This is a link to a post by Sue Huff (an Edmonton School Trustee) on expense accounts and political culture. Well said, Sue. http://www.rebootalberta.org/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=expense-accounts-and-the-safety-net-of-transparency.html&Itemid=1
Continue readingTag: Canadian Politics
Feminist Mom in Montreal: Joining the chorus by not shutting the fuck up
Canadian feminists have been pretty pissed off lately, and with good reason. Debra over at April Reign has a pretty good explanation about why we’re angry: Throughout history those who seek to reign despotically first seek to silence and disenfranchise the women, this current PM scrabbling after a majority like
Continue readingFeminist Mom in Montreal: Joining the chorus by not shutting the fuck up
Canadian feminists have been pretty pissed off lately, and with good reason. Debra over at April Reign has a pretty good explanation about why we’re angry: Throughout history those who seek to reign despotically first seek to silence and disenfranchise the women, this current PM scrabbling after a majority like
Continue readingFeminist Mom in Montreal: Joining the chorus by not shutting the fuck up
Canadian feminists have been pretty pissed off lately, and with good reason. Debra over at April Reign has a pretty good explanation about why we’re angry:
Throughout history those who seek to reign despotically first seek to silence and disenfranchise the women, this current PM scrabbling after a majority like a junkie jonesing for a fix is no different. He started by all but completely destroying SWC and has continued to show disdain for women with quotes about “left-wing fringe groups” and Bush style gag laws on abortion for women in war-torn countries, and of course he continues to defund women’s groups and programs.
Senator Nancy Ruth caused a furor when she told aid groups “to “shut the fuck up” about abortion funding, or risk a government backlash.” She speaks the truth. Harper wants nothing more than for women to shut the fuck up and let him get on with destroying healthcare, social housing, women’s groups/shelters, eroding human rights, forwarding a right-wing fundamental christian agenda, and creating a climate of war, building prisons in place of social programs and spending all our tax dollars on funding corporate welfare payments.
My Canada is not a place where women shut up and do as they are told. My daughters are not incubators. We will continue to work for a Canadian society where all are valued and cared for and welcomed.
We will not Shut the Fuck Up!
Nasheen at Feministing warns us not to be complacent and tells that we can’t afford to shut the fuck up while Pogge asserts that silence is assent. Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe is pissed off at the Conservatives too:
The uproar coincides with the release of Marci McDonald’s book, The Armageddon Factor: the Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada:
What’s more, The Armageddon Factor, which examines the religious right across the faiths and how Stephen Harper’s government has forged bonds with it, comes after weeks of reports on Conservatives opposition to abortion and family planning, the defunding of activist womens’ groups, the withdrawal of subsidies to gay pride events across the country, the cuts to KAIROS and the publication of an unprecedented amount of grants to Bible schools.
“My problem was, as my book went to bed, headlines were coming daily,” McDonald says over the phone from her Toronto home. “All my worries about having to prove my case that this government is intent on cultivating the social conservative constituency in this country were nothing to worry about. They were doing it so openly that you could hardly keep up with the headlines.”
These recent developments have opened a can of worms. Pro-life campaigners are seeing this as a great opportunity to get some anti-abortion laws in place:
Heartened and emboldened by Canada’s new anti-abortion stand on foreign aid, thousands of pro-life campaigners flooded in unprecedented numbers to Parliament Hill on Thursday, daring to hope that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government will take further steps against abortion at home as well as abroad.
The debate that Harper says he doesn’t want to reopen in Canada arrived literally on his doorstep on Thursday, with high spirits and demands for the Conservative government to do much more to discourage abortion in this country.
There were MPs at the rally, too:
Dean Del Mastro, an Ontario Tory, said he’s ready for a renewed abortion debate in the House of Commons.
“Maybe the first step is to determine when this place believes that life begins,” he said. “I’m prepared to put my case forward. … I’m prepared to have that conversation. Is the other side?”
Well, unrepentant old hippie has a pretty good response for Dean Del Mastro:
In a word, Dean? Fuck no. We’re not prepared to have “that conversation” because… *rimshot* …it’s none of your business. If you don’t want to have an abortion, then don’t have one. Dean.
As you can see, many Canadian feminists have already said this and I’m just joining the chorus; no, we are not going to shut the fuck up. We have absolutely nothing to gain by being silent.
Continue readingMore Notes From Underground: Prorogued for This?
Everyone else has said it, but the government’s Olympic holiday was shown to be a total sham (like everyone knew it was) with today’s throne speech. We need to change the anthem? Ooooooh, that took three months to figure out. In three months we could have let someone rewrite the
Continue readingbastard.logic: Prorogation, Disengagement and Cutting the Democratic Deficit in Canada
by matttbastard With thousands of Canadians reportedly hitting the streets this past weekend to express their disapproval of Stephen Harper’s latest arrogant bird-flip to Parliamentary democracy, it seems apparrent that our political elites are out of touch with the people … Continue reading →
Continue readingThus Prate the Pundit » Social Critique: Coalition! I Was Wrong about Being Wrong
In my last post, I said that I was wrong about Dion’s political strategy in the last election. It turns out that while I wasn’t exactly right, I also wasn’t wrong. I’d imagined a scenario in which the conservatives were unable to win a majority, thus putting us back in
Continue readingThus Prate the Pundit » Social Critique: Polishing Up the Political Remains
Looks like I was wrong about Dion’s political strategy. Even if I was right, it didn’t turn out as I thought. I waited until today to proclaim my wrongness because I thought the last likely possibility it could unravel as I theorized would be with the speech from the throne.
Continue readingThus Prate the Pundit » Social Critique: Vote Swapping Breaks Democracy
I’ve always thought the concept of vote-swapping was problematic. Not only is it flawed in its own right but treating it as an acceptable strategy is like snuggling up to the idea that one party can function as a spoiler and that somehow, certain parties are entitled to votes. This
Continue readingThus Prate the Pundit » Social Critique: Unravelling Dion’s Political Strategy
Though my attention is tuned to our federal election, this post doesn’t continue the IP political issues I wrote detailing a stance against certain sorts of “intellectual property” regulation (NDP seems to address it best, though Dion provided a reasonable response to my letter). I’ll go on a tangent today:
Continue readingThus Prate the Pundit » Social Critique: Some Notes on the Canadian Digital Information Strategy Draft
I’ve been reading the draft consultation version of the Canadian Digital Information Strategy. The strategy proposes strengthening content, ensuring its preservation, and maximizing its access and use. These are important for many reasons the report addresses regarding culture; the report also has some anchors in industry, stating that “nations that
Continue readingThus Prate the Pundit » Social Critique: Copyright Reform and the StatsCan Report
Michael Geist posted about the politics in the debate on copyright reform. The point stems from dissonance between the recent Statistics Canada report and a reform-oriented bill expected to introduce more restrictive copyright policy. The report showed some nice Canadian recording industry profits where similar industries in other parts of
Continue readingwomanatmile0.wordpress.com: BC’s Water Selling for $30.00 a bottle in New York
If there ever was a reason for all BC residents to switch permanently to tap water from bottled water take a look at this article showing that New Yorkers are willing to pay $30.00 a bottle for BC Water. Canwest reports, The converted Via Genova cafe in the ritzy community
Continue readingwomanatmile0.wordpress.com: Bill O’Reilly Tells Tony Snow, “You can’t win”
I am still in shock and have been pinching myself to make sure I am awake after watching this O’Reilly video here at the Raw Story. When O’Reilly starts making sense on Iraq we can be sure it’s really over for Bush in Iraq. Meanwhile two leading Repub Senators have
Continue readingwomanatmile0.wordpress.com: BC Swelters, Sea Levels Rise: Do-Nothing Conservatives Save Money on Icebreakers
Well it’s hot in BC…dam hot. According to CBC, we are setting record breaking temperatures all over the place. Seven all-time temperature highs were set across British Columbia on Wednesday, with most of the records falling in the Fraser Valley, the Greater Vancouver area and on Vancouver Island. I will
Continue readingwomanatmile0.wordpress.com: Lou Dobbs Reports on Security Prosperity Partnership/North American Union (video)
This report discusses how Canadians #1 concern with SPP is our water. Moreover, the Star reports today that the, Council of Canadians says it has been banned from holding a meeting near next month’s summit of North American leaders in Montebello, Que. Council organizer Brent Patterson calls it “deplorable” that
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