What to make of the federal by-elections?
On November 26, voters in three ridings went to the polls to replace MPs who resigned within the last few months. In June, Calgary Centre Conservative Lee Richardson resigned to accept a position as...
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First Nations Demand Harper Government Honour Constitutional Duty to Consult...
I am very worried that the Prime Minister will use the Parliamentary break to ratify the Canada-China Investment Treaty. Please act in solidarity with First Nations. Please keep up the pressure,...
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Idle No More Rally in Ottawa
Dear supporter,Join us for the Idle No More rally this Friday in Ottawa. Idle No More is a First Nations grassroots movement created in reaction to Harper's C-45 Omnibus Bill and its attack on...
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Hunger Strikes
I was reading Naomi Klein’s piece the other day about her wakening to take care of her little boy and then thinking about Chief Spence, hungry in the night. I thought to myself, “she’s not feeling...
View ArticleThe Attawapiskat audit: Distracting us from a legacy of failure
The tensions surrounding First Nations and the federal government are, perhaps, at an all-time high.I had hoped the Prime Minister’s decision to meet with First Nations leadership this Friday was a...
View ArticleWhat will 2013 hold for Canada?
I admit that I have failed in my number one goal for 2012—either convincing Stephen Harper to change his mind about Kyoto or to force him out of office in time to stop the withdrawal from Kyoto. On...
View ArticleWhy a two degree Celsius increase in the global average temperature is a big...
The International Energy Agency is warning that shooting past two degrees Celsius average global temperature will have “dire consequences.” And the World Bank is talking about 3.5 degrees of warming as...
View ArticleHow to re-make a country
“You won’t recognize Canada when I’m through with it,” Stephen Harper in 2006, -Noah Richler, National Post, May 5, 2012How do you re-make a country? How do you transform values and a culture without...
View ArticleDr. Warren Bell on the Northern Gateway Pipeline
The Joint Review Panel on Enbridge's proposed risky pipeline and tanker scheme has had countless hours of forceful, brilliant and important testimony setting out the reasons why the project must be...
View ArticleGovernments keep saying they're going to fix health-care system
Governments keep telling Canadians how they are going to "fix" the health-care system. Yet many problems are actually getting worse, including longer wait-lists for diagnosis and surgery, over-crowded...
View ArticlePolitical Cooperation
Greens favour a cooperative strategy in the next federal election. We need to move away from First Past the Post (FPTP), to a voting system that will ensure every vote counts and that the popular vote...
View ArticleIs the U.S. finally going to move on the climate crisis?
When a situation is as desperate as the climate crisis and yet, year after year, no leadership emerges, it is hard to believe that the situation may be changing. Like Charlie Brown running up to Lucy...
View ArticleThe Death of Bill C-30
It is so rare, that the tendency is to rush on to the next thing. I speak of our victories – so few and far between.The announcement that the so-called “Protecting children from Internet Predators...
View ArticleCanada’s innovation is lagging
Canada’s economy needs greater innovation. And our commitment to reduce greenhouse gases needs a burgeoning clean-tech sector. These goals, environment and economy, are mutually supportive.It has been...
View ArticleMuzzle Velocity
Kudos to Elizabeth Renzetti for her straight talk on the increasing scandal of muzzling scientists in Canada (Protecting Our Precious Liberties: Let’s Start With Government Scientists – Feb. 23).In...
View ArticleTightening the grip: muzzling of scientists ramps up
I had originally intended to write this column about my trip to Washington, DC on February 7-8, when I met with United States Senators and Congresspersons about climate and the Keystone XL pipeline. In...
View ArticleTruth is Stranger Than Fiction
“Truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction is obliged to stick to the possibilities.”- Mark TwainI just read two recent political pot-boilers, back to back. If this fiction is stranger than the...
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Missing the Copenhagen Target
On February 15, with the Conservatives’ typical, quiet Friday afternoon, splash-less launch, the 2012 Progress Report to the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy was tabled in the House of Commons....
View ArticleFlaherty has changed — and more than just his footwear
There is a distinct change of tone in the 2013 budget. It is a matter of tone more than substance, but the jackboot style of Budget 2012 — the “we will build pipelines and the environment be damned”...
View ArticleNew and Improved Oil Spills!
Harper’s public relations and spin team hit Vancouver last week to unveil their super-duper enviro-protection plan for pipelines and tankers. Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver and Minister of...
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