I’m speaking out in defence of nature and democracy #BLACKOUTSPEAKOUT.
Continue readingTag: Canadian Politics
350 or bust: Why I’m Speaking Out In Defence Of Two Core Canadian Values, Nature & Democracy
On Monday, I will be joining the BlackOutSpeakOut campaign, and joining a committed group of organizations representing millions of Canadians who are darkening our websites in protest against the efforts of the Harper government to silence our voices. The BlackOutSpeakOut website describes this action this way: Right now, Parliament is
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Ezra Levant campaign to run for Parliament? I hope so.
We have Conservatives apparently urging the shrill Ezra Levant to run for the Conservative nomination in Calgary Centre. This being Calgary, I doubt there would be any doubt of him winning the riding if he were to win the nomination – the question would be if there are more Alison
Continue reading350 or bust: In The Forecast: More Extreme – and Expensive – Weather Events
Montreal Quebec was hit by a short but fierce rainstorm on Tuesday, doing millions of dollars worth of damage to homes and businesses. The Montreal Gazette reported: Montreal firefighters answered more than 900 calls during Tuesday afternoon’s cloudburst that dumped as much as 70 mms. of rain on this city
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Canadians Attending The Bilderberg 2012 Meeting
Editor’s note: In the past, Bilderbergers kept the list of conference participants secret. Now they publish the list on their “official” website. The list of participants to this year’s conference, taking place in Chantilly, Virginia, USA, from May 31 … Continue reading →
Continue reading350 or bust: Floods Hit Close To Home
The city of Thunder Bay and surrounding townships have declared a state of emergency this week because of flood conditions throughout the region after more than 100 millimetres of rain fell over the weekend. The problem of flooding was exacerbated when the city’s overworked sewage treatment broke down. Roads have
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: A gruesome way to protest
This should seem rather obvious, but I’ll state it anyhow – these type of macabre acts aren’t the way to be protesting the current government’s policies – if indeed that was what was intended; Ottawa police are investigating the discovery of two body parts — including a bloodied human foot
Continue reading350 or bust: The Enbridge Pipeline: What’s At Stake?
Greenpeace’s latest video about the destructive Alberta tar sands, and the Enbridge Pipeline that our current federal government is intent on pushing through over all opposition: * Together, we can stop the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline: click here for more.
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Shifting left?
As they always say, the only poll that counts is election day, but polls are a useful barometer of how the public is feeling in a snapshot in time, and this one definitely is favoring Mulcair and the NDP: The nationwide poll suggests the New Democratic Party would form a
Continue readingcenterandleft: Free Riders and Dire Needers
Breaking news: bad jobs exist. In a classic case of Conservatives boiling down an issue to a wide-sweeping preposterous claim, Jim Flaherty claimed that “there is no bad job”. Yikes Flaherty is proposing reforms to the Employment Insurance program, making it harder for Canadians to remain on the program for
Continue reading350 or bust: #Casseroles: Viral Video From Montreal
* Montreal Pots And Pans Video of Protest Against Bill 78 Goes Viral
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Demonizing the unemployed
In brief, with regards to the new EI “proposals” Diane Finley and the Conservatives have come forward with, no one should be particularly surprised at what they’re proposing. All the signs pointed to this type of thing when they were in a minority government, spouting off about how they wouldnt
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Is there a need for a centrist party in Canada?
There have been times in history when there is a wide political space between the right most and left most parties. On the far left, one had advocates of something in the communist/socialist spectrum, and on the right one had not just Milton Friedman-esque free market advocates but perhaps more
Continue readingFrom Democracy to Imperial Government: The Conservative War on Raw Facts Continues
It is not really a secret that our conservative government feels a certain unease about facts. Be they those facts which relate to the F35 costs or those facts which relate to major military undertakings like Libya. None of this should be surprising given the degree of contempt the government
Continue readingCanadian Soapbox: EI changes nudge Canada further to the right
For the majority of Canadians, those who identify themselves as centre-left on the political spectrum, the announced changes to EI show further evidence of Canada evolving into a more and more Conservative nation. Hrmmm, maybe I shouldn’t capitalize in this case, we’re actually becoming more ‘small c’ conservative in my
Continue readingThe End of Days for Charest?
Law 78 has now so antagonized all sections of Quebec society from moderate Anglo professors like myself through to trade unions and perhaps the whole of the French speaking Quebecois intelligentsia that Charest has run out of good options. He could simply recognize that the existing tax system could be
Continue reading350 or bust: An Open Letter To English Canadians: Why I Am Talking A Walk In Downtown Montreal
Today I’m posting an open letter that was shared on Facebook, written by Daniel Weinstock, a Quebecer to his “English-Canadian friends”, with permission to circulate it. It appears there were 518 people arrested during yesterday’s demonstrations. That’s more than were addressed during the 1970 FLQ crisis when Prime Minister Pierre
Continue readingBill 78: four constitutional questions
A caveat: I haven’t taken constitutional politics in over a decade, though I was fortunate enough to have Peter Russell as a professor and had issues with Ted Morton eons before his political career. Still, Québec’s Bill 78 raises some interesting constitutional questions for the layperson with a passing interest.
Continue reading350 or bust: Quebec Shows The Rest Of Canada What Democracy Looks Like
Hundreds of thousands of people poured into Montreal’s streets last night to show their displeasure at the provincial government’s draconian anti-protest law, Loi #78. Watching the action on Twitter last night, it was fascinating (and disturbing) to see the hashtag #casseroles start trending after people, many of them middle-aged and
Continue readingThe Quebec students will win this one, if they stick to their principles at all costs
The students still protesting in Quebec against tuition hikes should make sure that they don’t track their progress by the political reaction of the opposition parties and of the Charest government. What these politicians have to say is largely inconsequential to the revolutionary effort and mission statement of the students. The movement shouldn’t
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