This is highlighted by a couple of decisions/news items that just cam out over the weekend. First, you have CTV News reporting that the Conservative government will formally pull out Canada out of the Kyoto Accord in the next month – and this story comes out just as environmental talks
Continue readingTag: Canadian Politics
wmtc: polygamy ruling: why are the courts still trying to protect marriage?
The recent BC Supreme Court decision upholding Canadian laws criminalizing polygamy is disappointing and dangerous. The much-quoted summary paragraph of Chief Justice Robert Bauman’s decision contained a surprising clause: the protection of marriage as an institution. I have concluded that this case is essentially about harm; more specifically, Parliament’s reasoned
Continue readingeaves.ca: Statistics Canada Data to become OpenData – Background, Winners and Next Steps
As some of you learned last night, Embassy Magazine broke the story that all of Statistics Canada’s online data will not only be made free, but released under the Government of Canada’s Open Data License Agreement (updated and reviewed earlier this week) that allows for commercial re-use. This decision has
Continue readingThe Equivocator: Liberal Party of Canada Presidential Candidates’ Debate Report Card – Nov. 22/23
On November 22nd and 23rd I listened to/attended two debates of the four candidates currently running to be President of the Liberal Party of Canada. The first was a phone debate run by the excellent facebook group Liberals Rebuilding the Liberal Party (moderated by Gerard Kennedy) the second was held
Continue reading350 or bust: Poet For the Planet, Drew Dellinger, At Occupy Oakland
“It’s time to rock the nation, rock this occupation! Our communities need us. We are all leaders. How could we ask for anything less than the future?“ A powerful video of the Occupy poem by acclaimed spoken word artist Drew Dellinger, by award winning filmmaker Velcrow Ripper, set to the
Continue reading350 or bust: Canada’s Environment Minister Doesn’t Know What Ozone Is, But Approves Cuts To Ozone Monitoring
Unfortunately, this is the fellow in charge of preserving Canada’s water, air, and climate for future generations. The video below shows Environment Minister Peter Kent can’t respond to Justin Trudeau’s straightforward question about what ozone is, and the difference between ozone at high and low levels of the atmosphere. This
Continue reading350 or bust: Solving The Big Environmental Calamities Requires Measuring, Research, Monitoring
Today’s guest blogger is Graham Saunders. Graham’s weather and climate background includes work with the Australian Weather Bureau, the Atmospheric Environment Service of Canada and forest fire weather prediction for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. He does research and writing for several publications about weather, climate, Lake Superior, agriculture and
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: You guys have a majority.. why hide behind a Private Members Bill?
That’s my only real question of this particular reversal/manoeuvre on Section 13 regarding hate speech and the Human Rights Tribunal. I’m not at all surprised they’re doing this, even if they didn’t campaign on it, nor am I surprised that they’ve reversed course on supporting it, now that they have
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Occupy Canada – Tough going in the Canadain Winter.
Protesting the norm, the accepted, what is deemed credible will never be an easy task. Defenders of the status quo will defend their system with rationalizations that make sense to them and others in the system while dismissing outright, criticism and alternate points of view presented. This process of in-group/out-group
Continue readingeaves.ca: The New Government of Canada Open Data License: The OGL by another name
Last week the Minister Clement issued a press release announcing some of the progress the government has made on its Open Government Initiatives. Three things caught my eye. First, it appears the government continues to revise its open data license with things continuing to trend in the right direction. As
Continue reading350 or bust: Banned On The Hill: Franke James Takes Her Art To Ottawa
We’ve met Franke James, a Canadian visual artist, on 350orbust before. I discuss the Harper government’s interference with a big career opportunity for her, a European art tour, in these posts: Dear Prime Minister Harper: Please Stop Blacklisting Environmental Artists and Scientists and Is The Kremlin Now In Charge? Harper
Continue readingThe Equivocator: Douglas Coupland on Hockey and the Canadian Identity
“Canadian winters are long. Life is hard and so is ice. Canadian teams playing within the NHL are, in effect, a microcosm of Canada’s ongoing process of trying to remain a country – battling constantly not only against Americans but against other teams from within their own country. It’s ugly
Continue readingNGDP targeting: wither monetarism?
Monetarism is like a Zombie: it can be found theoretically wanting, empirically false and technically infeasible but in one form or another it just soldiers on. In some ways the hype surrounding the conversation about the possibility of moving from … Continue reading →
Continue readingRPPE going ORG
We will be transitioning to our own domain name and hosting services over the next couple of weeks thanks to some outside donations. We should have done this earlier. Thanks to all our readers and the great support. Filed under: … Continue reading →
Continue readingwmtc: cindy blackstock, another victim of harper’s "speak against us and we will hurt you" govt
Our tax dollars at work. The head of an agency that provides services to First Nations children and families accuses the government of discrminating against that community. The agency head is then the subject of a spy campaign, as the Harper government monitors her Facebook page, digs up data on
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: The new enemy of Canada as the Harper government sees it; anyone who questions them
One of the trends this Conservative government has shown since it came to power is the need to demonize their opponents and to paint anyone who oppose them as being somehow disloyal to the country. This isn’t a new trend among conservative-type governments – George W Bush and the Republican
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Quebec and Israel’s changing political narrative
When there is a single issue which dominates the politics of a jurisdiction for decades, it is often the case that progress on other issues is inhibited by the myopic focus on the one dominating issue. Such is the case in both Quebec and Israel dominated by the separatist issue
Continue readingStimulative austerity bearing fruit in Britain? Not. Nor globally
George Osborne was quick out of the gates with the austerity as stimulus gambit. Which as everybody from myself to Paul Krugman predicted was going to be a flop. Osborne has been trying to save face by arguing that his … Continue reading →
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Thoughts on Liberal primaries and other stuff
My Liberal blogging colleague Jeff Jedras has a new soapbox to preach from. In addition to his own blog, he now is an occasional contributor at Macleans magazine. So first off, congrats to him on that. His first column over there is to do with the prop…
Continue readingThe Equivocator: Veterans vs. OWS
Today is Remembrance day. I would personally like to thank all those who have served and are currently serving in Canada’s military. When I opened the editorial section of the Globe & Mail today, I saw the editorial cartoon (pictured … Continue reading →