Years ago, in the house of a queer friend from Atlantic Canada, I joked about Jian Ghomeshi and how he rudely and aggressively hit on her once. She laughed, I laughed, we laughed. She was queer – I thought he was queer. It was comedic gold. I didn’t think anything about it,
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Politics, Re-Spun: Resistance is Futile: Steveston, Developers, PR flacks, and the Borg
The idyllic town of Steveston, located at the western tip of Richmond, is the site of what appears to be a battle for the ages: the City Council is facing an invasion of the Borg as they debate what to do with a developer’s plans for an historic district along the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Vancouver’s ‘Progressive’ Council and Housing
Vancouver’s City Council is occasionally lauded as ‘progressive,’ and the ruling party – Vision Vancouver – takes significant pride in trumpeting their work on affordable housing as evidence of such. But then they go and define “affordable rent” for a 1-bedroom apartment at $1,500. And today’s quote from Geoff Meggs
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: You’ll pay more to BC Hydro to Balance the BC Budget
There were reports this morning that BC Hydro would be raising its rates by up to 26% to meet its revenue targets for the coming year. Why? Because the BC Government is using BC Hydro to balance its budget. Via CKNW, this is a pretty fascinating quote from Minister Bill
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Useful political lessons from Down Under
Say what you want about Kevin Rudd (and he’s not exceptionally progressive, from what I hear), but this is: 1. A great way to explain support for equal rights in marriage 2. A great way to answer a public question on the same 3. A very good explanation of how
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: A brief reflection on BC election polling
Once the disappointment over the BC election isn’t so painful, there’s something that needs to be talked about regarding polling. This is a quick, stream-of-consciousness post, and I plan on writing more later. While Mario Canseco of Angus Reid said, this morning, that it’s not a “methodology” problem, I think
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Ralph Sultan: Poverty is a “Single Mom” Issue
At an SFU Public Square event on child poverty tonight, BC Liberal candidate Ralph Sultan evoked boos from the audience when he described the matter as a “single mom” issue. He later defended himself, saying he was only quoting “facts” as an economist. Liberal Ralph Sultan says kids living in
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: A ‘Yellow Peril’ Response from Down Under
This is a good response to Yellow Peril rhetoric: People who read this page, also read: Rising rhetoric of a new “yellow peril” The Most Racist Thing I Have Ever Seen Published
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Further “Yellow Peril” Reading
Our friends at The Mainlander have an excellent piece on the racially charged rhetoric on housing today. From the Georgia Straight, an article on the Chinese community’s concerns over the rise in anti-Chinese sentiment. People who read this page, also read: How to Petition the CRTC against Sun News’ Mandatory…
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Rising rhetoric of a new “yellow peril”
The 1921 “Ethnic Outreach” Campaign(Courtesy Past Tense Vancouver) The complaints are familiar – “Asian immigrants are taking our jobs,” “Asian immigrants are buying our property and keeping us out.” Instead of being complaints found in the Richmond Review’s letters-to-the-editor section, however, these are the complaints that were found in a
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Dyble Report – Read it Here
Here’s a link to the Dyble Report: http://www.scribd.com/doc/130411981/Review-of-the-Draft-Multicultural-Strategic-Outreach-Plan
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Breaking Spin Alert: Dyble Report finds mis-use of govt funds in #QuickWins
Breaking Spin Alert: The Dyble review has found that there has been mis-use of government funds through Christy Clark’s government’s Quick Wins ethnic outreach plan, including up to $70,000. Unsurprisingly, it appears that the blame is being pinned on Kim Haakstad and Brian Bonney, but not Clark herself, who appears
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Spin Alert: BC NDP Scheming with Public Funds? Not quite.
Spin alert! So, BC political news is all a-twitter this morning with rumours that the BC NDP has been scheming around with legislative funds, to the tune of $200k a year. Particularly shocking after the Liberals have been in so much trouble for something similar, no? Here’s iPolitic’s write-through of this
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Send your questions about government science funding to #pmhadfield
Stephen Harper will apparently be chatting with Commander Chris Hadfield later this month, and he’s asking people to contribute their questions via the #pmhadfield hashtag on Twitter. What better a time to ask Harper about his government’s de-funding of scientific research, policies towards funding only ‘marketable research’ and muzzling of
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: With a majority of 4, will the BC Liberal budget pass?
The BC legislature is debating the pre-election budget proposed by the governing BC Liberal party today, and will vote on it at around 11.45am Vancouver time. The Liberals have a razor-slim majority in the Legislature – a total of 4 MLAs, including the Speaker who doesn’t normally vote. Given the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The ‘Ethnic Outreach’ Memo
In case you’ve been wondering what everyone’s all a-twitter about, here’s a link to the ethnic outreach memo: http://inci.pe/eomemo, courtesy the BCNDP. People who read this page, also read: Questions Left Unanswered By McGuinty’s Resignation About Politics, Re-Spun Why does ArcelorMittal hate Bosnia?
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: “None of my staff were involved in this, aside from creating it.”
From the Legislature today: On the ethnic outreach memo controversy: The Premier has made a categorical assertion, not weeks ago, days ago, that this was not the case. Now, I appreciate that new information may come forward, and the Premier may feel she was incorrect a number of days ago.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Spin Alert: John Yap out of Cabinet and Under the Bus, What about Bloy? (Updated)
Spin alert! In the quiet part of the legislative day before question period called Statements by Members, normally reserved for constituency updates, Premier Christy Clark rose and announced that Minister John Yap, Minister for Advanced Education and Multiculturalism, will step aside pending the investigation into the “ethnic outreach” memo that
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Spin Alert: Just what is Christy Clark apologizing for, exactly?
The BC cabinet has finished its non-emergency emergency meeting this evening, meeting with Premier Christy Clark, whom the media are now openly calling the “embattled premier.” Speaking to reporters, Clark has apparently “apologized” for the “language used” in the ethnic Quick Wins document, saying that she had to “make it
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Spin Alert: “They do it too, so we’re not so bad.”
Just a few hours after issuing my first Spin Alert about the BC Liberal’s current leadership and political crisis, I’m back to issue yet another. Here’s the current spin. Diamond Isinger, a strong social media presence who’s created a really important blog highlighting sexism in Canadian politics, is also a past
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