So today, a former exec at Ornge ™ was disputing the idea that her rapid rise from an ex-lifeguard to a top executive position there had nothing to do with her relationship with her boyfriend who ran the company. Perhaps she is telling the truth, but one can’t help
Continue readingTag: ethics
Paulitical Satire: Who Watches the Watchmen? – Paulitical Edition
So, I’ve been struck recently but the large and growing number of transgressions against transparent, accountable, and in many cases ethical and legal governing. I’m not just referring to what’s happening in Canada, or Ontario, or where ever might have popped into your head, I’m making more of a blanket
Continue readingNorthern Insight: How bigotry survives
For more than 25 years, the Catholic Church has been entangled in sexual abuse scandals, costing billions in settlements, debasing the church and wrecking the faith of many devout members. The BBC published a lengthy list: Catholic Church sex abuse scandals around the world and a common thread is maintenance
Continue readingImpolitical: *Cough*
Riddle me this. How many days does it take a Harper cabinet minister to do the right thing? If you’re Bev Oda, too many! “Bev Oda coughs up cash for ‘ad hoc’ London limo rides.” International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda has agreed to repay almost $3,000 she charged taxpayers for
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: To what possible end with …
… the “human life” thing? Yes, I’m pro-life. Yes, I have argued here in the past there is a need to open up a debate — not necessarily on banning the abortion procedure but how far along a pregnancy is before restrictions ought to begin, as well as to have
Continue readingImpolitical: An Oda apology and other notes
CLICK TO ENLARGE The cheeky folks at the Globe who do the celebrity photos have some fun with the Bev Oda Savoy swank affair. Slide 3 is devoted to Bev as well. And others, scroll through for all the fun. Also in Oda related reporting, CBC has this retrospective of
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Adam Carroll is VikiLeaks
The Conservatives today dragged the former Liberal party staffer behind the famous VikiLeaks30 Twitter scandal before the parliamentary Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics. And they hoped to crucify Adam Carroll. Make him an example for all … Continue reading →
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Raymond Taavel — when will enough be enough?
Raymond Taavel, of Halifax NS may not have had the profile that Harvey Milk of San Francisco CA did more than three decades ago; but the fact Taavel was murdered probably because he was gay is nothing short of outrageous. I was six years old when Milk was shot, but it
Continue readingNorthern Insight: $30K+ Liberal donations involve Charles Jago
True intermediary needs impartiality, Editorial Peace Arch News, April 11, 2012 “Wherever one stands on the current teachers’ dispute, it must be recognized that it is crucial for all sides that the mediator appointed should be considered by all parties to be independent and impartial at the outset. “Unfortunately for
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Connecticut abolishes death penalty
This is easily the good news story of the day. Last night, the state legislature in Connecticut abolished the death penalty. The number of states that have done away with the practice is now seventeen (the first was Michigan in 1846), along with Washington DC and Puetro Rico. As well,
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Serving the greedy, not the needy
Wading through financial reports of BC’s two main political parties leads me to the conclusion that BC Liberals have lost interest in honest and ethical government and are now focused on lining the pockets of friends and insiders. Private power producers, the oil and gas industry, mining companies, real estate
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: More on When Labelling Patients Causes Patients to Die
In the comments WhiteCoat (of WhiteCoat’s Call Room fame) strenuously objects to my take on the Anna Brown case: Wow. Someone on my blog suggested that I check out this post after I just posted about this story yesterday. To all of you who think “something more should have been
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Down this road, no taxes for business
While getting refunds of every cent they pay, business people enthusiastically support you and I paying HST. They aim to relieve themselves of income taxes too. While working people, even those on the brink of poverty, pay income tax, large corporations arrange business affairs to avoid or evade taxation of
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Has dam protecting the Libs now broken?
Ex-MLA expensed over $2,000 to attend party fundraisers, Jonathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun “VICTORIA — A former B.C. Liberal MLA now working as a director at Simon Fraser University has been giving public dollars from his university expense account to the B.C. Liberal Party. “Documents obtained by The Vancouver Sun show
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Stop hangin’ those picket signs on our trees!
Rocky Mountaineer sorry for illegally cut trees in Vancouver, Bob Mackin, Vancouver Courier, March 15, 2012 “The upscale tourist railway that sells rides through what it calls unspoiled scenery is pledging to compensate the City of Vancouver after trees outside its False Creek Flats station were illegally cut. “Rocky Mountaineer
Continue readingImpolitical: Harper’s latest F-35 big 180
Harper yesterday: While the government isn’t giving any guarantees Canada will buy the F-35, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the country will remain involved in the stealth fighter project to ensure Canadian companies can continue participating. “We have received literally hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts for the Canadian
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Something is rotten in the state of PavCo
The government’s fiscal year ends in a few days so here’s a suggestion for more accurate financial reports in BC. Add a separate line item for “Fraud, Theft & Abuse.” That way, taxpayers could know the real costs of legitimate programs and the 30% of voters still supporting Christy Clark’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Brian-Michel calculates the expected outcome of the 2011 election minus the Robocon election fraud based on Anke Kessler’s data. Alison, thwap and Saskboy all rightly lament that a government claiming that a majority entitles it to treat Canada as a helpless plaything may
Continue readingImpolitical: Another feckless accountability mechanism weighs in
The Ethics Commissioner has finally gotten around to deciding on the Rahim Jaffer matter where, if you will recall from way back in 2010 when this arose, Mr. Jaffer was seeing the ministerial door swung wide open to him. This report, coming in March 2012, is just way, way too
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: "Robogate"? Special prosecutor
Canada’s relative proximity to the United States is beneficial in many ways — not the least of which include that we get access to their markets relatively easily and we share a common air defense. But it’s not so beneficial in other respects; especially the dirty tricks in politics we
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