Last week I posted about the the informal end-of the-day reception coming up on Thursday and organized by the NPD Association of Outremont. on “Working in Canada Today: A Real Challenge.” Now we’re expecting to have a representative of the United Food and Commercial Workers of Canada (UFCA) who’ll talk
Continue readingWise Law Blog: 140 Law – Legal Headlines for Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Here are the leading legal headlines from Wise Law on Twitter for Tuesday, February 07, 2012: Lawyer: Pardoned murderer ‘not going’ back for hearing Study: Child abuse bigger threat than SIDS ‘Right to spank’ law called public health threat – CBC.ca Court strikes down Georgia’s assisted-suicide law (Bill Rankin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: This Is Competence?
Stephen Harper likes to claim, as he did in Davos, that his government is a shining example of prudent financial management. That boast, Lawrence Martin writes is the Globe and Mail, in as believable as Sun TV’s recent citizen reaffirmation ceremony. From 2007 to 2011, Canada’s economic performance put us
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Abortion – Safe and Necessary
Sometimes there is a absence of reasonable discussion when it comes to the topic of abortion. The lack of solid empirical grounding for arguments leads to some rather wild and wooly debates. The Guttmacher institute has a new section called “Are you in the Know?” about women’s health and abortion.
Continue reading350 or bust: NASA Video Debunks Climate Deniers in 26 Seconds
As obvious as tumor on a smoker’s chest x-ray, this 26-second video of the 131 years of temperature data demonstrates the consequences of our addiction to burning fossil fuels. It shows what climate scientists have been warning our governments about for years – climate change is real, it’s happening now,
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Ontario-Funded Think Tank Says Ontario Not Getting Enough Transfer Payments
Alternate title: Toronto Star Leaves Key Piece of Information Out of Coverage of Mowat Centre. The Mowat Centre, it seems, is unhappy about the state of federal-provincial transfers in this country. Ontario and British Columbia are being short-changed to the tune of billions of dollars because it fails to account
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Liuna Local 183 Continues Its Bad Behaviour
Yesterday I wrote about the scuffle that broke out at a meeting of Liuna Local 183, a meeting that saw members demanding answers to the strange tale of the firing, rehiring, and resignation of John Manadarino, the training centre executive who misappropriated union funds but whose union executive defenders claim
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: A letter from Canada
OTTAWA Dear Foreign Dictator: On behalf of the Government of Canada, I would like to clarify our position on the use of torture. To be clear, our Government supports the use of torture when it is practiced with a clear objective. Please accept my most heartfelt apologies if the position
Continue readingFar and Wide: Caterpillar Highlights Failed Policies
The Caterpillar fiasco is another example of the failed relationship between government, corporations and community. Rather than get lost in the minutiae of the Caterpillar story, a wide angle lens reveals a disturbing picture of corporate greed, negotiating in bad faith, the free market economy at its absolute worst. We
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Geoffrey Stevens discusses the basic problem behind the Cons’ insistence on cutting back actual help to people while wasting billions on prisons and fighter jets: (I)f the government did have a weakness (which, as noted, it does not concede), it might be
Continue readingTrashy's World: I never knew…
… that staid old Ottawa had a Sexapalooza… I really didn’t. Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario
Continue readingRedBedHead: Caterpillar Won Because Nobody Fought Hard Enough
It doesn’t have to be this way. We built this country, this economy and this world. We don’t have to mourn the loss of more jobs, this time sent to a union-busting “right to work” state, Indiana, for half the wages. It isn’t inevitable that our wages, pensions, benefits –
Continue readingImpolitical: The "great shell game"
Come on in, the water’s warm! Yes to this Martin column today: “The myth of Tory economic performance.” Can the myth be sustained in coming years? Are times about to get rockier? Some headlines from today to consider: “Banks rolling back mortgage discounts,” “Customers feel the pinch as banks cut
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: They’re Doing It Again…
After their successful Quebec trip, which resulted in minor league shock jock and Que. mayor Stéphane Gendron offering a grovelling apology and promising to be more circumspect in future, JDL-Canada has gone back to dancing with wingnuts. This time they’re holding a rally for UK “New Freedom Party” Leader Paul Weston. Here’s
Continue readingRubbin’ ‘Em Raw Out In Midway…
IfAtFirstYouDon’tSucceed Load,LoadThePropCatapaultAgain&Again&AgainVille The (not)Premier appears to be continuing with her US Republican Party-inspired ‘Take it directly to the (unquestioning) Regional Press’ strate(r)gy. How else to explain how the un-bylined ‘Staff Reporter’ at the Grand Forks Gazette posted up the following, with a straight face, yesterday: Premier Christy Clark was at
Continue readingImpolitical: Exposing the fakery matters
On the news of the fake citizenship reaffirmation ceremony hosted at Sun News at the urging of Jason Kenney’s office, Chris Selley of the National Post concluded this about the episode last week: “But that’s just the usual stuff and nonsense. I don’t see how any of it makes a
Continue readingJAMES LAXER: Stephen Harper’s Majority Government: Not Looking Out for YOU
As we close in on one year of Stephen Harper’s majority, it is evident that this is a very special government. YOU are just not on its list of priorities. It’s not that this government does not have causes to which it is deeply committed: low taxes for business and
Continue readingwmtc: mcdonalds is not healthy for pit bulls and other living things
In case you missed it, the marketing geniuses at McDonald’s thought it was cute to promote their latest concoction of fat, salt, sugar, and unpronounceable ingredients as being healthier than petting a dog. But not just any dog. Trying a brand new menu item at McDonald’s isn’t risky. You know
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Literacy plan still MIA #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Newfoundland and Labrador has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the country. There’s a huge demand for skilled labour in the province and that illiteracy level doesn’t help. The 1992 Strategic Economic Plan recognised the connection between literacy and economic development: it’s not like government officials weren’t generally aware
Continue readingStephen Harper’s Majority Government: Not Looking Out for YOU
As we close in on one year of Stephen Harper’s majority, it is evident that this is a very special government. YOU are just not on its list of priorities. It’s not that this government does not have causes to which it is deeply committed: low taxes for business and
Continue reading