A threat of violence is a form of violence
R. v. Steele, 2014 SCC 61, perhaps surprisingly, holds a threat of violence is violence: …a threat of violence is itself a form of violence …
October 2014
Report: Federal Departments Muzzling Scientists, Engaging in Political Interference
Media policies in most Canadian government departments do not effectively encourage open communication between federal scientists and journalists, says a report released Wednesday. Published by Evidence for Democracy (E4D) and…
Your Daily Digital Digest for Thursday, October 9, 2014
Your news links for today: Fact sheet: Lawful access and online surveillance – Canadian Internet Forum PDF Google’s Schmidt: Government surveillance could kill the internet – The Inquirer The most…
The Harper Regime: 90 Pound Weaklings When It Comes To Heavy Lifting
As I indicated in yesterday’s post, the Harper Conservatives seem very selective in ‘standing up for the vulnerable’; they just don’t seem to have what it takes to do the…
The Real Facility Costs
Another misleading statement was made during one of the all-candidates’ meetings last week: that our new recreational facilities – the Central Park Arena and the Centennial Aquatic Centre – cost…
Labour market musings
Just a short post ahead of the job numbers that come out from Statistics Canada tomorrow. We still have so much ground to make up. Five years after the end…
Just days to a Ford-free Toronto.
Toronto has had bluster, BS and bad news for the past four years. There is light though in the distance. It is relief at the end of a long tunnel…
Bernie Farber On Ezra Levant And The Jewish Tradition
My favorite bit:All too often Levant cloaks himself in his Jewish heritage as a true defender of Jewish values, in contrast to those he refers to as the “official Jews,”…
140 Law – Legal Headlines for Thursday, October 9, 2014
Here are the leading legal headlines from Wise Law on Twitter for Thursday, October 9, 2014: My @SlawTips post today: Beginners Guide to Law Firm Video, Pt 2: Choosing Topics…
New column day
Here, on the Cons’ presumption that any individual who breaches the social contract must be punished with a total lack of freedom – and their curious lack of any similar…
Will Stephen Harper Win the War in Iraq and Canada?
Golly. If you depended exclusively upon some of the poobahs in our useless MSM to know what's happening, you might think that Stephen Harper was not only about to deal…
On abuses of power
Shorter Ontario Libs: It turns out that the public sees privatizing power as only slightly more desirable than the plague. But to ensure a swift transition of profits toward the…
What To Do With The Surplus?
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/ There’s going to be one. And, if the Harper government gets its way, it will go to tax cuts. That happened under the Liberals, too. Linda McQuaig writes: The…
Politics, Hockey, Fall Sitting at the BC Legislature and Local Elections-Game on!
Richard Hughes-Political Blogger We are moving into autumn, our glorious climate change driven summer is wrapping up even though our confused tomato plants refuse to stop providing even more ripe…
After Five Years, This Democrat Is More Disgruntled Than Ever
Well, a little more than five years have passed since I started writing this blog. Despite the efforts of a number of agents for social change, we are as far…
Look at This Landscaping Called Xeriscaping
California is suffering a huge drought due to horrible water use policies and climate change. For some reason people love to have lawns where they naturally shouldn’t exist, this itself…
When the Con Attack Machine Goes after the Media
It may be hard to believe, but it looks as if the smear artists in the PMO are worried about running out of ammunition for their legendary attack machine.So they're…
Births and Infant Deaths #nlpoli
A recent article in The Atlantic looked at the infant mortality rate in the United States and why it appears so high in comparison to the rest of the world.…
Calgary inches closer to a charter
In 1867, Canada’s founding fathers created two levels of constitutional government—provincial and federal. The municipal level didn’t make the cut. This was excusable at the time. Over 80 per cent…