EthicalOil.org and the Harper Government
The various spokespeople for supposed "grassroots" pro-Tar Sands and pipeline organization EthicalOil.org have steadfastly maintained their campaign has no connection to the oil and gas industry or the Harper Government. But as the links between these groups continue to pile up, that contention becomes harder and harder to ...
This year, put the country ahead of party affiliations
As we enter the new year, the prospects for defeating the Harper government in 2015 seem uncertain at best. And yet if those who care about the country were musing over a new year’s resolution, that would be it, a dedication to this single overarching purpose. Even if Harper is soundly defeated in the next election, it will...
Housing continues to play a key role in economy
Housing-related spending accounts for more than 20 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product, contributing about $330 billion to the Canadian economy in 2010 — up 7.1 per cent from $308 billion in 2009. This and other key findings are in the ninth annual Canadian Housing Observer, released today by Canada Mortgage and...
It’s the economy, dippers
The NDP leadership race suddenly seems like a very long, drawn out affair. Initially, there was much outrage – especially from Thomas Mulcair – at the suggestion that the party go along with what Jack Layton seemed to want: an earlier leadership convention in January. But now many in the party, lead by Winnipeg MP Pat Martin...
First Nations network condemns newly revealed RCMP surveillance of Indigenous communities, activists
The Defenders of the Land (DotL), a network of Indigenous Communities, today condemned reports that in 2007, the Harper government established a national and international police surveillance network to spy on Indigenous Peoples and their supporters for defending Indigenous Peoples' self-determination and land rights. The...
Fox News North: Your national, pro-war TV network
You will no doubt recall the controversy surrounding the efforts of Quebec billionaire Pierre Peladeau to get a prized licence for his Sun News TV network. If he had succeeded, the cable companies would have been obliged to carry his extremist right wing news channel, dubbed by many as “Fox News North.” In the end, the CRTC...
Wake up and listen to Occupiers
The amazingly resilient Occupy phenomenon is running up against the same ugly reality that so many social movements have encountered over the past 20 years: There is a world of difference between influence and power. Governments and the corporations they serve have power — that is, the power of money (and the law) to make ...
Stephen Harper’s social engineering
The Harper government’s announcement that it will change the laws regarding capital gains taxes to encourage more charitable giving strikes an ominous note for the country’s political culture. Harper is mimicking the Conservatives in Britain who are trying to pull the same trick with what they call the Big Society initiative...
Greenpeace returns ocean destruction to Canadian tuna giant Clover Leaf
Greenpeace activists visited Clover Leaf Seafoods’ Canadian headquarters this morning to return cases of the company’s canned tuna products and deliver a platter of simulated marine life remains, representing the wasteful fisheries the company sources from. “Canadian consumers deserve better than Clover Leaf’s canned ocean ...
Occupy: What can it teach the left?
The occupy movement has been a like a powerful cleansing wind blowing over the political landscape – exposing not just the obscenely rich, and criminally irresponsible political elite, but almost every other political player too: cowardly liberals, cautious social democrats, the strangely silenced churches, social movements...
