Please forgive me for waxing romantic. These things are always so much easier to write, instead of say. Yes, Valentine’s Day is coming up. Yes, we both make fun of Valentine’s Day (VD) Culture. But I cannot help it, I am a nostalgic fool. To a beautiful and amazing woman
Continue readingTag: anniversary
PostArctica: 9 Years.
Yep, been 9 years since I started this blog today! Had no idea where it was going when it started but I did get to participate in the largest ongoing “single issue” protest movement in the history of the city. We didn’t win but it’s really difficult to look back
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Beginning of the End
Sixty years ago, the end began. It would take almost a full year for the Allies to batter the Third Reich into submission, but in the summer of 1944, the end was inevitable. All could see it. The combined might of the Allied armies was simply overpowering for whatever Germany
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Six years ago…
I received a notification last week from WordPress noting that I registered with them six years ago. Six years with their blogging platform… happy anniversary to me… what, no flowers? Party favours? Is this my modern life: email reminders from software companies? That got me thinking about dates and anniversaries. And in
Continue readingcentre of the universe: There’s hardly any itch at all
The thing that the Mayans didn’t realize about this whole end of the world thing tomorrow is that today is my and His Nibs’ seven-year anniversary (N.B. We’ve been together for more like 12 years). So I decree that it is impossible for the world to end without my getting
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Occupied Ottawa to celebrate one year anniversary
Occupied Ottawa (formerly Occupy Ottawa) activists return to Confederation Park on Monday to celebrate the movement’s one year anniversary with art, performance, music, speeches and educational workshops. Occupied Ottawa, a part of the global grassroots Occupy movement against economic disparity and social injustice, “occupied” the park from October 15, 2011, until
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The State Of The Gulf Two Years After Deepwater Horizon Disaster
bp-logo-oil.jpg Today marks the two-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion that killed 11 rig workers and subsequently caused an oil geyser in the Gulf of Mexico that leaked hundreds of millions of gallons of crude oil into the water. The mainstream press will provide coverage over the
Continue readingPample the Moose: Happy Charter Day! And the importance of an "s"
Today’s the 30th anniversary of the formal adoption of the 1982 Constitution Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A lot of ink has been recently devoted to the Harper government’s non-observance of this day. I could add to this, but instead I’d like to draw your attention to the text of the formal statement issued by Heritage Minister James Moore and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson which was originally posted here. I say “originally posted” lest the initial text be changed.
The full statement reads:
Statement by the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, and the Honourable Rob Nicholson, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, on the 30th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Constitution Act of 1982
OTTAWA, April 17, 2012 – Today marks the 30th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Constitution Act of 1982, which was formally signed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on April 17, 1982, in the presence of tens of thousands of Canadians on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
This anniversary marks an important step in the development of Canada’s human rights policy. Building on Diefenbaker’s Canadian Bill of Rights of 1960, the Constitution Act of 1982 enshrined certain rights and freedoms that had historically been at the heart of Canadian society into a constitutional document known as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Constitution Act of 1982 empowered our government to amend every part of Canada’s constitution, for the very first time.
As we look ahead to Canada’s 150th Anniversary in 2017, we encourage all Canadians to commemorate the milestones that have built our nation and made us the great country we are today.
There are all sorts of things that can be critiqued about this statement, starting with the omission of the Prime Minister and architect of the deal, Pierre Trudeau. But because I’m in a peculiar mood, let me instead draw your attention to paragraph 3 of the statement. There’s a rather important little “s” that is missing from the end of the word “government”. Because as any constitutional expert worth their salt knows, most parts of Canada’s constitution cannot be amended by any single government. In some cases, it takes at least two, in most it takes eight (seven provincial governments representing 50% of the population, plus the federal government), and in a few key areas it takes eleven governments to amend the constitution.
So unless there is a super-secret plan by the Harper government to start unilaterally amending the constitution, his ministers’ staffers did a terrible job proofing that mediocre statement.
Continue readingPample the Moose: Happy Charter Day! And the importance of an "s"
Today’s the 30th anniversary of the formal adoption of the 1982 Constitution Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A lot of ink has been recently devoted to the Harper government’s non-observance of this day. I could add to this, but instead I’d like to draw your attention to
Continue readingPample the Moose: Happy Charter Day! And the importance of an "s"
Today’s the 30th anniversary of the formal adoption of the 1982 Constitution Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A lot of ink has been recently devoted to the Harper government’s non-observance of this day. I could add to this, but instead I’d like to draw your attention to
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Death of a humanist
It’s hard to process the idea that Kurt Vonnegut died last night. He wasn’t immortal — at least in the “not dying” sense — but it felt like the world was a better place knowing he was still in it. … Continue reading →
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
“We can sum it up in one sentence: Our technical civilization has just reached its greatest level of savagery. We will have to choose, in the more or less near future, between collective suicide and the intelligent use of our scientific conquests…….Before the terrifying prospects now available to humanity, we
Continue readingPample the Moose: Anniversary Post and a Call for Political Advice
Pample the Moose is seven calendar years old today. I’m not sure how old that is in blog years. My posting has become more erratic in recent years, but I’m still committed to keeping it going for the foreseeable future. So as to have some content here beyond a simple
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