Toronto’s Future Isn’t Written Yet
If you make to the end of the Back to the Future movie trilogy, past the flying cars and cowboys the last scene has a sage bit of wisdom to…
politics
Regina Women’s History Month #womenhistory
October is Women’s History Month. This year I was invited to the event at the Conexus Arts Centre, and I’d suggest you check it out next October.
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Thomas Frank reviews Zephyr Teachout’s Corruption in America, and finds there’s even more reason to worry about gross wealth buying power than…
ConCalls: Sona Sentencing Taking Too Long #RoboCon
Michael Sona has to wait until next month to find out how much time he’s spending in jail for being convicted of participating in a nefarious scheme to defraud Guelph…
Saskatoon Lockout of Transit Workers Was Illegal
Saskatoon’s civic politicians are responsible for a City Manager who lost the City a month of transit service, at a price of over $1,000,000. Time for a firing, and maybe…
The mote and the beam
“Hide witch hide, the good folks come to burn thee; Their keen enjoyment hid behind a Gothic mask of duty.” Jefferson Starship: Mau Mau (Blows Against the Empire, 1970) I…
Tell Christy Clark: Don’t rush through Societies Act reforms
Please write today to tell the BC government not to press through its reforms to the BC Societies Act. Email fcsp@gov.bc.ca before the end of 15 October 2014. Clark’s Liberal…
“A” Personalities: A Theory
When someone tells me he is an “A-type” personality, I cannot help but think of the title of Aaron James’ bestselling book: Assholes *A Theory (Anchor Books, New York, 2014).…
Flirting With Fascism
ICYMI: @DonMartinCTV does his last word on changes to the Copyright Act http://t.co/bLonc1F5om @ctvnewschannel #cdnpoli — CTV Power Play (@CTV_PowerPlay) October 9, 2014 It’s about damn time someone in the…
#EnergyEast Hot Tub Party
TransCanada wants to use an old pipe that was designed for another product, and send tarsand bitumen through it, under Regina and many communities. What municipalities are crazy enough to…
Montaigne on Friendship, Liars and Politics
“I am seeking the companionship and society of such men as we call honourable and talented,” wrote Michel de Montaigne in his essay, On the Three Kinds of Social Intercourse…
Promising What Can’t be Done
There’s a wrap up in the Connection this weekend with candidates’ comments on “accountability” I want to address. One deputy-mayoral candidate, Brian Saunderson, wrote, he would, “Strengthen the current council…
Are Canada’s Rails Safe?
All signs are pointing to no. And the railway companies are starting to ship way more goods much more explosive than Canadian grain.
Harper govt gets failing grade on environmental record: federal watchdog
Read this Oct. 7 Globe and Mail story by Josh Wingrove on a scathing report from a federal government watchdog on the Harper government’s environmental record. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s…
The Lobbyist Registry
I was in the local grocery store with Susan, picking over the collection of organic vine-ripened tomatoes, earnestly searching for the best couple of them. A man recognized me as…
The Cold War
I was reminded by an article on Slate that the (to me) iconic film of the Cold War, Fail Safe, was released fifty years ago this week. And as the…
Rafe: Tories will win in 2015 on Iraq position; what does that mean for Canada, environment?
Stephen Harper addressing UN Security Council (Sean Kilpatrick/CP) The environmental policy of Ottawa will now depend upon what the Tories desire for the next five years. Why do I say…
Your Election Choices
As the ballots start to trickle in, the campaigns wind down. The Collingwood election is essentially over – we’re just waiting for the results now. But if you haven’t cast…
Leadership – it’s vital
After watching the municipal campaigns in Ottawa unfold thus far, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the defining issue is leadership. Pro green bin or not (I pity the fools!),…
Their Shoddy Potemkin Villages
In 1787, the Empress Catherine II took a long trip to the Crimea along the Dnieper River. She wanted to see how her subjects lived. Not wanting her to see…