In case you haven’t seen these yet:Through Avaaz, a letter to the premiers of all provinces to oppose the wrong-headed Conservative crime bill: here.Through the David Suzuki Foundation, a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Quebec Premier Jean …
Continue readingTag: Canadian Politics
Progressive Proselytizing: The tone deaf Christmas tree tax
The US Department of Agriculture has announced it is imposing a fifteen cent tax on all live Christmas trees. The 2 million raised from this tax will be spent to create a board that promotes and advertises buying live Christmas trees. This is…
Continue readingeaves.ca: Weaving Foreign Ministries into the Digital Era: Three ideas
Last week I was in Ottawa giving a talk at the Department of Foreign Affairs talking about how technology, new media and open innovation will impact the department’s it work internally, across Ottawa and around the world. While there is lots to share, here are three ideas I’ve been stewing on: Keep more citizens safe […]
Continue reading350 or bust: Mark Ruffalo On Opposing Keystone XL Pipeline: I Look At My Kids and I Say I Can’t Betray Them
I’m looking out the window of my home office today, rejoicing at the sprinkling of snow on the ground. Yesterday rain fell outside, while a confused fly that should have been hibernating buzzed around inside. Both are examples, along with the tem…
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Rae the reformer?
Bob Rae said a couple of very interesting things regarding the reform and rebuilding of the Liberal Party over the weekend that caught my eye – the main one being his idea of opening up the LPC leadership race to a US primary style – but al…
Continue reading350 or bust: In The Face Of Winter, A Movement Blossoms
Despite the police harassment, the arrests, the confiscation of tents and supplies, as well as the imminent arrival of winter, the Occupy movement continues to grow. Although the mainstream media continually under-reports what is happening, thanks to s…
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: The Dean of Peterborough
My reaction to Dean Del Maestro’s criticism of Justin Trudeau as being a “bad Catholic” isn’t going to be as ticked off as some – maybe because I’m not a Catholic. I’m more amused that Del Maestro has appointed…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: US, Israel and Canada’s response to Palestine’s UNESCO membership
When Palestine overwhelmingly got approved to be a member state in UNESCO, a long standing congressional trigger was activated which entirely defunds the US contribution to UNESCO (about a fifth of its total contributions). This comes on the back of f…
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: F-35 Irony
There are rumblings in some circles that the Conservatives are very close to ditching their commitment to buying the F-35 “Stealth” Fighter jet for the armed forces – due to burgeoning costs and so forth. Others aren’t so sure &…
Continue reading350 or bust: Now For The Real Scary Stuff
All Hallow’s Eve is over for this year and tomorrow, in many countries, is the Day of the Dead or All Souls’ Day. So today might be a good day to focus on what is really alarming: the Climate Zombies that hang around year-round in Washington an…
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: All wanna-be owners of 50 caliber sniper rifles, rejoice
.. for soon, the yoke of government oppression will be lifted from you:
The powerful Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle (were) used in the 1989 Montreal massacre and this summer’s Norway bloodbath. Sniper rifles that can pierce light armour from a distance of up to 1.5 kilometres. Or one that can drop a target two kilometres away. They are all weapons that will soon be declassified under the Conservatives’ bill to kill the long-gun registry and freed from binding controls that now see them listed with the RCMP-run database…Restricted or prohibited firearms such automatic assault rifles, sawed-off shotguns or handguns are not affected by the bill and would remain […]
Continue readingA without prejudice rejoinder to the Minister of Finance
On Wednesday of last week the Minister of Finance for Newfoundland and Labrador Thomas Marshall was interviewed by CBC Central Morning about a report I did for the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour (NLFL). In one respect, the fact ……
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: The Occupy Calgary story you’re not seeing elsewhere.
“Nothing to see here. Nothing to see here.” Until the last couple days, that had been the mood in Calgary, as the Occupy Wall Street (#ows) movement seemed far from many peoples’ minds. Sure, by now, everyone’s seen the graphs coming out about American inequality that show 1% of that population controlling an exponentially widening 
350 or bust: Occupy Movement Continues To Grow, Highlight Corporate Corruption of Democracy
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders Explains How Corporate Greed Is Ruining America: ****************
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Peggy Nash announces candidacy for NDP leadership
Peggy Nash, the NDP incumbent for my riding of Parkdale-Highpark and the candidate I voted for, has just announced that she is running to be the next NDP leader. I wanted to share my thoughts on her announcement and recall some previous comments I have…
Continue reading350 or bust: Save Our Climate Act Introduced in U.S. Congress
It’s been an interesting few weeks on the climate front in North America. With the backdrop of the “Occupy” movement, there were some small changes introduced that hopefully signal the start of an all-out campaign by our elected offic…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Stephen Harper’s questionable respect for democracy
When Stephen Harper won a majority government this last May, I wrote that one litmus test for the next four years would be regarding his respect for transparency, parliamentary procedures, and a willingness to engage in the adversarial process that def…
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Bravo, Quebec – will other provinces follow?
In a Conservative majority Parliament, it will be the provinces that will at times have to oppose the Conservative right-wing agenda, and Quebec is doing so with the long-gun registry:
Quebec and Ottawa are on a collision course over the scrapping of the long-gun registry, with the province refusing to destroy data that the federal government wants to eliminate as part of its bid to scrap the controversial legislation. Ottawa claims that the data is under federal control, but Quebec says it will not shred the information, which the provincial police force has collected over the years under current legal provisions. And the province says it needs additional data […]
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Dissecting Spin 101 and Parsing Ezra Levant on Occupy Toronto
Here’s a quick lesson on the human microphone. Because voice amplification in public spaces is banned in New York, where Occupy Wall Street (#ows) began, the large crowds attending have adapted by breaking speeches into short phrases, which those near the speaker repeat loudly, then those further away, and so on, so that the words 
Politics and Entertainment: Deconstructiing the Binary Opposition of Politics and Policy in the Harper Regime
Where good politics meets good policy :Dan Gardner’s column in the citizen today. I can count on one finger “good policies” from the Harper Regime, and that finger shakes when the wind blows and twitches when I sleep. Yes, no question Harper would se…
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