Canada ← Progressive Bloggers // Blogues progressistes

Michal Rozworski: Summer writing round-up

Aug

22

2017

I know it’s been a bit quiet on the blog this summer, but that’s in part because I’ve been doing a bunch of writing elsewhere. Here is a quick summary of what I’ve been up to. In the run-up to the UK election, I wrote a piece for Jacobin on one of the most important ...

Dead Wild Roses: The Focus Group – What I learned about my fellow Canadians

Aug

21

2017

The first rule of focus groups or research groups is quite simply this. If you say yes to one, then you shall forever be on the call list of every research company that has ever existed. And they do call quite often. Extrapolating from the frequency that I receive offers, people who are ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Plastic Is Out of Hand

Aug

19

2017

Plastic almost always ends up as waste within a year or two of its production. We’re making too much of it also, at an increasing pace. “Of the 8.3 billion metric tonnes of virgin plastics ever made, half was made just in the last 13 years,” Geyer said. “Between 2004 and 2015 we made as ...

A Puff of Absurdity: On Fascist Movements and Free Speech

Aug

18

2017

Some people are upset because Ryerson cancelled a panel discussion featuring Faith Goldy, of Rebel Media, who openly expresses the belief that Muslims are a problem in our country. A Ryerson spokesperson said, “After a thorough security review, the University has concluded that Ryerson is not equipped to provide the necessary level of public safety ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Scheer Shouldn’t Shrug Off Toxic Rebel Association

Aug

17

2017

CPC leader Andrew Scheer told reporters Wednesday he would not grant interviews to Rebel Media if the editorial direction remains as it is. — Rosemary Barton (@RosieBarton) August 17, 2017 This was in response to me, and countless others calling for him to denounce the hate site for its involvement in the Charlottesville Nazi attack. ...

Dead Wild Roses: Female Defence In Patriarchal Society – Taylor Swift Goes to Town

Aug

16

2017

“Taylor Swift’s firm testimony in a civil trial this week involving a former radio host who allegedly groped her is sending a strong message to women who might experience similar forms of sexual harassment and assault: Don’t diminish the act. “It provides a useful template for her fans, for younger girls who might experience ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Nazis Ruling News Cycle In USA

Aug

15

2017

The “loons” on the right wing really stuck their foot in their mouths this week, so better balance things out so they don’t seem so violent and crazy by bringing up some possibly comparable event from years ago on the left wing. Main stream media continually proves it’s unwilling to be a reasonable adjudicator of ...

Alberta Politics: Never mind apologies, it’s time for Canada’s Tories just to admit Jack Layton was right about talking to the Taliban

Aug

9

2017

PHOTOS: Jack Layton in Edmonton in 2011. Below: Forgettable Harper Government foreign minister Lawrence Cannon (Photo: Abigail Veronneau, Wikimedia Commons) and Peter MacKay, who took some of the cheap shots at Mr. Layton in 2006 (Photo: Department of National Defence, via the Wikimedia Commons). Never mind the apologies. That ship has sailed. We Canadians need ...

The Canadian Progressive: Canada and “Five Eyes” spying partners must respect encryption

Aug

4

2017

The final communiqué issued by the “Five Eyes” surveillance alliance after a recent meeting in Ottawa suggests what might turn out to be a made-in-Canada global encryption backdoor. The post Canada and “Five Eyes” spying partners must respect encryption appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.

Things Are Good: Looking at Canadian Companies in Connection to Indigenous Issues

Jul

31

2017

SHARE Canada just released a report on how Canadian companies are engaging issues impacting reconciliation efforts in the country. A few years ago the Canadian government released recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada which provided suggestions to help heal the damage done from years of colonial practices. Of course, government agencies and ...

The Common Sense Canadian: As Big Oil tanks, why is Canada so slow to adapt?

Jul

27

2017

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau (Photo: Premier of Alberta/Flickr) The business model of Big Oil has already started to collapse. The model is premised on strong growth to fuel high prices and render economically viable the exploitation of expensive-to-develop, non-conventional fossil fuels, including the tar sands and shale oil and gas. Persistent low ...

Michal Rozworski: Confused about universality? So are NDP leadership candidates

Jul

12

2017

There some pretty confused stuff on universality and means-testing during last night’s NDP leadership debate. Here are some thoughts that might help clear things up a bit. First, Singh’s attack of Caron on means-testing early in the debate was a bit bizarre seeing as both of them have major new means-tested transfers among their policy ...

A Puff of Absurdity: On the Year that Kicked My Ass, and That Time My Ass Kicked Back

Jul

11

2017

Well, it’s starting to kick back, ever so slowly. I went on another Wild Women adventure, this time to Georgian Bay to try my hand at kayaking for a change. I was with a whole new group of women, our ages spanning three decades and from a wide variety of professions and backgrounds (and photographic ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: More Small Town Banks Closing in Saskatchewan

Jul

10

2017

"Those people that sit with their pointed heads and their pointed pencils and tell us and take … the bank away from us — https://t.co/TYFDdJosUx — Saskboy (@saskboy) July 9, 2017 “they don’t think about what goes on in these small villages. All they can see is $ & cents & that’s it,” she said.” ...

The Political Road Map: Oh Canada, Our Canada!

Jul

7

2017

Canada has just turned 150 years old and while this is a milestone worthy of great celebration, it is important to remember that our country is actually much older. As we look at the past 150 years, many Canadians have different interpretations on what exactly it has meant. The truth is that while our country ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Conservative Party Should Be Sorry

Jul

6

2017

The Conservative Party of Canada, in response to Omar Khadr being awarded a damages settlement for torturous conditions of his imprisonment, said, “No words,” on their Facebook post. I’ve some words. A political party that was okay with leaving a child soldier to be tortured in an American prison, ought to have at least one ...

Dead Wild Roses: Unite the Right in Alberta – And other Trite Phrases

Jul

5

2017

There is a frighteningly large segment of the population of Alberta that thinks that what the Republican Administration down south is gang-busterly-amazing-awesome-fantastic (full disclosure – by exhibiting knowledge of uncommon adjectives I disqualify myself from said group). The Republicans, led by Trump, are merrily deconstructing American civil society; whether through willful action or diligent ...

The Canadian Progressive: Macron and Trudeau shouldn’t be so proud of appointing women to their Cabinets

Jul

3

2017

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron are obviously proud of the fact that they’ve both appointed gender-parity Cabinets. For Malliga Och, an Assistant Professor of Global Studies and Languages at Idaho State University, what’s more important for achieving meaningful gender equity is that women control key political resources. The post Macron ...

Northern Reflections: No Einstein

Jul

3

2017

The Trudeau government has spent a lot of effort trying to to stay on the good side of Donald Trump, fearing that he will rip up NAFTA. But a recent study concludes that Canada has less to fear from Trump than some believe. Tom Walkom writes: Written by economist Pierre Laliberté and research fellow Scott ...

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 ...