Inside the mall or outside: thoughts on the allegiance to capitalism.
It was bitterly cold today but I joined with others in handing out candy canes and holiday themed postcards in support of the campaign to raise the minimum wage in…
2013
We need accountability when it comes to the activities of ultra-secretive spy agency CSEC
With fresh revelations that ultra-secretive CSEC spied on Canada’s own trading partners for the U.S. NSA, here’s a great article about the questions that continue to remain unanswered by our…
Newfoundland national park, world heritage site spared from oil fracking
Newfoundland’s Gros Morne National Park (Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism) ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – An oil exploration company that set off intense debate with plans to frack near Gros Morne National…
Dec. 14: Egg on my face…..
When I heard it on CBC news, I chortled with joy. (You chortle a lot as you get older; it’s less tiring than laughing.) It was a story about how…
The Harper family production of ‘A Christmas carol’
Here is a still, from the Harper family production of ‘A Christmas carol’, with the ghost of Christmas present. I would hate to be haunted by this one. Even the…
The new Canadian Plague: Have We all been Infected?
Sadly, Rob Ford epitomises what Canada has become With his crack smoking and drunken misbehaviour, Toronto’s mayor personifies our crude, swaggering, bungling New Canada Robert Hays in the Guardian Fri…
Police Torturers And Their Enablers
It is heartening to know that the Hamilton police are discharging their duties responsibly, as attested to by a video that went viral this week. However, to believe that all…
Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Paul Krugman highlights why inequality is indeed an issue which demands action – both for its own sake, and for its impact on…
Does Ontario’s Cisco Deal Create Jobs? (Probably)
Yesterday, Ontario inked a deal with networking giant Cisco to develop an R&D facility in Ottawa, as well as additional jobs in the GTA. The province is forking over $220…
On status quo proposals
Shorter Doug Saunders: I’m suspicious of the role of mere members in shaping party policy. And also of the role rogue MPs might play in shaping decision-making. In fact, what…
Making it one simple idea.
An election campaign usually comes down to be one basic proposition. If the perception of this proposition is not obvious, the news media will often pick something. What most political…
Ontario sixth province to fill in gaps in refugee health coverage
It was last January when we stood shivering outside the Ministry of Health with a group of young activists concerned about federal cuts to refugee health coverage. A year ago…
From Newpeak To Nospeak
We learned in the Throne Speech that the Harper government was consumer friendly. But this week — when Canadians learned that they would be paying more for less service from…
Great line of the day
Andrew Sullivan writes about The Pope And The American Right and provides the best summary I have read lately about what has gone wrong with capitalism, American-style: … the way…
Rob Ford and the Day The Cons Fought Each Other
He's a bigot, a bully, a boozer, a beast. He's shaming us in the eyes of the world. Each time Ford appears in the media, it's another eerie reminder of…
Cats and High-Powered Rifles
There aren’t many moments that you want to revisit less than a close encounter with a cougar when your best defence is a Nikon DSLR. Been there, done that. I…
The Country That Dared Challenge The Great War on Marijuana
It's a small country of just over three million people wedged between Argentina and Brazil. But little Uruguay has just done what other bigger countries have never dared to do:…