Monday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your week. – Murray Dobbin writes about the damage caused after decades of allowing the corporate elite to dictate economic policy – and notes that the…
Education
Activist pasts, austere presents, queered futures: An interview with Emily Davidson
“Imagine a new relationship to every aspect of everything.” “Capitalism has fallen; Art must be redefined.” “You get to pick your gender when you come of age, but feel free…
UBC Must Divest From Fossil Fuel Companies: Faculty Members
Open letter signed by 215 University of British Columbia faculty members asks university to divest from destructive fossil fuel companies within five years. The post UBC Must Divest From Fossil…
New column day
Here, on how the City of Regina has learned a painful lesson about the Saskatchewan Party’s habit of accepting credit but not responsibility on P3 projects. For further reading…– Emma…
An Open Letter to Janet Fraser
Dear Janet Fraser, First of all, let me start by congratulating you on your school board election victory this past Saturday. I voted for you enthusiastically, as I did your…
Conservatives Learning Lessons of History
11. Government handing over the most vulnerable to religious groups has worked out well in Canadian history: look at the residential schools — Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) November 10, 2014 1.…
Apprentice. Intern. Slave.
The employment climate for many students and graduates has been a difficult terrain to not only navigate but also survive. And slavery masked under labels of ‘apprentice’ or ‘intern’ only…
New student coalition vows to block tar sands pipelines at Quebec border
A new student coalition promises to block Transcanada’s Energy East and Enbridge’s line 9B tar sands pipeline projects “at Quebec border.” The post New student coalition vows to block tar…
Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Duncan Cameron discusses how Canada can respond to being stalled economically: In 2011 median earnings in Canada were $30,000. That means one-half of…
Means-test the rich, or another argument for eliminating tuition
Here’s an oversimplified choice for how to fund post-secondary education. Imagine you have two options for dealing with how people pay for post-secondary education: Universal free tuition, means-testing to see…
Germany Now Has Free Tuition
Germany has done something that the rest the developed world should copy: reducing post-secondary tuition fees to zero. Open and accessible education is key to making a richer and more…
Feel Better By Visiting Your Local Library
It turns out that by simply using your local library you can improve your life – no matter what you read. As long as you make use of what the…
Jim Prentice’s First Week in Office–Straight out of the Corporate Playbook
“As of this moment, Alberta is under new management.” — Jim Prentice, 16th Premier of Alberta* Transition. There’s nothing more unsettling; no, strike that, nerve-wracking, for an organization than a…
#bced in my twitterverse
On @globalnews Sandy @Garossino suggested readings of J.Griffin's judgement with findings of bad faith. Start here: http://t.co/Xmw8LmiNYZ — Norm Farrell (@Norm_Farrell) September 10, 2014 "Democracy has to be born anew…
The real news gets ignored – REPLAY
I wrote the following article 3½ years ago. It demonstrates how little has changed. On the day George Abbott became the first Education Minister to speak at a convention of…
Government serves insiders and elites
It is clear that BC Liberal strategy is to reward insiders and elites. That’s been shown in countless ways, particularly since Christy Clark took office as Premier in 2011. Shortly…
Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – The Broadbent Institute studies wealth inequality in Canada, and finds not only that the vast majority of Canada’s capital resources remain concentrated…
Planned degradation of public education
Principal reports on devastating budget cuts to parent population. Such honesty needed for all of BC. #bced #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/aYeROVmdPh — Karen Richard (@KarenRichard14) September 10, 2014
UBC Professor of Law Joel Bakan speaks
“I see a lot of sense in the BCTF’s insistence on eliminating E80 from the package for consideration in binding arbitration… “As is true of any negotiation, the respective bargaining…