The Canadian Progressive’s publisher and progressive political blogger, Obert Madondo, will be reporting on the 4-day Power Shift 2012 conference taking place in Ottawa and Gatineau on October 26-29, 2012. More than 1000 youth from across Canada are expected for the conference, which seeks to “galvanize a broad movement” pushing the
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Politics, Re-Spun: Encouraging Early Political Engagement: I Have the Right to Be a Child
Early political engagement is a hot button topic for a number of us here at Politics ReSpun. As parents and/or political animals, we spend a lot of time contemplating methods of public engagement that would draw youth into political culture, and foster both interest and comprehension of sociopolitical events. Apathy
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Justin Trudeau Announces Liberal Party Leadership Bid
After months of speculation, it’s official! Justin Trudeau is running for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. And he’s already dreaming big: he wants to replace Stephen Harper as Canada’s next prime minister. Announcing his leadership bid in Montreal Tuesday, the Papineau MP delivered a speech unequivocally pointing in that direction. The
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: For a young peoples’ video look at the history of the Tay Canal please click the link below, by which I mean…
…this one! I am so proud! Not that I had anything to do with this (and I didn’t) but because the video shows how the appreciation of Perth (Lanark County, Ontario, Canada) history is, and will continue to be, alive and well! Congratulations to everyone, particularly the young people and
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: College sports governing body slams Penn State post-Sandusky, Paterno
The NCAA has handed down its sentence on Penn State University’s football program, as outlined in this news release: By perpetuating a “football first” culture that ultimately enabled serial child sexual abuse to occur, The Pennsylvania State University leadership failed to value and uphold institutional integrity, resulting in a breach
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 readingIn defence of 14-year-old girls
So it was that MP Charlie Angus, the NDP’s self-appointed guardian of civility, has declared that Twitter has “turned us all into 14-year-olds in a cafeteria” where “[e]verybody gets to be a Grade 9 girl.” Yesterday’s context, of course, was Patrick Brazeau’s calling reporter Jen Ditchburn a “bitch” because she
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Jerry Sandusky guilty, now what?
In the hours following the conviction of their once-revered Jerry Sandusky, Penn State is most anxious to move on. After my exclamation on Facebook of “Yes! Yes! Yes!”, attached to a media account of the guilty verdicts on Friday, I wondered how the victim-survivors were feeling. Having invested my emotions,
Continue reading350 or bust: Health Warning Attached To Rio+20 Text: If You Care For The Future Of This Planet, This Document Will Make You Sick
Here in Canada, it’s hard to tell that there is even an Earth Summit happening in Rio De Janeiro at all. A quick scan of the major papers, from one coast to the other, and there is hardly a mention that most world leaders, minus our own prime minister and
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Prom Night and Father’s Day
Skimming my home-town newspapers’ web sites I noticed that this is Prom weekend for some of the high schools in the area. Tomorrow is Father’s Day. I’m not sure if the two occasions shared the same weekend in my time. Some quick math, all in my head mind you, and
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: This Is Generation Waking Up
Generation Waking Up is a global campaign to ignite a generation of young people to bring forth a thriving, just, sustainable world. This video is part of the Generation Waking Up Experience – called a ‘WakeUp’ for short – a multimedia educational workshop that inspires young people to transform their
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Trish Hennessy reminds us that a system of taxes and social spending is ultimately the most valuable means of pooling our resources for everybody’s benefit. And E.J. Dionne highlights the need for progressives to speak up for the principle of collective public action.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Erika Shaker points out how Quebec’s student protests are a natural and justified reaction to the policy choice to saddle young workers with debt: (T)he effects of student debt are not exactly “character building”. Postponement of owning a home or starting a family.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review – May 8, 2012
Tuesday, May 8 saw another day of debate on the Cons’ omnibus budget legislation – and another day of general non-responsiveness from the Cons as to its actual effects. But that wasn’t for lack of important contributions from the opposition benches. The Big Issue Marie-Claude Morin raised issues about the
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Wherefore art thou, Cardinals – Oh!
This was a landmark day in the lives of Ontario high school students who have been exercising their democratic rights, without the vote even, for the passage of Bill 13, the Ontario provincial government’s gay-straight alliance (GSA) initiative. It passed in the Ontario Legislative Assembly with 65 votes in support,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Lana Payne weighs in on the Cons’ goal of reducing wages for Canadian workers: As an economist, Stephen Harper must know what his government’s changes to employment insurance (EI), the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), the elimination of the Fair Wage Act
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: A school trip to London with a Kodak Instamatic camera
I think I’ve posted these scanned photos before, but today’s festivities along the River Thames brought back wonderful memories of a class trip to London which took place during March Break in 1976. The camera was a Kodak Instamatic – not very sophisticated – and the prints have not fared
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Canada’s Age of Glum
Suddenly, Stephen Harper doesn’t seem all that out of place. The latest from pollster Nik Nanos is that many Canadians are pessimistic about the future that awaits our youth. “…the low expectations for the future are not confined to Quebec. Everywhere in the country, except for the prairies, people told
Continue readingAre young revolutionaries bound to fail?
Demographer Richard Cincotta of the Stimson Center in Washington DC has compiled some intriguing facts about revolution and the age of populations. His analysis not only enables him to predict if a revolution will occur in a particular country but whether or not a revolution will transition into a democracy.
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: State terrorism visits Quebec student protesters
Please note that this video contains disturbing graphic images of police violence and state terrorism against the ongoing student protests in Quebec. The video is accompanied by “Which side are you on?” music. This video can be found at YouTube
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