So, I spend a fair amount of time reading various news sites, both well known and otherwise, and am generally greatful to Our Glorious Ruler the Internet for all that he/she bestows. But there is one phenomenon so repugnant, so totally contrary to all things good and right and nice
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: NDP Fisheries Critic Takes Harper Government to Task Over Leaked Changes to Fisheries Act
Federal NDP Fisheries Critic Fin Donnelly took the Harper Government to task in Question Period earlier today over its plan to slip significant changes to the Fisheries Act into its omnibus bill. The changes – revealed in a document leaked to former senior DFO scientist and manager Otto Langer –
Continue readingIn This Corner: Unraveling the mystery of MLA pay.
Ever since the news emerged that a number of MLAs were paid a grand a month to sit on a committee that never met, the subject of MLA pay has been a matter of much discussion. When it comes to politics in Alberta, about the only thing the average voter
Continue readingBuckdog: Saskatchewan Has No Idea What Harper’s Omnibus Crime Bill Will Cost
Saskatchewan’s Justice Minister, Don Morgan told the Legislature that he has absolutely no idea what the cost to the province will be to implement Ottawa’s Bill C10 – The Omnibus Crime Bill. I find it amazing that Saskatchewan’s Justice and Finance departments have been sitting on their hands over the
Continue readingArt Threat: The studios are killing independent film – A fantastic Q interview with filmmaker Alex Cox
Yesterday’s Q show on CBC Radio One had a great interview with the director of REPO MAN and SID AND NANCY, Alex Cox. An outspoken critic of the studio system and of government and corporate efforts to crackdown on “illegal” downloading, Cox argues that the corporate studio system continues to
Continue readingMorton's Musings: IF Quebec refuses to implement crime bill does that mean equality right violated?
Assume this happens. Does that mean someone in Ontario can claim a breach of equality rights because of unequal sentencing? http://bit.ly/zLgDZJ The debate isn't over yet for the Harper's government's criminal justice legislation – at least not in Quebec. The provincial government announced Tuesday that it would do everything in
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: No Internet Lockdown petition gets shout-out in Parliament
The No Internet Lockdown petition made its way into Parliament today. NDP MP Andrew Cash mentioned to petition and the public outcry in the Committee meeting. read more
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Quebec to Harper: Take Your Crime Bill…
…and shove it. The debate isn’t over yet for the Harper’s government’s criminal justice legislation – at least not in Quebec. The provincial government announced Tuesday that it would do everything in its power to limit the clout of the legislation that passed a day earlier. And why wouldn’t they?
Continue readingCanadian Soapbox: Do Republicans want a religious extremist as their nominee?
The U.S. has troops in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, and numerous other countries, and there’s some definite sabre rattling happening right now in the direction of Iran from some quarters. Often times western powers are battling with religious extremists, Islamic fundamentalist with an extreme interpretation of the Muslim holy book, the
Continue readingLaw is Cool: About Those Robocalls…
Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro was himself behind two robocalls on election day, the Calgary Herald revealed today. Del Mastro’s campaign manager, Jeff Westlake, sent recorded messages to constituents reminding them that it was election day and offering rides, but only identified the caller as “Jeff.” The problem is that
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Christopher Parsons: $80 Million dollars for Lawful Access Bill C-30 is a tall guesstimate
Remember when the government said that its Lawful Access Bill C-30 would only cost about $80 Million dollars and then some? What if we told you those estimates are totally off the mark? Well, here goes: The estimates are probably off. Okay, they’re way off. Christopher Parsons, a cybersecurity expert
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: My two favourite David Lean edits
I know, regular readers of The Skwib will be thinking: “what hell? This no funny!” (With the proper grammar, of course.) But with this new look, I’m also branching out with the blog. I’d like it to take in things … Continue reading →
Continue readingOne More Real Reason Why I, For One, Am Glad Gregor Won…
SomeThingsActuallyDoReallyMatter MunicipalGovernanceVille It’s the Affordable Housing Task Force, and FABula has the first report card on their goings on: …At top of mind is the 1989 decision by then-mayor Gordon Campbell to provide discounted city land to the Vancouver Land Corporation or VLC Properties – a company created by his
Continue readingLaw is Cool: What Lawyers Say in Papers…
…And what they actually mean. Courtesy of Prof. Emir Crowne of University of Windsor.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Stop the Condo Development on the Musqueam Burial Site
What kind of racist government issues a permit for a condo developer to bulldoze a Musqueum burial site? BC’s government. I visited c̓əsnaʔəm, the 1338 SW Marine Drive site this morning and had a chance to talk with some of the demonstrators. I learned a number of important points in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On voter information
Andrew Coyne raises some noteworthy points about what political parties know about us and how they use that information. But while I agree as to the need for parties to treat voters as something more than a resource to be exploited, I’ll sound a note of caution that some of
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Globe & Mail: Save Costs by Increasing Class Sizes
I offer this post not to distract people from the robocall crimes, but to remind everyone that there are other scandals going on as well. Readers in BC probably already know, and readers everywhere else should know, that there is yet another conflict between the government and the teachers union.
Continue readingAnother posterous / tumblr comparison …
via yfrog.com Via Business Insider’s Jay Yarow. (h/t @ShaneDingman) Permalink | Leave a comment »
Continue readingBlunt Objects: PCs Still Dominate Alberta – For Now
Continuing with 2011’s incumbent-friendly trend, 2012 seems to be pretty incumbent-friendly as well – so far. Nowhere is this more exemplified than Alberta, which will need to go to the polls before May 31st, where the Progressive Conservative’s still dominate the scene and look set for another majority government, at
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Towards a "living wage" in Canada
A number of years ago, Canada’s statistics agency got rid of the concept of “the poverty line.” Instead they came up with what is called the “low income cut off” or LICO. For the most recent year for which there are full statistics, 2010, a single person living in a
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