Ford’s Continued War On Education
Doug Ford’s image — thanks to the pandemic — has undergone a makeover. But, Linda McQuaig writes, when it comes to education, there’s been no make over: It may seem…
2020
The Long Read Lost
“What we read, how we read, and why we read change how we think, changes that are continuing now at a faster pace,” wrote Maryanne Wolf, a neuroscientist, in her…
Cooking With Electricity is Cleaner than Gas
Gas stoves have reputation for being good to cook with, but they are really quite bad for everything else that happens in the kitchen – like inhaling air. Indoor fas…
Foregone Conclusions.
A reader asked me recently why I was paying so little attention to the two by-elections in Toronto Centre and York Centre in Toronto. Knowing the two ridings like the…
How propaganda became memory: Pierre Trudeau, Alberta and the National Energy Program
On this day 40 years ago, prime minister Pierre Trudeau’s finance minister and deputy PM, Allan MacEachen, rose in Parliament to introduce a new national budget. Warning that Canada could…
Tuesday Night Cat Blogging
Cushioned cats.
Indifferent to existential threats
While natural gas producers now pay nothing to the BC public in comparison to earlier days, production of the fossil fuel has about doubled in the last ten years. Fossil…
Oct 31: Demonstration in Solidarity with Dollarama Warehouse Workers
DOLLARAMA WAREHOUSE WORKER SOLIDARITY DEMONSTRATION We are not temps! We are essential! Join the demonstration in front of a Dollarama store to fight for: PERMANENT JOBS FOR ESSENTIAL WORKERS! Saturday…
Greens cheated in B.C. election
The election in B.C. last Saturday should have elevated the Green Party to the status of power broker. It failed. The Greens’ 15 percent of the popular vote should have…
Media Worth Listening To
Who is worth listening to? Well, the short answer is, everyone. But of course, given time limitations, some voices are more worthy of our time than others. I have written…
Dispatch from Winnipeg, Canada’s newest COVID hotspot
Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister prepares for a daily coronavirus briefing. Photo courtesy of SooToday.com. During the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, Manitoba seemed like an enviable…
Corporate Fascism 101
We do not live in a democracy. We now live in an oligarchy, or plutocracy, or corporatocracy, if you prefer, as ivy league studies and systems analysis have confirmed, in…
The Dishonourable Senator from Northwestern Ontario: Breaking New Ground Stateside
For those who have been regular readers of this space know that I’ve had a fair bit to say about the dishonourable Senator from Northwestern Ontario Lynn Beyak. It seemed…
MP MACGREGOR INTRODUCES BILL TO ADDRESS FREIGHTER ANCHORAGES IN THE SALISH SEA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 26, 2020 MP MACGREGOR INTRODUCES BILL TO ADDRESS FREIGHTER ANCHORAGES IN THE SALISH SEA OTTAWA – Today, NDP MP Alistair MacGregor introduced Private Member’s Bill C-250…
Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Randy Robinson writes that Doug Ford’s gratuitous austerity will have severe costs in both jobs and lives. And James Downie comments on…
On bigger pictures
There are still plenty of important results to be finalized in Saskatchewan’s election campaign, and I’ll have more to say about specific aspects of the campaign generally. But for starters…
My latest in The Spec: Will voters forget Trump’s sins?
Two years ago, in a limitless and sunny August when a global pandemic seemed like an impossibility, my daughter and I knocked on doors for the Democrats in Portland, Maine.…
Get Us Through The Pandemic
There were two byelections in Toronto yesterday. When you combine those results with the results in New Brunswick, B.C., and Saskatchewan, there is a consistent message: We don’t want to…
Make America America again
By-elections, provincial results, etc.: all suggest that incumbents have more of an edge during the pandemic – voters don’t want more disruption in their lives. Trump will be the exception:…
Wheelmap Helps People Find Accessible Locations
Navigating the world can be challenging for able-bodied people, those in wheelchairs have it even harder. It doesn’t have to be this way. New buildings have to meet certain accessibility…