Illegal organizations like this continue to operate in Alberta behind closed doors, despite the fact someone may yell … St**ke! … in violation of the Act to Protect Albertans from Inaccurate and Uninformative Bloggers. Actual members of collective bargaining organizations may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Alberta deputy Premier
Continue readingTag: Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Song of the Watermelon: An Open Letter to TransLink Regarding the “Disappearing Palestine” Ads
Dear TransLink: I am writing to express my wholehearted support for your decision to display the pro-Palestinian transit ads recently unveiled at the Vancouver City Centre Skytrain station and on several buses. The ads offer an important perspective that needs to be heard as part of any informed debate on
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: ForestEthics sues Harper government over limits on pipeline hearings
A Vancouver-based environmental group ForestEthics and activist Donna Sinclair are suing the Harper government over new rules that drastically limit Canadians’ participation in pipeline project hearings and decisions relating to the energy industry. The post ForestEthics sues Harper government over limits on pipeline hearings appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – John Moore questions the much-hyped assertions of a permanent Republican Conservative majority by pointing out that Canadian values haven’t changed at all even as the Harper Cons have tried to use public money to change the channel. And Justin Ling sees the Cons
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: IRS Tax Collection: Evasion of the US or Invasion of Canada? Green Party of Canada asks
by Green Party of Canada | Jan. 28, 2013: The Green Party of Canada is calling on the government of Canada to stand on guard against the demands of the United States (US) for extraterritorial enforcement of an American law: the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The Government of Canada must
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – Joseph Stiglitz discusses how the U.S.’ extreme inequality is limiting its prospects for economic recovery: There are all kinds of excuses for inequality. Some say it’s beyond our control, pointing to market forces like globalization, trade liberalization, the technological revolution, the “rise of
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Ontario students to walkout in support of teachers’ Bill 115 protest (VIDEO)
Please share this video and make our voices heard! We have the power to make a difference in our education! On Monday, December 10th, 2012 at 10:00 am, we are walking out from our school. We are not walking out on our teachers, we are walking out to support out teachers. We are
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Environmental Rights and Canada’s Constitution
Our Conservative government’s recent penchant for gutting several decades’ worth of environmental rules all at once using the stealthy technique of omnibus legislation is no secret. Given this depressing reality, some Canadian environmentalists yearn to ground conservation in something more … Continue reading →
Alberta Diary: MP Russ Hiebert’s anti-union campaign: is Bill C-377 another Tory ‘own-goal’?
Unidentified Conservative Party Member of Parliament contemplates B.C. Tory MP Russ Hiebert’s “own goal.” Strangely, actual Harper Government MPs may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Mr. Hiebert. What are Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s boon companions in the courts, fern-encrusted law offices, plush executive suites of provincial medical associations and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Thomas Walkom discusses how the McGuinty Libs are going beyond imposing immediate pay freezes on the public sector, and instead passing what’s better seen as the War on Workers Measures Act – giving Ontario’s government the power to dictate labour outcomes by decree
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Confirmed again: “Canada may use information obtained through torture”
Last February, we learned that Public Safety Minister Vic Toews had quietly authorized the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to use information gleaned from terror suspects through torture. Today, Toews’ spokesperson, Mike Mueller, confirmed that the Canadian government is open to using information gleaned under dubious circumstances abroad. Mueller was
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Thatcher to Trudeau: No desire to deal with “queues of Indians”
This year marks the 30th anniversary of patriation of the Canadian Constitution. And guess what? It took us 30 years to learn that British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wasn’t exactly welcoming to Canada’s Aboriginal chiefs and elders seeking participation in the sensitive constitutional talks that resulted in our legal independence
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Harper Determined to Erase Pierre Trudeau From Public Consciousness
No doubt, Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are determined to create a Canadian nationalism that is both socially conservative and loyal to the British Empire. Their key strategy is to radically revise history and suppress certain moments that do not identify with past Conservative leaders. This penchant for naked revisionism
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Harper’s Canada “Making Up Terror Identities”
In Stephen Harper’s Canada, we’re all potential terror threats. Until proven otherwise. So suggests a recent study by Queens University’s Jeffrey Monaghan and Kevin Walby, published in the journal Policing and Society. Welcome to Multi Issue Extremism (MIE), Canada’s new classification of so-called domestic terror threats. We saw it coming.
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Assisted Suicide, Discrimination, and the Constitution
Suicide is a difficult case. I do not believe that people, under most circumstances, have a moral right to unilaterally kill themselves. An individual’s life is not the sole property of the individual; it belongs also to her or his loved ones, to all who are deeply affected by such
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Come 2015, don’t expect the Harper Tories to do aught but rag on our Maple Leaf Flag
Canada’s Maple Leaf Flag. Below: Lester B. Pearson, the prime minister whose vision gave us the flag; Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the father of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Harper Conservatives wrap themselves in the Maple Leaf Flag, but don’t expect them to be waving it on Feb. 15,
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 readingLeDaro: Roy Romanow gives it to Harper on Charter of Rights and Freedoms
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper is on “the wrong side of history” by failing to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms to avoid stirring up lingering resentment in Quebec, says former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow……. I’m saddened a bit that the prime minister would not recognize
Continue readingLeDaro: Stephen Harper and Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Harper finds Charter of Rights and Freedoms divisive and would not celebrate its 30th anniversary. I suppose he would like to build prisons rather than to worry about freedoms or rights. In my opinion the Charter is a landmark in Canadian history. Yours truly along with folks from other parts
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: Worthy of Celebration
April 17, 2012: Constitutional ‘divisions’ keep Harper from celebrating Charter January 23, 2011: Harper celebrates five years as PM
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