Here, on how the reactions of the federal government and the rail industry six months after the Lac-Mégantic rail explosion only seem to reinforce the risk of more disasters to come. For further reading…– Monique Beaudin reports on the finger-pointing and other attempts to avoid responsibility on the part of
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Accidental Deliberations: Deep thought
In times like these, it’s vitally important that we not connect dots like “oil”, “rail”, “deregulation”, “explosion” and “disaster”. Because otherwise, people might start demanding that our corporate reduce the likelihood that we’ll have far more similar incidents to come.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Dan Leger points to the Lac-Mégantic rail explosion as an all-too-vivid example of the intersection of privatized profits and socialized risks: Are we tough enough on corporations that destroy, burn and kill? What’s happening at Lac-Mégantic suggests we aren’t. There’s a scramble on
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Stephen Beer argues that the UK’s Labour Party should take the lead in arguing for a financial transactions tax oriented toward reducing inequality: The banking sector is incorrigible. It cannot alone reform itself or repair its relationship with the rest of society.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on what the Cons’ response to the Lac-Mégantic rail explosion says about their wider concern (or lack thereof) for the safety of Canadians. For further reading…– My earlier posts addressing Con-style arguments from Andrew Coyne are here and here.– Andrew Griffith’s book excerpt on the difference between political and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On selective endpoints
Shorter Andrew Coyne: If you ignore the actual recent rail disaster that blew up a town, there’s little apparent risk of rail disasters. So let’s keep assuming the likelihood of future disasters is trivial. Now, some observers might ask how consistent a particular event is with a set of assumptions
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On glibertarianism
One of the more obvious points of convergence in political thought over the past 70-80 years is the greater appreciation of systemic complexity – the recognition that different decisions by many types of actors may collide in unpredictable ways, with the results potentially far outweighing the perceived impact of any
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Ethan Cox discusses how the Lac-Mégantic tragedy was a predictable – if not inevitable – outcome of a self-regulated (or un-regulated) rail system: Prior to, during, and after the process of deregulating railroads, there were strident warnings issued by the most credible and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Ed Broadbent takes a look at how our tax system can combat inequality in more ways than one: The Broadbent Institute is presenting proposals Tuesday to the Finance Committee of the House of Commons. Our primary recommendation is that Canada establish as
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Obert Madondo’s Canada crime Bill C-10 hunger strike: Response from the Minister of Justice
On June 6, I ended my 85-day hunger strike against Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s New Jim Crow-style crime Bill C-10, the deceptively christened “Safe Streets and Communities Act”. Two of my demands: the immediate repeal the Safe Streets and Communities Act and a national inquiry for the 600+ missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls. I
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 readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Rick Salutin discusses the link between parity of wealth and democratic participation, while pointing out why there’s reason for people to engage much more in the latter (W)hy didn’t the majority ever vote to expropriate the rich and take all their stuff? Perhaps
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Statistics Canada: Crime rate reached its lowest level in 40 years in 2011
The evidence on the crime rate in Canada is out! Statistics Canada reported yesterday that rate of crimes reported to Canadian police forces across the country reached its lowest level last year. The incidents of serious crimes also dropped. By six per cent. That’s for most offences, including attempted murders,
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Rob Ford calls Toronto “one of the safest cities in the world” after deadly shooting
Reacting to the Danzig Street shooting, which left two dead and another 24 injured, the “furious” mayor of Canada’s largest city assures us that Toronto has “the greatest police service in the world.” He invites Torontonians to “declare war on these violent gangs.” The kind that will “catch these criminals
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Bill C10: Vic Toews Met With Lobbyist for U.S. Prisons Profiteer GEO
During the heated public debates on the omnibus crime Bill C-10, Canadian progressives argued that the Harper Government’s controversial legislation was the beginning of the privatization of Canada’s prison system. Turns out that a leading U.S. prison profiteering company lobbied the federal Public Safety Minister and other Canadian officials. So
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 readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Vic Toews To Use Magnotta Murder Case To Revive Internet Surveillance Bill C-30
In dictatorial regimes, tyrants rule by manipulating prevailing public emotions. They use the smallest emotional opportunity to create draconian laws that take away the people’s rights and freedoms. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has certainly learned a thing or two from this modus operandi. He wants to use Luka Rocco
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