One-Sided Debate on Gun Control
I usually like Power and Politics and Evan Solomon is generally a good host, but what was up here? Why did he only have pro-gun supporters in this discussion? Why…
Public Safety
New column day
Here, on how the reactions of the federal government and the rail industry six months after the Lac-Mégantic rail explosion only seem to reinforce the risk of more disasters to…
Deep thought
In times like these, it’s vitally important that we not connect dots like “oil”, “rail”, “deregulation”, “explosion” and “disaster”. Because otherwise, people might start demanding that our corporate reduce the…
Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Dan Leger points to the Lac-Mégantic rail explosion as an all-too-vivid example of the intersection of privatized profits and socialized risks: Are we…
Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Stephen Beer argues that the UK’s Labour Party should take the lead in arguing for a financial transactions tax oriented toward reducing…
New column day
Here, on what the Cons’ response to the Lac-Mégantic rail explosion says about their wider concern (or lack thereof) for the safety of Canadians. For further reading…– My earlier posts…
On selective endpoints
Shorter Andrew Coyne: If you ignore the actual recent rail disaster that blew up a town, there’s little apparent risk of rail disasters. So let’s keep assuming the likelihood of…
On glibertarianism
One of the more obvious points of convergence in political thought over the past 70-80 years is the greater appreciation of systemic complexity – the recognition that different decisions by…
Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Ethan Cox discusses how the Lac-Mégantic tragedy was a predictable – if not inevitable – outcome of a self-regulated (or un-regulated) rail system:…
Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Ed Broadbent takes a look at how our tax system can combat inequality in more ways than one: The Broadbent Institute is…
Obert Madondo’s Canada crime Bill C-10 hunger strike: Response from the Minister of Justice
On June 6, I ended my 85-day hunger strike against Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s New Jim Crow-style crime Bill C-10, the deceptively christened “Safe Streets and Communities Act”. Two of…
Confirmed again: “Canada may use information obtained through torture”
Last February, we learned that Public Safety Minister Vic Toews had quietly authorized the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to use information gleaned from terror suspects through torture. Today, Toews’…
Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Rick Salutin discusses the link between parity of wealth and democratic participation, while pointing out why there’s reason for people to engage much…
Statistics Canada: Crime rate reached its lowest level in 40 years in 2011
The evidence on the crime rate in Canada is out! Statistics Canada reported yesterday that rate of crimes reported to Canadian police forces across the country reached its lowest level…
Rob Ford calls Toronto “one of the safest cities in the world” after deadly shooting
Reacting to the Danzig Street shooting, which left two dead and another 24 injured, the “furious” mayor of Canada’s largest city assures us that Toronto has “the greatest police service…
Bill C10: Vic Toews Met With Lobbyist for U.S. Prisons Profiteer GEO
During the heated public debates on the omnibus crime Bill C-10, Canadian progressives argued that the Harper Government’s controversial legislation was the beginning of the privatization of Canada’s prison system.…
Harper’s Canada “Making Up Terror Identities”
In Stephen Harper’s Canada, we’re all potential terror threats. Until proven otherwise. So suggests a recent study by Queens University’s Jeffrey Monaghan and Kevin Walby, published in the journal Policing…
Vic Toews To Use Magnotta Murder Case To Revive Internet Surveillance Bill C-30
In dictatorial regimes, tyrants rule by manipulating prevailing public emotions. They use the smallest emotional opportunity to create draconian laws that take away the people’s rights and freedoms. Public Safety…