialism by Jason Hirthler “Yet the corporate use of the word democracy has no relation to the word’s philosophical definition. It is merely a portmanteau for all manner of plunder, the techniques of which include first evicting the wayward socialist in power, by sanction
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: An Urgent Crisis?
Its pretty clear where the Con’s stand regarding the ever increasing threat to life as we know it on this planet we call Earth for all 63 of them in the House of Commons voted AGAINT a motion declaring a national climate emergency. The motion describes climate change as a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: TMX gets the nod from Justin Trudeau’s cabinet – masterstroke or master blunder?
With his cabinet’s second approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project yesterday afternoon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has either proved the Liberal Party of Canada’s old mojo is still intact or blown it all to smithereens. It’s too soon to tell. Alberta Conservatives and their legion of media cheerleaders
Continue readingAnti-Racist Canada: The ARC Collective: Canadian Nationalist Party: Antisemites and Racists
If one has been paying attention, one would note that members of the Canadian Nationalist Party have become ubiquitous at far right events. If there is a Yellow Vests, Pegida, or (as occurred this past Sunday) anti-LGBTQ event, it is almost guaranteed that members and supporters of the CNP will
Continue readingStuart Mackinnon's BetterParks for Vancouver: Commissioner Dumont to forward motion aimed at eliminating gas and diesel powered generators from Vancouver parks
Published Jun 18, 2019 1:18 PM Green Party of Vancouver VANCOUVER, B.C. – On Monday, June 24, 2019, Green Party Commissioner Camil Dumont will introduce a motion asking staff to develop a strategy to transition the Vancouver Parks and Recreation system to one that is free of gas and diesel
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