Rona Ambrose – Smoke From The Ears
Anyone else smell pants burning? Maybe it’s something else. Hold on, you’re about to get whiplash. I guess having an empty head is a biological advantage since your brain doesn’t…
Canada
Reductio ad absurdum: Why we environmentalists are missing the boat with sham hearings, technical arguments
Technical arguments and sham hearings on the merits and risks of pipelines and tankers miss the point, argues Rafe Mair.The post Reductio ad absurdum: Why we environmentalists are missing the…
Elites debate boosting the economy, but for whom?
Elites and the talking heads in the media are arguing about how to respond to Canada’s soured economic outlook. Who should try to boost the economy, the federal government via…
William Shatner’s Inaugural Address
(After Winning the First Post-Two-Party Presidential Election) Friends, Americans, Countrymen! Lend me your ears. I come to bury our two-party system, not praise it. I stand before you today, not…
Three Card Monte in LaLaLand
Corus Entertainment is buying Shaw Media in $2.65B deal Acquisition ‘redefines Corus and Canada’s media landscape,’ president/CEO says The Canadian Press Posted: Jan 13, 2016 7:20 AM ET Same…
Short-term jobs and profits notwithstanding, Canada’s interests are not served by Saudi armoured vehicle sale
PHOTOS: A Canadian LAV III similar to the armoured vehicles to be sold by General Dynamics Land Systems (Canada) of London, Ont., to the Saudi National Guard. Below: Prime Minister…
From Participatory Budgeting to Co-operative Tenant Control: An Alternative Policy Recommendation For Toronto Community Housing
Toronto Community Housing (TCH) is a huge organization with a crucial mandate. Located in Canada’s most-populous city and the capital of the Province of Ontario, TCH provides housing for 164,000…
NDP Resolution? Shave the Beard
On January 1st, many greet the New Year armed with a resolution meant to improve themselves. As people are creatures of habit they often fail, but there is surely merit in recognizing where…
Why Canada’s belligerent Conservatives are likely praying for peace in the Persian Gulf
PHOTOS: The nuclear powered American aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush in the Persian Gulf in in 2014. (U.S. Navy photo.) Mighty warships are the carriers, but in the constricted…
Time to reverse Canada’s peacekeeping decline
At one time, back in the early 90's, Canada contributed more troops to UN peacekeeping missions than anyone else. We were number one. Today, with only 26 military personnel involved,…
2015—a very good year
2015 is nearly done, a year of significant change for me: a new home after 25 years of living by Calgary's Elbow River, by far the longest I've ever lived…
Do Not As I Used To Say and Do
Not sure what’s more pathetic and hypocritical: Wudrick and Taylor feigning desire for un-tinkered elections, or Wall pining for Ottawa money. @saskboy what on earth are you talking about? We…
Star Wars and Snow
I brushed the snow off my solar panels a couple times on the weekend, and it helped with their production a fair bit. The full sun came out, and melted…
A Picture of Victory
Last week the eyes of the world again turned towards Canada’s new government, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Pictures circled the globe, showing him on hand to personally greet Syrian…
Questions for the Canadian left
Harper is gone, but (as a friend only quarter-jokingly said) we got the second worst outcome sold as the best, so now what? That’s the 10 second version of this…
Raise Corporate Taxes To Fund Ontario’s Infrastructure Deficit: An Alternative Policy Proposal
The province of Ontario currently faces a significant public infrastructure deficit which is harming its economic productivity and its quality of life. The government’s own numbers estimate that deficit at…
#RefugeesWelcome
This op-ed appeared in The Ottawa Citizen on November 27, 2015. “This is not a federal project, this is not even a government project, it’s a national project for all…
The Problem is Fundamentalism, Not Islam (or Christianity).
When I started my transition, the first troubles I had were with the tenants in my building, though the conflicts weren’t overt. Instead, it seemed as though I’d had the…
…Then They Came for Me…
Online comments on news stories: a problem for everyone Syrian refugee stories on news sites are prompting some backlash in the comments section of some websites By Bal Brach, CBC…