Richard Hughes-Political Blogger The watering restriction notices are out throughout the Cowichan Valley. The systems operated by the Cowichan Valley Regional District and some of the Water Improvement Districts have issued directives, so far Read more…
Continue readingTag: British Columbia
Politics, Re-Spun: Why People Hate the Translink Police
Replace “driver” with Translink cop. I had a hard time reading all the way through this article, the one about Translink cops terrorizing bus passengers on Friday night. I also had a hard time reading about the two Translink cops found guilty of assault on Friday. I’m sure it was
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Let’s Give Green Energy $5.3 Trillion This Year
What fraction of a decade would it take to completely get off fossil fuels [oil, gas, coal] and create a post-carbon energy/transportation infrastructure if the clean, green energy sector were publicly subsidized at $10,000,000 per MINUTE, or $5,300,000,000,000 [yes, that’s $5.3 trillion] for 2015? Please, I dare you to attack
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: First Nation group and allies resist re-opening of Mount Polley mine
Secwepemc Woman’s Warrior Society leads a strong movement against the re-opening of Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mines following catastrophic 2014 spill. The post First Nation group and allies resist re-opening of Mount Polley mine appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Disaster Tourism at the English Bay Oil Spill
By Emily Griffiths In the wake of the oil spill a few days ago, I set out this morning with my partner to see the aftermath first hand. I really didn’t want to go, because I don’t enjoy feeling depressed or enraged, but denial isn’t a healthy choice, either. We
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The BC Oil Spill and the Con Clown James Moore
It couldn't have been a more monstrous or absurd sight.A day after a ship leaked about 3,000 litres of bulk oil into Vancouver's beautiful English Bay, And a few hours after the province's premier and the city's mayor blasted the slow federal response.The monstrous Con beluga James Moore broke through the
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: British Colombia: Illiterate “cutthroat psychopaths” in the Harper PMO
Embarrassing typos as the illiterate “cutthroat psychopaths” in the Stephen Harper PMO change British Columbia to “British Colombia”. The post British Colombia: Illiterate “cutthroat psychopaths” in the Harper PMO appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Vancouver’s Co-Working Co-op Stimulates Worker Empowerment
Tuesday night in the back room of The Tipper bar/bistro/restaurant on Kingsway at Victoria we are holding our Inception Meeting for a new kind of co-working space in Vancouver, one structured as a co-op. You can read about the project in The Georgia Straight piece last week, and on the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What’s Wrong with Canada? We’re Not Denmark-ish
And I don’t mean we need to become Denmark, but we need to have the dialogue about why they can do what they do and we choose not to. When Canadians are surveyed, a very large majority of us support these public goods. But those desires get subsumed with corporate,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How Does a Politician Define Contempt?
If you’ve ever wondered how a really really bad provincial MLA explains how to define contempt for the population, you must watch this. At least twice! February 2, 2015 The So-Called Transit Referendum: Don’t Be Duped! (0) February 18, 2011 Endorsing Alnoor Gova for the Burnaby-Douglas Federal NDP (3) November
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Minimum wage workers not the only ones getting screwed
I have a populist piece in The Tyee this morning on how last week’s paltry $0.20 minimum wage increase in British Columbia actually reflects stagnant wages across the economy and why the Fight for 15 is everyone’s fight. Here it is in full. Last week, the B.C. government reacted to the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Reject the Slow Motion Privatization of K-12 in BC
Privatizing education in BC has been largely subtle and hidden. Absurd conflicts like this below [Restricted Vancouver playground access sparks angry exchange between [PRIVATE!] school principal, parent] help the general public see what’s actually been going on for a long time with private schools. Mine mine mine mine mine mine
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Pink Washing: Does This Pink Shirt Really Say Enough?
By Emily Griffiths Pink Shirt Day is almost upon us. The annual campaign to raise money and “awareness” on the issue of “bullying” takes place on February 25. As this date approaches, I’m sure you’ve noticed an inundation of bright pink. Even at this very moment, I am sipping my
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The So-Called Transit Referendum: Don’t Be Duped!
By Emily Griffiths The Transit referendum “Yes” campaign has been asserting itself all over Facebook, Twitter, neighbourhood news boxes, and I can’t help but ask myself, Since when is increasing a flat tax a leftist thing to do? Oh! The word “transit” has been attached to the newest proposed consumer
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How to Excuse Your Child from the Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA)
Well, it’s that time again: Foundation Skills Assessment in BC. There are so many things wrong with the FSA tests. I won’t go into them here, but you can read about many of them in these places: Foundation Skills Assessment: Another Dirty Trick The BCTF on the FSAs. And so
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Who Cares About Fixing Poverty in BC?
Well, it’s the Poverty Reduction Coalition! One of their many activities is to send recommendations to the government when the government deigns to ask people for their ideas. The Finance Committee is an all-party committee of the legislature, so the government usually ignores their recommendations. As citizens, we need to
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Shhh, The Bold Revolution Has Started
We live in tumultuous times: Ferguson and other non-indictments of white police who murdered people of colour ISIL and other extremism Stephen Harper’s continued assault on democracy and embrace of soft fascism [has he had CRA audit YOUR favourite progressive group yet?] Accusations against Jian Ghomeshi Accusations against Bill Cosby
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Groups call on BC and Science World to end LNG promotion
Advocacy groups and concerned citizens have signed an open letter demanding that the British Columbia government and Science World cancel their province-wide community seminars promoting the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry. The post Groups call on BC and Science World to end LNG promotion appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: No to pipelines, yes to Site C?
Peace River Valley No to pipelines, yes to Site C? Here’s a piece I wrote for Ricochet after getting riled up by *some* of the arguments against Site C. The full piece is here. To shift off fossil fuels we’ll need more large scale, public energy infrastructure As the movement
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: No thanks Uber, I’m not signing your petition
So the ride-sharing app Uber is urging Vancouverites to sign a petition on its site to put pressure on the City to allow Uber to operate. An ad for the petition invaded my Twitter feed and I decided to take a closer look. Here’s the petition with my commentary. Spoiler:
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