Here, on the questions raised by a sudden drop in potash prices – and why we should reconsider our economic and social priorities so that a minor fluctuation in a still-ample level of wealth isn’t seen as reason to push the panic button. For further reading…– My discussion of Robert
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Is it Hudak-Ford or Ford-Hudak?
The Ontario Legislature feeds on the politics of Ontario municipalities. You have to get under the skin of a number of key municipal politicians before you can fathom the directions of the Legislature. It is both the strength and the weakness of Ontario politics. Since the days of Premier Oliver
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: Even if it could, Senate reform shouldn’t proceed without the provinces – or the people
To the surprise of everyone in the Ottawa bubble, Her Majesty’s Minister of State for Democratic Reform, Pierre Poilievre, held a press availability Wednesday not to slam the Liberals for some alleged sins, but to actually speak to an issue of policy substance: the government’s Supreme Court reference on Senate
Continue readingTrashy's World: E Day in Ottawa South!
Woot! Come on everyone! Woot with me! I just don’t “get” people who don’t get excited about elections. It is the one tangible time when we, as citizens, can choose what a part of our democracy will look like. As we are CITIZENS, dammit! Not “taxpayers” as conservatives like to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Sammy Yatim: A Petition From Change.Org
A petition has been established at Change.org. seeking justice for Sammy Yatim. At last count it was closing in on 27,000 signatures. Here is how it reads: In the early hours of Saturday, July 27, 2013, Sammy Yatim was shot dead by a Toronto Police officer as the 18-year old
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Notes On Property Ownership
Attended my very first condominium corp. AGM. People who knew told me it was going to be a freak show, and it was. Angry white men, incoherent mumblers, fact challenged defamers, preening small-town-council wannabe floptards, guys that talked like they were lawyers but weren’t, guys who ran for village dog
Continue readingThings Are Good: Community Canoes to Help Bees and Butterflies
A new initiative in Toronto is trying to help the local ecosystem and bring people closer to nature through canoes. Not by paddling, but by bringing bees and butterflies to the canoes. The core idea is to help pollinators in the city survive by creating little sanctuaries on land using
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Cynical Today? Maybe just a bit.
Light posting week, driving fourteen hours has effectively turned off my synapses. 🙂 Filed under: Politics Tagged: things that vex me
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Pipelines And Pipe Dreams
Barack Obama has been signalling that the Keystone Pipeline is not all it’s cracked up to be. In a recent interview in the New York Times, he said that the argument that Keystone will be a big job creator is a myth. In reality, it may only produce 2,000 immediate
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Byelection Day in Ontario – grading the pollsters polls
Interested political observers and partisans will be looking at today’s by-elections here in Ontario to see what message the voters will be sending the Ontario Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne. I’ll be interested in the results for more then one reason. We have had 2 polling companies – Forum, and
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Pallas Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and Nerds
She sprang from the cranium of Zeus himself, a divine thought found form, and a blessing unto the Gods, the philosophers of men, and the City of Athens. She was the goddess of civilization, wisdom, strength, strategy, wit, craft, raffia-worked … Continue reading →
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Sammy Yatim and the City of the Dead
I've now seen all I need to see about the police execution of Sammy Yatim. Almost more than I can bear to watch. And like Rosie DiManno, more than enough to sicken me. I am sickened that a teenager with a small knife, who’d done nothing more hostile than shout profanities,
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Sun Media Shutters Another
Bye Bye Dresden-Bothwell Leader-Spirit! Sun Media needs the money it saves from closing you down to fund the antics of The Monkey King: .@montesolberg and I posing in our swimsuits in preparation for the FreedomCruise.ca #spanx pic.twitter.com/K7qDxaQBmA— Ezra Levant (@ezralevant) August 1, 2013 Apparently they ship out in a couple
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Pushing back on the pushback
Anonymous reader argued through earlier comments that comparisons between BC Investment Management Corporation and Washington State Investment Board are inappropriate “apples and oranges.” The person attempted to justify huge increases in executive compensation because “Much of the compensation is based on results over the past 4 years.” This question was
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Liberal Leadership Videos #nlpoli
Two Liberal leadership candidates are using youtube videos as a way of getting their message out. Paul Antle has a professionally produced introductory video that is also the basis for the first television spot of the campaign. It turned up on Wednesday during the supper hour news. Danny Dumaresque is
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper’s Ugly War on Diplomacy
If you want a simple illustration of where Stephen Harper's sinister Con regime is taking us, all you have to do is contrast two pictures.This picture of Bruno Saccomani, Harper's former chief bodyguard.Who now has his own limo, and somebody to open the door for him, as our new/nouveau ambassador to
Continue readingCathie from Canada: Compare and contrast
The contrast could not be greater.Montreal police spend a full day dealing with a demonstrably-violent mentally ill man who shot at them from a house with 180 guns; they finally subdue him with rubber bullets.A Toronto police officer spends less than five minutes yelling at a potentially-violent mentally disturbed teenager armed with a
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: Apology and retraction by Robert MacBain
In Mr. MacBain’s own words, here:
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