The workers at Sobeys’ Forest Lawn supermarket, the only unionized Sobeys in Calgary, are currently on strike. The pickets have been on duty for two weeks. Doug Smith of the United Food and Commercial Workers union says the action resulted from the com…
Continue readingTag: democracy
The Progressive Economics Forum: First We Take Manhattan….. What Occupy Wall Street Could Mean
This is not the stuff of usual protests. Over the past month, a little idea from a Vancouver outfit has mushroomed into a cross-continent movement. Occupy Wall Street, kicked off by Adbusters in July and coming to Toronto this weekend, has already spread to 70 American cities and is going global as protestors challenge society […]
Continue reading350 or bust: Chris Hedges: At This Moment In History, Either You Are A Rebel Or A Slave
Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent and author, had this to say about the “Occupy Wall Street” movement last week: “The only word that these corporations know is ‘more’…There is no way within the A…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Wall Street protests, Obama, and changing the political conversation
In some ways it is not appropriate to give too much undue attention to the current Wall Street protests in New York that are spreading around the US and into Canada. Doing so deemphasizes the very large amount of consistent and meaningful citizen acti…
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Farcical Aquatic Ceremonies: Canadian “Democracy” and (not) You!
So, Ontario, Canada’s most unbearably self-righteous Province, just concluded another one of those spiffy “election” things everyone is getting so worked up over these days. As of this writing, it’s still not entirely clear just how low the voter turnout was but it seems to be definitely below 50%—the lowest in Provincial history. The McGuinty Liberals […]
Continue readingCongrats to Tawakul Karman and friends
I was a little surprised at the Nobel Peace Prize awards for 2011. I had felt sure the winners would include a leader from Egypt’s Arab Spring revolt, the Arab Spring being the major peaceful achievement of the year and Egypt being the most prominent e…
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Why I Am Going to Attend Occupy Vancouver
I am white, middle class, educated and, by all accounts, an extremely fortunate woman. I live in Canada where my parents’ (sometimes life-threatening) health issues are covered by a provincial medical plan. My water and air are clean, and food is plentiful. My husband and I are employed. I am not desperate, but I am […]
Continue readingThings Are Good: Ontario Votes
Hey people in Ontario, if you can vote you should vote!
Things Are Good supports anybody you want to vote for except the Tea Conservative Party. Vote for the Ontario you want to see, vote with hope and optimism. Vote for a party that will actually make the province a better place to live!
NDP
Green Party
Liberal Party
Ontario […]
Writings of J. Todd Ring: Occupy Wall St. – Letters to friends and family, and an overview of what is unfolding now
What is happening is momentus. It could go wrong, it could fizzle out, or it could be co-opted, but at present, by all I can see, it is hopeful: here are a few letters I sent to friends and family on the subject, that aimed to clarify and also to empow…
Continue readingLarry Hubich's Blog: SFL Labour Issues Campaign
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Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Translink: It’s the policy, that policy won’t change, and there’s no one you can speak to about it.
Pardon me for a rant about my commute. And about Translink. I hardly think it’s acceptable for a public organization that trumpets public consultation, taxes us, is governed by an unelected appointed board, and so on, to say “it’s the policy, that policy won’t change, and there’s no one you can speak to.” I’m currently […]
Continue readingLoss of party subsidy is loss for democracy
Democracy is about political equality. To be democratic, a political system must in essence belong to all the people equally, and if it is to belong to all the people equally, all the people must fund it equally. One person/one dollar may not be as imp…
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Let us make one thing perfectly clear
Ontario is parliamentary democracy, albeit within it’s own constitutional jurisdiction. As such it is the Ontario legislature that determines who will be in the government and form the Cabinet. As in all parliamentary democracies a government is legiti…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Ontario Election 2011: Why the left should hope for a Liberal Minority with NDP support
I suspect that many people, perhaps most, have a favorite party that they would prefer to win a majority. Somewhat incorrectly, I think, it has become the conventional wisdom that we should always hope to have a majority government. I have even heard i…
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Encouraging Early Political Engagement: CitizenNext.ca
It is not an accident that I am a political junkie. Even as a toddler, I was fed a steady diet of left-of-centre ideology, pro-union sentiments and anti-monarchist dogma. My mother, who was not overtly political, ensured I could recognize political leaders from around the world by sight before I could read, that I understood […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Concordia Decides That Less Is More
In August, I blogged about controversy surrounding Concordia University’s Board of Governors. A report co-authored by Bernard J. Shapiro (Canada’s first Ethics Commissioner) had concluded that an unofficial, inner circle of Board members had been micromanaging some of the university’s day-to-day operations, and undermining the President. This had apparently prompted the resignation of the last two Presidents before the midway points […]
Continue readingPop The Stack: Advice to Ontario Leaders about Minority – Stick to the Issues
There is talk now that Ontario may elect a minority government in the upcoming election. My advice: leaders should avoid making promises about what they would or would not do to form government. Once the people have spoken and the seat counts are settled, only then can the parties know what
Continue readingPop The Stack: Advice to Ontario Leaders about Minority – Stick to the Issues
There is talk now that Ontario may elect a minority government in the upcoming election. My advice: leaders should avoid making promises about what they would or would not do to form government. Once the people have spoken and the seat counts are settled, only then can the parties know what
Continue readingtheKrellant.ca: Suzy Citizen, Episode 1
The people who brought you The Krellant Evening News have a new project: The Continuing Adventures of Suzy Citizen. Produced for Student Vote by Wildrun Productions, the web series follows a precocious ten-year-old as she discovers what it means to be politically active. Hilarious and heartwarming!!
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