Food Banks: The Art of Enabling
Few rational people would deny the contemporary need for food banks. Begun in Canada largely as a temporary anodyne to recession-induced job losses in the 1980’s, they have grown in…
Lorne
Thomas Friedman on What Being Pro-Life Should Really Mean
Still convalescing from food-poisoning, I realized today that my re-entry into regular blogging will likely be slower than I had anticipated. Nonetheless, as the situation has permitted, I have been…
Rick Salutin on Universities
Back from a two-week vacation and almost another week recovering from what I suspect was a food-borne illness acquired from a chicken sandwich I bought in the Rome airport, today’s…
Time For Another Blogging Break
My Internet connection will be rather sporadic for the next little while as I take another break from blogging. See you soon! Recommend this Post
Thomas Walkom: Harper’s Strategy Behind The Foreign Workers Program
Yesterday, over at Northern Reflections, Owen Gray wrote a post entitled A Lost Generation, a reflection on the discouraging prospects our young people face in establishing themselves in gainful employment,…
An Update on Tim DeChristopher
About a year ago I wrote a post on Tim DeChristopher, a brave young activist who was sentenced to two years in prison for disrupting an oil and gas auction.…
Lying Politicians
Given the level of odium in which the public holds politicians, the title of this post probably seems redundant. However, it is also appropriate given an article written by Lawrence…
Pick On Someone Your Own Size, Premier McGuinty
Much rhetoric has been uttered of late about the need for everyone to ‘share the pain’ as Ontario’s McGuinty government attacks the provincial deficit in a manner that many think…
‘Where Is The Outrage?’ Asks Alex Himelfarb
I have written two previous posts about Alex Himelfarb, Director of the Glendon School of Public and International Affairs at York University, former Clerk of the Privy Council, and fellow…
More From Allan Gregg: In Defence of Reason
Pollster Allan Gregg, now spending much of his time offering critiques of the Harper regime and its dangerous demagogic inclinations, has written a followup to his talk “1984 in 2012:…
Oh, Oh, More Inconvenient Truths
A few things the extreme right-wing does not want you to think about: H/t Sol Chrom You might also be interesting in reading this article dealing with the issue of…
Education and the Digital World
The other day I wrote a post commenting on an article by Doug Mann, a University of Western Ontario professor who calls into question the wholehearted embrace of all things…
Ministerial Responsibility
Does anyone remember that quaint notion? During the lead-up to the Falkands War, the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrignton, and two junior ministers resigned. They took the blame for Britain’s…
In Praise of Thanksgiving
I’m especially thankful this year for turkey. H/t somecanuckchick Recommend this Post
Psst! What’s The Latest On TMZ?
In the latter part of my teaching career, I had the feeling that those in charge of education, especially on the local level, were suffering from a kind of drift…
So You’re Not Interested in Politics, Eh?
Oh yes, I am in a bit of a scolding mood this morning, and the object of my vituperation is that substantial group of Canadians who demonstrate their apolitical natures…
Chopped Liver, Everyone?
Comedians like Don Rickles, whenever he felt slighted, would turn to host Johnny Carson and ask, “What am I, chopped liver?” I couldn’t help but think of that line when…
Everyone is a Politician These Days
Echoing the Conservative government’s ‘hang tough’ attitude that means never having to say you’re sorry, XL Foods had this to say about the tainted beef scandal they are at the…
Assumptions Can Be Dangerous
Harris assumed that small Ontario towns like Walkerton would have the good sense to keep their drinking water clean. Harper assumed that profit-making companies would make sure that their consumers…