Disgraced ex-Durham MP, Bev Oda, begins her private life today, after a scandalous public life defined by profligacy, scandal, inefficiency and controversy. Canadians offer their final word on the former minister of International Co-operation and MP for Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party of Canada. [View the story “Canadians: Farewell, Bev Oda!”
Continue readingTag: Harper government
Canadian Progressive World: So Long, Bev Oda! Please Stay Away From The Canadian Senate
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s minister of international co-operation, Bev Oda, officially retires today. A sigh of relief! What a financial burden to the Canadian taxpayer the Conservative MP for the Ontario riding of Durham has been. Oda earned the dubious honor of poster girl for misspending by Tory ministers: $1,000
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Nazanin Afshin-Jam MacKay Said Canada Should Bring Omar Khadr Home
Surely this has got to be the ultimate Tale of Two Nazanins. Better still, Of Denial And The Tale of Two Nazanin Afshin-Jam MacKays. The brand new wife of Conservative Defence Minister Peter MacKay is fuming. She accuses a journalist baiting her to criticize the Harper Government on the Omar
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Are We Going This Alone?
Will British Columbians stand alone against Alberta’s bitumen pipelines? What I’m reading is that the populations of other provinces seem to support the Northern Gateway and Kinder-Morgan pipeline/bitumen-supertanker initiatives. And that’s certainly the way Ottawa and Alberta are attacking British Columbia. Our unelected, unelectable and outgoing premier, Christie Clark, isn’t
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Our Shamelessly Anti-Canadian Government
It’s pretty clear whose side the Harper government is on and it’s equally clear that’s not the side of Canadians. Senator and featherbedding former media shill, Mike Duffy, dismisses his fellow countrymen who oppose the bitumen pipelines as “all anti-Canadians.” Resource minister Joe Oliver smears pipeline opponents and urges dissent
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: RCMP’s Misogynistic Response to Gillford Sexual Harassment Claim
In May, Corporal Catherine Galliford filed a claim of being sexually harassed by her male superiors during her 16 year career with our national police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Predictably, the responses from the four accused Mounties is denial. But, in this country famous for compassion, how
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: The real “gateway drug” is alcohol, not marijuana
With the recent passage of crime Bill C-10 into law, we can expect a lot of young and first-time Canadian marijuana users in our high school system to do real time in jail. That’s because of the Conservative government’s’ tough-on-crime agenda and legendary disdain for evidence. And, especially, the long-standing societal
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Harper Conservatives Nuke Own $1.2 Billion Military Project
On this one, I salute Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Sort of. The Harper Conservatives have just gutted their own plan to buy 1,500 logistics trucks, 800 commercial vehicles and equipment for the . That’s $1.2 billion of Canadian taxpayers money saved. Sort of agreeable too is the explanation for the
Continue readingDrive-by Planet: ‘Death of Evidence’ march: Canadian scientists protest Harper cuts
Symbolic statements can speak volumes. This week in Ottawa Canadian scientists staged a funeral march to mourn the “death of evidence” caused by the Harper government’s slashing of research programs. The Grim Reaper – scythe in hand – led a march of scientists in lab coats with designated pallbearers carrying
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Scientists Storm Ottawa After Harper Government Cuts Environmental Protections and Research Again
stephen-harper-environment-cuts.jpeg Canadian scientists are taking to the streets in protest of the Harper government's latest cuts to scientific research and its increasingly backward environmental policies. read more
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Enbridge executive’s company awarded first crime Bill C-10 $38.5-million prison project
Executive and company have strong and lucrative ties with the Canadian military and Harper government. Opponents of the Conservative government’s crime Bill C-10 were justified to argue that private companies would profiteer from the new jail system the legislation proposed for Canada. On Tuesday, the Canadian Press reported that a
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Harper Government Must Set Canadian Scientists Free
Nature, one of the biggest and most-read scientific journals in the world, made this call in a February 29th editorial. The journal lamented the Harper Government’s undisguised hostility to openness, expert opinion and publicly-funded scientific expertise. Rightly so. At some point, the government’s stated communication policy, posted on a federal website and
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Maps Show Tar Sands Sprawl in Caribou Habitat: Could Resolve Problem with 1% of Industry Profits, says Scientist
alberta-caribou.jpg Alberta’s threatened caribou herds will stand a significantly better chance of surviving the province’s development of the Tar Sands, according to a group of scientists, if the oil and gas industry is willing to spare 1 percent of its potential development profits to make it happen. According to a
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Who is this guy, really?
In the book Criminal Profiling, Richard N. Kocsis described malignant narcissism as: “an extreme form of antisocial personality disorder that is manifest in a person who is pathologically grandiose, lacking in conscience and behavioral regulation, and with characteristic demonstrations of joyful cruelty and sadism”. What he missed doing was including
Continue readingImpolitical: Government recognizes contributions of Canadian government scientist
Too bad it’s not the Canadian government! “China Bestows Rare Honour on Canadian Agricultural Scientist.” The Baicheng Academy of Agricultural Sciences is honouring Government of Canada agricultural scientist Dr. Vernon Burrows for his achievements in improving food security, his innovations in oat breeding science and his outstanding contribution to the
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Surette uses the F word
The conservative conscience is in turmoil, Ralph Surette, Halifax Chronicle Herald, June 23, 2012 “Are you among those baffled and alarmed by what’s going on with the Harper government — wild slashes to public services, every-thing connected to democratic process trashed, a bully-boy attitude that is soiling Canada’s international reputation,
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Jason Kenney’s Tell-Tale Conservative Apology
Apparently, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has apologized for labeling Thomas Lukaszuk, the deputy premier of Alberta, “a complete and utter a-hole.” And Lukaszuk’s boss, premier Alison Redford wants us to believe that Kenney’s insult amounts to: “there are people who have personalities that do and don’t get along.” And that “there
Continue readingNorthern Insight: More of Harper’s Canada
Private prison companies look to Canada as industry faces lawsuits in US, Bilbo Poynter, The Guardian, June 19, 2011 – US states are beginning to rely less on privately run prisons, but Canada may be a land of opportunity for the two biggest firms “US private prison firms are targeting
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Google Exposes Harper Government’s Growing Internet Censorship Appetites
In a report released late Sunday, Google tells us Canada has joined the ranks of countries aggressively stepping up efforts to censor online political dissent through “censorship requests” to the giant search engine. Passport Canada authorities asked Google to block public access to “a YouTube video of a Canadian citizen
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Une artiste qui dérange
Harper government targeted artist for her green conscience, internal documents reveal, Vancouver Observer, June 12, 2012 “Franke James, a Canadian artist and environmental advocate blacklisted by the Harper government, has obtained internal documents indicating Canadian officials worked behind the scenes to discredit her work. “An internal Department of Foreign Affairs
Continue reading