Winners and losers of the first COVID-19 year
How did this microscopic turd bring the world to its knees? So here we are, a full year into the Coronapocalypse. It has been (choose your favourite hackneyed phrase) a…
March 2021
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Nazeem Muhajarine, Cory Neudorf, Kyle Anderson and Alexander Wong each point out the desperate need for Saskatchewan to keep people healthy in…
roots and icebergs: decolonizing community spaces: a workshop
I recently attended a six-hour workshop called Decolonizing Community Spaces. The workshop was led by two facilitators, one a Native American speaking to us from her traditional territories in Montana,…
Quidnuncs on Council
A quidnunc is “a small-minded person, focused on petty things.” That’s how Gord Hume describes them in chapter five of his book, Taking Back Our Cities (Municipal World, 2011). Hume…
Change in Education and What Needs to be Done
Published as Change in Education and What Needs to be Done, 15 pages, 2020, Maysan Center for Future Studies. In recent months we as a global community have experienced a…
The Stupid Party
Chantal Hebert writes that, on Thursday, the Supreme Court will rule on the Trudeau government’s carbon tax: For Justin Trudeau’s government, the stakes could not be higher. Should the court…
Some advice to Ontario politicians.
This is important. If you think of ending separate schools, do not do it to save money. First of all, you are not going to save anywhere near one and…
Awkward! What can Erin O’Toole do now that Conservative Party delegates have ignored his plea to acknowledge climate change?
Question: What is Erin O’Toole supposed to do now that we all know 54 per cent of the delegates to his online Conservative Party of Canada policy convention have formally…
2020—A happy year?
2020 would seem to have been a tough year for happiness. But not for the Finns. Or for most of the rest of us for that matter. The World Happiness…
On plausible alternatives
One of the perennial frustrations in following federal politics is the tendency of media coverage to default toward a Lib-Con duopoly. That pattern typically manifests itself when polling data and…
Erin O’Toole’s Disastrous Con Convention
It was supposed to be Erin O'Toole's big night. His Cinderella moment when he would step out of his shiny outhouse coach. And announce that his Cons had to become…
Conservatives Reject Reality
Sucks to be a country where the Official Opposition party rejects longstanding science that a grade school kid can understand. For ideological and economic reasons, the Conservative Party of Canada…
Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – David Macdonald and Martha Friendly examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has put even more strain on a Canadian child care system which was…
Behind Bars No More
As we have become increasingly aware these past several years, institutional investments matter. And as public awareness has grown, so has pressure for the big funds to divest from ethically…
O’Toole’s Speech
Last night, Erin O’Toole delivered a speech to the Conservative convention. It was all about change. First, he started with the facts: We have lost two elections in five-and-a-half years.…
Saturday Photo: Snowdrops, and Spring Is on Its Way…
Well, actually the snowdrops in front aren’t as far along yet–this photo was taken a couple of years ago–but there definitely are little green shoots coming up. In addition, we…
Not your father’s Tories.
This has probably been said before but it bears repeating. I used to know conservatives that I liked. Not that I would ever vote conservative but these were actually likeable…
Do we have a prime minister or a mouse? Canada doesn’t need U.S. permission to call China and bring the Two Michaels home
It appears China has thrown Canada an unexpected lifeline, offering us a chance to redeem our relationship with the world’s No. 2 economy and save the Two Michaels. Is Justin…