Columnists

One-cell wonders

Aug 142013

We can’t ignore the little things that keep us alive.

by David Suzuki

Scientists believe life appeared on Earth almost four-billion years ago, about half a billion years after our relatively young planet formed. It would be fascinating to see how life arose and managed to hang on.

If scientists were to invent time travel to take us back through Earth's history, we'd see little life for most of the four-billion years. Plenty was happening but at a microscopic level as organisms worked out all the intricacies of survival: finding food and energy, evading predators, fighting off disease (even bacteria get virus infections), reproducing and eliminating waste.

A Tory leader’s life is never dull

Aug 132013

Insight

Tim Hudak's leadership may be brief.

by Geoffrey Stevens

Tim Hudak is discovering the uncomfortable facts of Tory life, facts that earlier Conservative leaders, federal and provincial, had to learn, painfully, in their day. Out of power, Tories are less a political party than a dysfunctional rabble, seething with individual ambitions and personal agendas.

Reading the Ontario by-election results

Aug 072013

Insight

After winning only two in five seats, Wynne needs to change the channel.

by Geoffrey Stevens

The jury is still out on Ontario’s Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne. That much, at least, seems clear from last week’s provincial byelections. The Liberals went into the fray with five seats, all held by former cabinet ministers; they came out with just two.

When she became leader and premier early this year, Wynne faced two challenges. The first was to make a clean break with her predecessor, Dalton McGuinty, with his administration (of which she had been a part) and with the legacy of mismanagement and scandal he left behind. The second was to demonstrate that she and her administration represent a new game in town.

Fear of information is an insidious Ottawa disease

Jul 292013

Insight

Harperites act as though they'd never win another election if the voters know what they know.

by Geoffrey Stevens

More often than not, the Harper Conservatives are their own worst enemy. They have only themselves to blame if they are seen by the public as being secretive, controlling, dissembling and hypocritical – even paranoid.

NB’s unwanted distinction

Jul 262013

Equality time

New Brunswick continues to top the charts in sexual violence.

by Jody Dallaire

The good news is that New Brunswickers are #1 in Canada in at least two important social indicators. The bad news is that those #1 positions are in unemployment (11.2 percent in June, vs the 7.1 percent Canadian average — and urban sexual assault.

Appraising Nature

Jul 242013

Science matters

What’s the value of something we can’t live without?

by David Suzuki

More than 13 percent of Canada’s gross domestic product depends on healthy ecosystems, according to Environment Canada briefing notes obtained by Postmedia News. By contrast, the Harper government’s pet economic project, the Alberta oil sands, represents a mere two percent.

But is 13 percent a reasonable estimate of the “value” of nature? With the current perspective that elevates the economy above all else, it’s important to find ways to include nature’s value in our calculations so it doesn’t get ignored in decision-making. At the same time, it seems absurd to try to assign worth to something so vital we can’t survive without it.

Midwifery safe, cost effective, and definitely not new

Jul 212013

Equality time

Does NB's Health Minister also think penicillin is a new wonder drug?

by Beth Lyons

Last week, the province’s Department of Health announced announced that the Midwifery Council of New Brunswick (MCNB) would not receive its annual $10,000 funding. An email statement from Health Minister Ted Flemming explained that, “In this time of change, the department has decided to postpone the introduction of midwives. It does not seem prudent to introduce a new profession in the midst of systemic change… In addition, the fiscal challenges make it more complicated.”

Hold up: the Health Department thinks midwifery is a new profession?

Reviewing the cabinet shuffle

Jul 212013

Insight

Re-positioning of senior ministers shows Harperites' priorities.

by Geoffrey Stevens

The removal of Cambridge MP Gary Goodyear as minister of state for science and technology in last week’s federal cabinet shuffle slipped beneath the radar of the national media.

That’s partly because the science portfolio has never assumed any importance in Stephen Harper’s universe. (This may seem odd, given the Conservatives’ emphasis on economic development, but it’s not the only peculiar priority in Ottawa these days.) It’s also partly because Goodyear, a strong constituency member, has never managed to make himself more than a marginal player in the capital.

Getting to the root of disasters

Jul 202013

Science matters

Rail, pipeline and climate disasters are symptoms of fossil fuel addiction.

by David Suzuki

Like smokers who put off quitting until their health starts to suffer, we’re learning what happens when bad habits catch up with us. We’re witnessing the terrible effects of fossil fuel addiction every day: frequent, intense storms and floods, extended droughts, rapidly melting Arctic ice, disappearing glaciers, deadly smog and pollution, contaminated waterways and destroyed habitats. Transport accidents are also increasing as governments and industry scramble to get fuels out of the ground and to market as quickly as possible.

Throughout it all, we’re asking the wrong questions.

New NB Women’s Forum needs funds, rules

Jul 152013

Equality time

Women win — province creates replacement for Status of Women Advisory Council.

by Jody Dallaire

In spring of 2011, the New Brunswick suddenly announced that it would be abolishing all funding to the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women. Two years and two months later, after constant vociferous lobbying by women’s groups, the Minister responsible for the Status of Women, Marie-Claude Blais announced the province will create an independent Voices of New Brunswick Women Consensus-Building Forum, composed of representatives from organizations in New Brunswick.

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