politics ← Progressive Bloggers // Blogues progressistes

Dented Blue Mercedes: Trans* Human Rights Bill C-16: A Look Back

Jun

19

2017

Although I’ll be remarking on the passing of Bill C-16 elsewhere, I wanted to post Bill Siksay’s closing speech from February 7, 2011, back when the bill was in its third incarnation (of five), Bill C-389. To me, it’s a profound moment to look back on, and realize just how far we’ve come. It took ...

The Political Road Map: Hate Speech is Free Speech

Jun

15

2017

I know, you’re reading my entry title and thinking, wow…that is one bold statement or rather, what the hell is this guy thinking!? Free speech is a right that all humans should have, this is a basic, but crucial statement regarding life on Earth. After experiencing people of all places along the spectrum practice their ...

Trashy's World: it was 20 years ago…

Jun

13

2017

… last Friday when I started my career in Canada’s Public Service. What was intended to be a stopover gig until I got what I really wanted (a job as a policy wonk on the Hill) had turned into a full-fledged second career. I began at the comparatively late of 34 as an Economist/Sociologist Recruit ...

Dead Wild Roses: Venezuela – In Political, Social, and Economic Crisis

Jun

13

2017

The situation in Venezuela is grim. When conditions take a turn for the worse those on the bottom of the social hierarchy feel it the worse, and of course those are almost always females. I read in the Globe and Mail about Carmen Tovar and her now deceased daughter Nakarid. “Carmen Tovar remembers the ...

Things Are Good: It’s Not the 99%, Class is About the Top 80%

Jun

13

2017

Since the Occupy movement in 2011 there has been conversations about the 99% versus the 1% of wealth holders. The idea then was to show the massive inequality between those in the top 1% of society and everybody else – sadly that inequality has only grown. The rich get richer and everybody else gets left ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: The Core Of the Problem Is Austerity

Jun

7

2017

Then you proclaimed "Transportation Week" because “Saskatchewan’s transportation industry … is vital to the success of our economy." — John Klein (@JohnKleinRegina) June 7, 2017 "you have to ask the question; is [a bus] the core function of government?" -YouIs it transportation perhaps?Yes!#TransportationWeak — John Klein (@JohnKleinRegina) June 7, 2017 In the Saskatchewan Legislature Thursday, Premier ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Weak Transportation Week

Jun

5

2017

Sent to a Saskatchewan Government employee who announced Saskatchewan Transportation Week immediately after STC bus and parcel services were closed to be sold off much later: Dear Brandy Leippi: Reading your press release citing the proclamation of this week as Saskatchewan Transportation Week, I was struck by how contradictory the Government’s messaging is in juxtaposition ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: STC Bus Shut Down By Callous SaskParty

May

31

2017

Today is a terrible day in Saskatchewan history. The Brad Wall government has ended public transportation to most Saskatchewan communities. There is tomorrow no bus service between Saskatoon and Regina, a sort of event you’d expect after a major natural disaster, not an incompetent government decision poised to directly harm thousands of people, and inconvenience ...

The Common Sense Canadian: Rafe: NDP-Green pact should mean good riddance to Kinder Morgan, but Liberal opposition won’t make life easy

May

30

2017

John Horgan and Andrew Weaver seal their pact (Photo: @jjhorgan/Twitter) It will be a much postponed verdict but my initial reaction to the NDP-Green deal is positive. Whether so motivated or not, Andrew Weaver has done the right politically moral thing – contradiction in terms though that is – by agreeing to support John Horgan ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Greyhound and RCMP Bring #StarlightTours To Manitoba

May

29

2017

Do you remember the Starlight Tours? Now you don’t have to be drunk to experience this police mistreatment, only be a First Nations person who is unwell. A shameful story of racism out of Manitoba today. This is one of the companies the SaskParty is looking toward to offer replacement bus service due to the ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: NDP Brings Greens Most Pinecones

May

29

2017

Title in honour of a Beaverton joke. Andrew Weaver brings up the issue of Kinder Morgan as something he couldn't overlook when negotiating. — Chandler Grieve (@CTVNewsChandler) May 29, 2017 BREAKING: Andrew Weaver announces @BCGreens party will support John Horgan and the @bcndp https://t.co/31K6KRulSm #BCpoli pic.twitter.com/M9SiwleYDh — The Vancouver Sun (@VancouverSun) May 29, 2017 I’m ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Nathan Cullen’s Electoral Reform tour stop in Regina

May

26

2017

@gtlem @pau1234la @Erin_Weir @nathancullen Here's the good one he took, and got @Carla4Lakeview in the background. pic.twitter.com/o9q29JLDA4 — Saskboy (@saskboy) May 26, 2017 Room filling up at Knox-Met for @nathancullen #ERRE #KeepYourPromise tour#cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/tM3a5IWgBa — Saskboy (@saskboy) May 26, 2017

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Why all the Bodyslam Jokes on Twitter?

May

25

2017

You may have heard people talking about Montanan Gianforte. He attacked a journalist. Greg Gianforte just body slammed me and broke my glasses — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) May 24, 2017 Fox News reporter Alicia Acuna, field producer Faith Mangan and photographer Keith Railey witnessed the incident at Gianforte’s campaign headquarters in Montana, according to an ...

Dead Wild Roses: Break the Social Contract – Break the State, and the People.

May

25

2017

This excerpt features Dr. Gus Abu-Sitta and Andre Vltchek discussing the Ecology of war and its effects on people living in war conditions. One of their digressions from the main topic was the idea that sanctions, and other Western initiatives are designed to denude the State of its non-coercive powers i.e utilities, education, and medical ...

The Common Sense Canadian: Rafe Mair: Rachel Notley can go to hell for threatening BC over pipeline

May

23

2017

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley (Flickr CC Licence / Premier of Alberta) You can go to hell, Rachel Notley. Now, everyone, repeat after me. OK? Here we go. There is no risk in transporting Alberta’s bitumen through our forests, over our rivers, past our sparkling, azure lakes, through our cities, into Vancouver Harbour, over the Salish ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Ritz: More Dense Than A Gas

May

23

2017

Saskatchewan has a lot of ignoble MPs, but Ritz took the cake this past week. He’s helping to spread nonsense that is solidly a line from anti-science climate change deniers. @GerryRitzMP @davidakin Carbon is the building block of all known life. Carbon is contained is more poisons than can be listed here. Did you mean ...

A Puff of Absurdity: Nader Interview with Chomsky on the Requiem for the American Dream

May

22

2017

Ralph Nader interviewed Noam Chomsky last Saturday about Chomsky’s new book Requiem for the American Dream and film of the same title currently on Netflix. He’s trying every type of media to spread this understanding of history, to “throw fact against myth.” I saw the film back in December and outlined his ten-point plan back then. ...

Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Let’s At Least Do What The Premier Wants/Wanted

May

18

2017

.@cathmckenna announces system to bring @PremierBradWall into line carbon pricing, pic.twitter.com/ybzoqjULjP — David Akin (@davidakin) May 18, 2017 “Saskatchewan will choose what we call a tech fund approach, where we have levies for those who emit, but the levies stay in our province, and again companies can apply to that fund that’s created, to that ...

A Puff of Absurdity: More Doctors and Nurses, Less Waiting

May

13

2017

I went to the CCAC yesterday after my surgery on Tuesday – the Community Care Access Centre – an agency I only heard about when they had a local whistleblowing scandal a couple years ago questioning the decision to reduce case managers instead of front line therapists, and then more recently, when they spent money to send ...

The Common Sense Canadian: Rafe: Weaver would be crazy to make pact with Christy; NDP should have nailed Libs on economy, LNG

May

11

2017

The three BC leaders at the televised debate (Photo: Broadcast Consortium) It’s May 10, 2017 as I write this, an appropriate date to examine the election, being the anniversary of the Nazi invasion of France and the Low Countries in 1940 and the day Winston Churchill came to the rescue. Like then, much of the ...

Things Are Good: Respecting Human Rights When Negotiating Trade Deals

May

9

2017

money Donald Trump ran a campaign that championed the need to renegotiate the North American Free trade Agreement (NAFTA) to better help Americans. Trump’s erratic behaviour means we won’t know if NAFTA will ever be renegotiated, however the need to talk about trade in a new lens is needed (of course, we have no idea ...

Dead Wild Roses: NeoLiberalism

May

9

2017

Filed under: Humour Tagged: Neoliberalism, Politics

The Common Sense Canadian: Green Party campaign manager quit over Andrew Weaver’s bullying, bad policies

May

8

2017

Andrew Weraver attacks BCNDP Leader John Horgan during the televised leaders’ debate On the eve of his candidate’s kick-off event, Green Party campaign manager Troy Grant reached his breaking point with Andrew Weaver, causing him to resign. “I can’t support the BC Green Party because of Andrew Weaver,” Grant now admits. Here’s why. Troy Grant is ...

Joe Fantauzzi: Desmond Cole, the Toronto Star and Another Existential Crisis for Professional Journalism

May

7

2017

DISCLOSURE: I worked as a mainstream news reporter between 2003 and 2012. I see this as a two-fold issue; firstly, actions and secondly, words. I’ll consider both briefly and then elaborate on my concerns. Actions There is no point in rehashing here the now well-known details of what lead to Desmond Cole’s departure from the Toronto ...

The Common Sense Canadian: Why the BC Liberal economic record is actually worse than the NDP’s in 90’s

May

5

2017

Many people are ready for a change in Victoria. Christy Clark is one of the least popular candidates for premier in BC history and, after 16 years of scandal-filled rule, her Liberal Party has tried British Columbians’ patience to the extreme. Yet everyday on social media, I run across a familiar refrain: “Better than going back to the ...