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Dead Wild Roses: Canadian Bill C-16 – Radical Feminist Analysis by Megan Murphy

Jun

24

2017

Bill C-16 is problematic for women. Go read the entirety of Megan Murphy’s article on the Feminist Current, I’ve excerpted a key bit here though. 🙂 Bill C-16 passed at the Senate on Thursday. Under this new Canadian legislation, which follows similar laws in a number of Western countries, a person can determine their gender ...

Dented Blue Mercedes: Trans* Human Rights Bill C-16: A Look Back

Jun

19

2017

Although I’ll be remarking on the passing of Bill C-16 elsewhere, I wanted to post Bill Siksay’s closing speech from February 7, 2011, back when the bill was in its third incarnation (of five), Bill C-389. To me, it’s a profound moment to look back on, and realize just how far we’ve come. It took ...

Dead Wild Roses: Canadian Bill C-16 Passed – The Rejection of Material Reality.

Jun

17

2017

Canadian bill C-16 passed. “The bill updates the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code to include the terms “gender identity” and “gender expression.” The legislation also makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender identity or expression. It would also extend hate speech laws to include the two terms, and make ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Weak Transportation Week

Jun

5

2017

Sent to a Saskatchewan Government employee who announced Saskatchewan Transportation Week immediately after STC bus and parcel services were closed to be sold off much later: Dear Brandy Leippi: Reading your press release citing the proclamation of this week as Saskatchewan Transportation Week, I was struck by how contradictory the Government’s messaging is in juxtaposition ...

Dead Wild Roses: Radical Feminism – Defining Sex and Gender.

Jun

3

2017

One of the problems while debating misguided 3rd wavers, or gender/qu**r activists is that lack of definitional rigour when it comes to the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’. What is chilling is that these activists often refuse to define their terms, yet as demonstrated here in Canada want these same terms enshrined into Canadian law. ...

The Political Road Map: Don’t Be Afraid of Raising The Minimum Wage!

Jun

2

2017

I decided to write this post in response to the usual chatter that is generated, whenever the government decides to impose an increase on minimum wage. Usually, you will hear some form of Libertarian or Anarchist arguing that the increase in minimum wage will not only lead to higher prices, but also directly result in ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: STC Bus Shut Down By Callous SaskParty

May

31

2017

Today is a terrible day in Saskatchewan history. The Brad Wall government has ended public transportation to most Saskatchewan communities. There is tomorrow no bus service between Saskatoon and Regina, a sort of event you’d expect after a major natural disaster, not an incompetent government decision poised to directly harm thousands of people, and inconvenience ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Greyhound and RCMP Bring #StarlightTours To Manitoba

May

29

2017

Do you remember the Starlight Tours? Now you don’t have to be drunk to experience this police mistreatment, only be a First Nations person who is unwell. A shameful story of racism out of Manitoba today. This is one of the companies the SaskParty is looking toward to offer replacement bus service due to the ...

Things Are Good: First Nations Reserves Across Canada to get Toronto Library Cards

May

29

2017

A fantastic way to share stories and knowledge is through books and public library systems. Unfortunately too many indigenous reserves and communities in Canada don’t have access to a library, which is having a negative impact on knowledge sharing. The Toronto Public Library system will be extending their library services to indigenous communities as part ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Nathan Cullen’s Electoral Reform tour stop in Regina

May

26

2017

@gtlem @pau1234la @Erin_Weir @nathancullen Here's the good one he took, and got @Carla4Lakeview in the background. pic.twitter.com/o9q29JLDA4 — Saskboy (@saskboy) May 26, 2017 Room filling up at Knox-Met for @nathancullen #ERRE #KeepYourPromise tour#cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/tM3a5IWgBa — Saskboy (@saskboy) May 26, 2017

The Progressive Economics Forum: Ontario’s Electricity Sector III: Legislative & Finance Update

May

22

2017

My January and March posts on the Ontario electricity sector described how decisions by different Ontario governments gave rise to excess electricity generation with an inflated cost structure, leading to higher electricity prices. Here I discuss the latest development, the Liberal Government of Ontario’s proposed financial framework for its “Fair Hydro Plan” (FHP). In election ...

Dead Wild Roses: The Marginalization of Women within Childbirth Continues (If this seems like a contradiction, keep reading)

May

14

2017

I could not hit reblog fast enough. Plus a wonderful quote from said article. Thank you giuliaalexis. “Recently, I got into a Facebook discussion about how gender is not neutral for women. At some point, I commented that patriarchy wouldn’t exist if men didn’t want to control the bodies of women for reproduction – and ...

Joe Fantauzzi: Desmond Cole, the Toronto Star and Another Existential Crisis for Professional Journalism

May

7

2017

DISCLOSURE: I worked as a mainstream news reporter between 2003 and 2012. I see this as a two-fold issue; firstly, actions and secondly, words. I’ll consider both briefly and then elaborate on my concerns. Actions There is no point in rehashing here the now well-known details of what lead to Desmond Cole’s departure from the Toronto ...

The Disaffected Lib: For Years Canada has Outsourced Our Foreign Policy to the U.S. Why Not Let Germany Have a Turn?

May

4

2017

If you want to know who is steering Canada’s foreign policy look no further than Canada’s voting record in the U.N. General Assembly whenever a resolution concerns Israel. Under our fundamentalist prime minister, Harper, it was no surprise that Canada was blindly loyal to Israel against all comers. Less expected, however, was that the current ...

The Progressive Economics Forum: A tale book-ended by 2 Trudeaus: Canada’s foreign aid since 1970

May

3

2017

Soon after the 2015 federal election, Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau affirmed that Canada was “back” as a “compassionate and constructive voice in the world” after a decade of Conservative governments. One of the most important means by which any industrialized country interacts with the developing world is via the amount, composition and effectiveness of its ...

The Political Road Map: Exaggeration in an Age of Trump

May

2

2017

Recently, it was Don Meredith, an embattled Senator, who defended himself as he was targeted for his relationship with an underage girl. Now, we have Harjit Sajjan, our Minister of National Defence, who is defending himself over his claims that he was the brain child of a successful Canadian military operation. After reading a few ...

Dented Blue Mercedes: What the “Walk on the Wild Side” controversy says about trans* awareness and a changing social movement

Apr

29

2017

A little over a week ago, a University of Guelph student union drew international ire for condemning Lou Reed’s 1972 song “Walk on the Wild Side” as transphobic. This occurred after the Central Student Association apologized on social media for playing the song at a campus event. Although this might seem like a minor thing ...

The Political Road Map: Trump’s Hardwood on Trade

Apr

25

2017

Yesterday, it was announced that a 24% tariff would be applied to Canadian softwood lumber entering the United States. You may recognize the term softwood lumber, as it has been mentioned various times in the media throughout the years, in fact, this topic goes back to the 1980’s, where tariffs were threatened or applied to ...

The Common Sense Canadian: Rafe: Christy Clark’s LNG promises are nothing but hot air

Apr

24

2017

Premier Christy Clark at her government’s LNG conference (Province of BC/Flickr) We have all been screwed, blued and tattooed in the riding of West Vancouver-Sea-to-Sky, and let me tell you how this affects every British Columbian in every region of the province. Just as Kinder Morgan would use the Salish Sea as the sewage disposal and ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: SaskParty Runs a Corrupt Province

Apr

20

2017

Hey @SaskParty, you want to at least do your corruption on the down-low from here on out? Brown paper bags.https://t.co/F0GrC01qk8 #skpoli — John Klein (@JohnKleinRegina) April 20, 2017 Is it any wonder the Premier attends oil industry luncheons, and speaks to them as if they are his constituents for whom he is seeking the best ...

The Political Road Map: Donald Trump Having a Cow

Apr

19

2017

When Donald Trump first met with Justin Trudeau, many people felt that our Prime Minister stood his ground, while remaining respectful with the newly elected President. The time has finally arrived, where that initial meeting and the common ground established will now be tested. Is the Canadian Milk cow in danger? Donald Trump has gone ...

The Canadian Progressive: Dmitry Medvedev on US airstrikes on Syria: “On the verge of a military clash with Russia”

Apr

9

2017

Responding to the US airstrikes on Syria, Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev declared in a Facebook post: “On the verge of a military clash with Russia”. Justifying the airstrikes, PM Justin Trudeau said Assad’s “use of chemical weapons and the crimes the Syrian regime has committed against its own people cannot be ignored.” The post Dmitry ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Disturbing Police Malpractice Uncovered

Apr

7

2017

Everything about this case is disturbing, most definitely the shooting death of Dunphy. Ironically, Dunphy had invited the officer into his house. (The officer, Joe Smyth, showed up unannounced at his doorstep to assess whether he was a threat based on a tweet he had sent the premier.) Fifteen minutes later, Dunphy was dead in ...

The Progressive Economics Forum: Ten Things To Know About The 2017 Federal Budget

Apr

7

2017

I’ve just written a blog post in which I review the recent federal budget. Points raised in the blog post include the following: -The federal government is projecting deficits in the $20B-$30B range for roughly the next five years. -This was likely the most important federal budget for housing since 1993. -The budget contains important ...

The Progressive Economics Forum: New book on the history of Canadian social housing policy

Apr

2

2017

One of Canada’s foremost authorities on Canadian social housing, Dr. Greg Suttor, has just authored a book on the history of Canadian social housing policy. Titled Still renovating: A history of Canadian social housing policy, it’s published by McGill-Queen’s University Press and covers the period from the end of World War II to 2013. I’ve ...