Like, Pavlov’s dogs, the corporate media have bought the government’s line that native Canadians are lazy parasites. Michael Harris writes: Reading the media this week has been like having a picnic on the killing floor of an abattoir. By my count, Chief Spence has been fat-shamed, bitch-slapped, traduced and ridiculed.
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Northern Reflections: Near The Bottom
The Conference Board of Canada — not a left leaning think tank — has released a report on Canada’s environmental health. The news is not good: The study ranks Canada 15th out of 17 developed nations on environmental performance, ahead of only The United States and last place Australia. The
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: An Angry Spring
The Idle No More protests across the country yesterday were the opening salvo in what is shaping up to be an angry spring. Rest assured that there will be calls to re-establish law and order. But — before you join the crowd of righteous law-abiding citizens — ask yourself, “Are
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: A Fifteen Year Reign?
Yesterday, Lawrence Martin floated a depressing thought: We may have to live with Stephen Harper for a long, long time: With still plenty of time in his current term, Mr. Harper will join the group of long-time tenants and it’s even possible he will one day make the 15-year club.
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Snookered
Shawn Atleo stepped down as head of the Assembly of First Nations yesterday, a victim of the norovirus which has been ravaging North America’s population. His absence, we were told, will be “brief.” But, if he read Michael Harris’ column yesterday, Atleo might consider extending his leave. Harris wrote that
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: It’s Crunch Time
The Idle No More movement is about to declare war on Stephen Harper’s vision of Canada, The Petro Power. According to this morning’s Globe and Mail: Allan Adam The chief of Alberta’s Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation said in an interview that local resentment will fuel a movement to block the
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Same Story With A New Twist
In his book, Hegemony Or Survival, Noam Chomsky argued that George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq was merely the next step in an imperial grand strategy which was drawn up in Washington at the end of World War II: The imperial grand strategy asserts the right of the United States
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Harper’s Word
A new day is dawning, the media conglomerates tell us this morning. We are told how, during yesterday’s meeting with some — but not all — of the chiefs, the prime minister vowed to focus on aboriginal issues. Andrew Coyne tells us that Shawn Atleo has been “courageous to meet
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Tide’s Going Out
Carol Goar writes that Stephen Harper’s reputation as a brilliant economic manager has more to do with luck than expertise. That luck showed up in the person of Mark Carney: As Harper and Flaherty implemented their hit-and-miss fiscal plan, Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of Canada, moved sure-footedly, slashing
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Stepping In It
Julian Fantino has never had a reputation for winning friends and influencing people. He not only has shocked and offended Haitians. He’s also made enemies in the United States. The Globe and Mail reports that the State Department is not impressed: One of the U.S. State Department’s top Haiti officials
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Angry Canadians
Gloria Galloway reports in the Globe and Mail that hope is fading for those who believed Friday’s meeting between native leaders and Stephen Harper would put an end to the Idle No More protests: Idle No More organizers will hold their own Friday meeting for chiefs that were not invited
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Shifting The Focus
Deloitte-Touche did as requested, and the reaction was predictable. Tasha Kheiriddin writes: The audit is out, the verdict is damning. As reported by CBC News, an independent assessment of six years of transactions on the troubled Attawapiskat First Nation reserve reveal “no evidence of due diligence.” Auditors Deloitte and Touche
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Politicians As CEO’s
When Brian Mulroney first ran for prime minister, his sales pitch was that he would run government like a business. Mike Harris liked to refer to himself as Ontario’s CEO. George W. Bush’s calling card was that he possessed a Harvard MBA. All three were successful politicians but lousy mangers.
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Investor Is King
If you wondered why the Harper government has gutted Canada’s environmental legislation, Frances Russell provides the answer: The North American Free Trade Agreement was the first of a New World Order of trade agreements designed, to borrow the words of the Trilateral Commission in 1975, to repeal “an excess of
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Haiti In Fantino’s Crosshairs
Julian Fantino — who proclaimed before Christmas that Canada’s foreign aid would be linked to Canadian corporate opportunities — announced this week that Canada was suspending aid to Haiti, that God-forsaken half of the island of Hispaniola: “If I can put it to you bluntly, we will not be signing
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Meaning Of Silence
As Theresa Spence’s hunger strike continues, Stephen Harper remains silent. But his acolytes have had plenty to say. Christie Blatchford and John Ivison have brushed aside Spence’s demand for a meeting with the prime minister. Still, Stephen Harper has remained tight lipped — except for one throw away line in
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Canadian Class Warfare
Michael Valpy — whose new address seems to be the Toronto Star — writes that Canadians are becoming markedly intolerant of one another — and Stephen Harper is reaping the political benefits: What we have are profound, systemic demographic divisions of age and education that aren’t going to go
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Doing The Corporate Dance
The Liberal Party’s traditional strategy of campaigning from the left and governing from the right led the late Rene Levesque to conclude that the party was “the biggest whorehouse in the world.” Now, Paul Adams writes, the party seems to be campaigning from the right: Martha Hall Findlay calls for an
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: A Bad Year For The Environment
Canada’s native peoples understand how toxic the Harper government is for the environment. So does the Toronto Star: Bill C-38 included more than $160 million in cuts to environmental spending, significantly impairing our ability to measure or mitigate our impact on Canada’s wilderness and wildlife. Yet it was never put
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Out of Touch
There is no love lost between Stephen Harper and Joe Clark. When Clark’s official portrait was hung in the Centre Block four years ago, Stephane Dion and Paul Martin attended the ceremony. But, breaking with tradition, Harper managed to be away in Europe. So, when Clark came out in support
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