The Senate and transgenders
To my knowledge, I have never met a transgendered person in my life. That does not mean I don't have respect or compassion for those who live the sex opposite…
BlastFurnace
Do we value women or don’t we?
I haven’t had much to say since the shootings on Parliament Hill back in October, but today’s news that Jian Ghomeshi is facing three new charges, all from three new…
Terrorism comes home
It’s been thirty years or so since there was a coordinated terrorist attack in Canada – the bombing of the Litton plant in Toronto that was making guidance systems for…
Kick Russia out of the Helsinki Accords
Is the Helsinki Accord of 1975 a worthless scrap of paper? Because Vladimir Putin sure seems to think it’s a joke. I was not even three years old when the…
Tim Horton’s Farce
Am I the only one in Hamilton who’s embarrassed by the Tim Horton’s Field debacle? The stadium, which really never should have been built on the site of the old…
Oil spills, oil schmills
So the Cons have announced they’re raising the penalty for offshore oil spills – from $161 million to $2 billion ($400 million for the actual offence, the rest for environmental…
Arkansas sees the light; who next?
Four states in the South (via the courts) have now recognized gay marriage: Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma … and now Arkansas. The latter three are actually quite conservative, which is one…
Federalism wins with Senate decision
When Stephen Harper tried to go about his ideas about Senate reform, his belief was that one could have Senate elections and fixed terms without the consent of the provinces.…
With the new Québec government, the provinces should push back
Monday’s landslide win by Phillipe Couillard and his Québec Liberal Party is a great sign that the idea of sovereignty may have been set aside for a long time. But…
RIP Spousal privilege
One of the oldest principles in law is the spousal privilege. Considered even more sacred than the privilege between a lawyer and client, physician and patient, or cleric and penitent,…
What in the world is Eve Adams?
When I was a kid, I was known for throwing hissy fits on just about anything that didn’t go my way. Now a lot of us adults probably were like…
Another rebuke against PMS
0 and 4 so far for Stephen Harper. First, he lost the InSite decision, which now allows safe injection sites. Then he lost the prostitution decision, which all but legalizes…
Two steps forward in America, one step back in Uganda
Another good (and bad) week for common decency. 1) Freedom of religion. That’s the excuse a lot of business owners used well into the 1970s when they refused service to…
Finally, the Confederacy gets on board — well, one state does
In a decision that surprised me, a Southern federal judge overturned Virginia’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen also ruled that the state also had to…
Future posting
I haven’t gone away, I’m still very much here. Sometime in the next few days, I’ll be making a very personal diary entry. But it’s something I’ve wanted to say…
Doing right by sex trade workers
Due to multiple technical issues I haven’t been able until now to comment on the Supreme Court’s decision in Attorney General of Canada v. Bedford on December 20th but all…
Is that all the post office could come up with?
Since the post office department (literally part of the government) became the Canada Post Corporation in 1982, its mandate has been to deliver the mail but to do so on…
Should Worker’s Compensation be a shared responsibility?
We all know the reason for workers’ compensation. We give up the right to sue a company for injuries that happen at the workplace (although it is possible to sue…
"I’ve got more than enough to eat at home," Ford says
You couldn’t get the best scriptwriters in Hollywood or Broadway to come up with this line. Rob Ford, responding this morning to numerous allegations that he hired a call girl…
Take a time out already, Rob!
So Rob Ford has actually admitted it. He’s bought illegal drugs during the last two years. Notwithstanding that concession, 30 of 44 councillors on Toronto City Council voted to ask…