Canada, China, and our common futures
Retired judge and former Vancouver city councillor Bill Yee came under devastating criticism for comments he reportedly made about Xinjiang in northwestern China. Photo courtesy the Chinese Canadian Museum. The…
April 2021
Nobel Laureates Call For a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
101 Nobel laureates have signed an open letter demanding an urgent switch to renewable energy, not just in the affluent nations, but in every country. The signatories are experts in…
Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Max Fawcett discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the inability of simplistic right-wing populism to respond to any complex problem. And…
Canada Will Cut GHG Emissions by Oodles Vows PM!
Compared to their peers, the Brits have achieved fairly good results in cutting their greenhouse gas emissions. They not only promised – everyone does that – but they delivered. On…
Long-awaited ‘reforms’ fail to address realities of environmental injustice
Athabasca oil sands. Photo by Kris Krug. Last week, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Jonathan Wilkinson announced long-awaited reforms to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), one of Canada’s…
“It Came Out of Nowhere”
Over the past week I’ve had a fair share to say about the performance of Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his government, as the COVID situation in Ontario has spiraled…
Yuval Harari: Bleak Is Back!
Yuval Harari is a shallow thinking dogmatic materialist who swallows whole and uncritically the dominant pseudo-scientific paradigm of mechanistic materialist dualism, which of course is an extremely bleak view of…
The Folly Of Killing Sick Days
Doctors have been pleading with the Ontario government to legislate paid sick days. Apparently, Doug Ford — now that he is self-isolating — is considering the policy. Martin Regg Cohn…
When Did I Become My Parents?
When Did I Become My Parents? When did I stop listening to new music, and change the dial to something familiar: oldies, classic rock; comfortable tunes? When did I stop…
We’ve Improved Urban Life During the Pandemic, Let’s Keep it up!
During the the last century urban planners in North America built cities for cars instead of people. The 21st century is literally paying the costs of their misjudgement. Efforts to…
Question of the day
Why are we knowingly importing COVID-19 variants into our airports from abroad? Why? I simply do not get it. Even for @JustinTrudeau‘s regime, it is madness on an epic scale.…
Religion, Politics and Leadership.
The admonition to never bring religion and politics into a conversation is a lot of B.S. They are two very interesting subjects and they are ever present in our daily…
Legislature passes transitory vaccine leave legislation, a worthwhile Canadian Initiative, Alberta style!
Never let it be said the United Conservative Party has done nothing worthwhile during the two years it’s been in power in Alberta. Late yesterday the Alberta Legislature passed a…
April 21 Don’t believe all you see in the news.
While doing some research, I came across an organization which seems to be Canadian and American. It calls itself SumOfUs and it floats across our computers. Many of it’s causes…
Justice for George Floyd Waits Until August
Derek Chauvin was chump change. He was convicted in what seemed like a slam dunk case. One bad cop heads to the slam. Big deal. The real deal comes in…
Is Nothing Holy?
If Vancouver had a High Holy day it was yesterday, April 20 or, to stoners, 420. For many years 4/20 has been the day when members of the weed culture…
Conservatives – a Bunch of Dangerous Know Nothings! Take Ibbitson’s Word for It.
I did a double take when I read the opening lines of John Ibbitson’s latest column: Conservative politicians are sometimes suspicious of advice coming from experts for good reason: The…
Do Ya Feel Lucky? Do Ya?
In Ontario they’re considering setting up a lottery for those in need the Covid drug, tocilizumab, as stockpiles dwindle. The Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table is asking the provincial government…