It’s been a year since a Regina Walmart illegally hired two foreign students, and triggered a drama with them confined to churches granting them sanctuary from the Harper Government’s punitive mean streak. For Immediate Release June 18, 2013 One Year Anniversary: University Students Still in Hiding This week marks one
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Tom Mulcair and the Troubles of Eve Adams
Well as you know Tom Mulcair got into a spot of trouble on Parliament Hill the other day.He ran a stop sign, was intercepted by the RCMP.And then mercilessly mocked by the Cons in the House of Commons. First by James Moore and then by Jason Kenney.But now it turns out
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Bill C-304: The Final Battle?
LeBreton confirms #SenCA will sit into July if necessary to pass bills on order paper, including C-377. #cdnpoIi— Jordan Press (@jordan_press) June 18, 2013 The other bill they want to pass is C-304, which would strip section 13 (the hate speech clause) from the Canadian Human Rights Act. When Senate
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Lots of People Not Going to Work Means Easy Traffic?
Montreal is becoming famous for its terrible traffic, along with its terrible mayors. But one of the things that is lost in shuffle this week, as Mayor Michael Applebaum was first arrested and then resigned is a general strike in the construction industry. For the first time in more than
Continue readingMind of Dan: Global carbon emissions and sinks since 1750
via Shrink That Footprint
Continue readingMind of Dan: What you see
The new layout you see is just the first of many improvements we have in store for the site. In addition to the clean modern look, it will be readable on small screens, so you can catch up on the planetary perspective on the run. If you see something that
Continue readingMind of Dan: Isn’t it Sad
“Isn’t it sad that you can tell people that the ozone layer is being depleted, the forests are being cut down, the deserts are advancing steadily, that the greenhouse effect will raise the sea level 200 feet, that overpopulation is choking us, that pollution is killing us, that nuclear war
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Harper Conservatives’ refugee health care cuts remain a concern: Ontario doctors
By: Ontario Medical Association | Press Release: TORONTO, June 17, 2013 – One year after the implementation of a series of changes to federal coverage of refugee health care, Ontario’s doctors are seeing a negative impact on the delivery of care. Under the new Interim Federal Health Program rules, the federal government
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: ‘Our kids deserve the right to their culture’: Anishinabek Nation
By: Anishinabek Nation | Press Release: TORONTO, June 17, 2013 – Anishinabek Nation leaders have told provincial government officials that their children in care deserve the right to their culture. “We need to leave here today with long and short term goals in place,” said Deputy Grand Council Chief Glen Hare, part of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Lesson in Democracy from Brazil
Although I do not condone violence in any form, if you read the accompanying story you will see what happens when the citizens of a country feel strongly about something, in this case their opposition to the £10 billion being spent in preparation for the World Cup next year in
Continue readingThe World Famous Dan Shields: 6166…Beckham To The NFL
It could happen if David Beckham wants it. The recently retired football player has been offered a shot at playing gridiron. Make that was offered a shot at playing in the NFL. “’A couple of scouts felt that David has the potential to become a kicker in the NFL team, and
Continue readingMorton's Musings: Robert Sutherland, Canada’s first Black lawyer
Robert Sutherland (1830–1878) was the first known graduate of colour at a Canadian university, and the first Black man to study law in British North America. A graduate of Queen’s University, Sutherland qualified to practise law in Ontario under the then prevailing system of apprenticeship and examination. He studied at
Continue readingMorton's Musings: Harper sidesteps questions over whether it was appropriate for his taxpayer-funded office to be distributing documents to media about paid speeches Justin Trudeau made before he was elected to Parliament
Again, a failure to distinguish between the role of government and the dictates of the Party: Story here:
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Scumbags in the Harper PMO Strike Again
Ever since I started blogging I have used the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch to illustrate Stephen Harper's PMO.For nothing else can better portray the mixture of religious fanaticism and political degeneracy that reigns in that hellish place.They have perverted our politics, they have violated our traditions, they are the foulest bullies
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Enbridge Won’t Take ‘No’ for an Answer, Despite 96% Opposition
Despite over 9,500 public submissions to the Joint Review Panel for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline – with a resounding 96% opposed – John Carruthers, the company president in charge of the project, remains confident it will proceed. Carruthers told reporters outside the final round of hearings in Terrace,
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Raising the cap — still not a good reason to approve Northern Gateway
The Con government has announced that Canadian energy companies who cause an environmental disaster will be liable for a much larger amount. Currently, it’s just $30 million for the east and west coasts and $40 million for the Arctic. Now it will be $1 billion. That’s fine, but when one
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Social Determinants: Where did 55,000 Ontario households go?
What happened to 55,000 low-income rental households in Ontario? Between the late 1990s and the early 2000s they simply disappeared from the census. A new report from the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association and the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada suggests … Continue reading →
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Is new coal export infrastrucutre in the best interest of BC and Canada
Today’s CBC Edition Business Panel focused on the proposal by Fraser Surrey Docks to build a new coal terminal on the Fraser river to export US thermal coal (if you missed it, here’s the recording starting at 1:50). This may seem like a local issue for the West Coast, but
Continue readingA Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land: Review: The Inconvenient Indian
[Thomas King. The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2012.] It’s hard to come up with a substantive review when you don’t have much to say that’s critical, even constructively critical, about the book in question. So this review will be short,
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