by John McNamer
Although the Harper government seems to believe it has successfully buried the mountain of evidence demonstrating Canada’s long-term, large-scale systemic complicity in illegal Afghan detainee torture and the CIA’s horrific worldwide “extraordinary rendition” scheme, this ghost may soon rise again to haunt all of Canada in a big way, as a UN committee calls for answers.
by Stephen Kimber
A 14-year-old Preston boy — a child by any definition — has been charged with possessing, making and distributing child pornography, crimes punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
A child charged with child pornography? Is this who we intended child pornography laws to protect our children from?
by Bill Tieleman
"Dog-whistle politics. It means putting out a message that, like a high-pitched dog-whistle, is only fully audible to those at whom it is directly aimed."
— The Economist, March 2005
The BC Liberal Party's winning election campaign successfully blew a dog-whistle signal to its many straying voters, calling them home just in time to defeat the BC NDP. The dog-whistle call is a simple one that works time and again for the so-called "free enterprise" coalition that usually governs British Columbia: "jobs and the economy."
from the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada
Pro-choice people across the country are in deep mourning after the announcement of the death of Dr Henry Morgentaler. The 90-year-old retired doctor died peacefully at his Toronto home earlier this morning after a short illness.
from Ipsos-Reid
The reality is that one in 10 (11 percent) BC voters decided in the voting booth on election day to mark their ballot for their candidate — and with one of the lowest turnouts in provincial voting ever (52 percent) it was motivated voters, Liberals, who bested the NDP in the voting booth.
The long and the short of it was that NDP voters did not get out and fulfill their promise to vote for the party of their choice — they stayed home while Liberal voters showed up. As such, a small number of voters were able to influence the greater outcome.
by Stephen Kimber
Dear Stephen Harper,
Congratulations! I never imagined in my wildest imaginings even you could be quite this Machiavellian. Appointing Mike Duffy, the long-time pretend senator from CTV, an actual Senator from Prince Edward Island? Genius.
Pamela Wallin, the queen of political TV, Senator for Air Canada? You had to know. You did, didn’t you?
by Gillian Steward
CALGARY — Politics in British Columbia has always been volatile and unpredictable, as last week’s election again proved. But it also was instructive in another way. It was the first major election campaign in Canada to feature both the economy and the environment as key issues.
That is surely a sign of the times. And even though Premier Christy Clark and her intense focus on the economy garnered the most seats for the Liberals, the popular vote tells another story.
Produced and directed by Eriel Deranger and Melina Laboucan-Massimo
Shell Canada is proposing two new tar sands mine projects in northern Alberta, Canada. From the perspective of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations (ACFN), whose lands will be affected by both Shell mines, governments are not fulfilling the promises of Treaty 8. This has led them to file a challenge to the Jackpine Mine proposal under section 35 of the Canadian Constitution.
Athabascan Chipewayans speak out on bitumen pipeline
Credits
Videographers: Eagle Claw Thom & Zack Embree
Music: Meander River Dene Drummers
Recorded and engineered by: Taro Hashimoto & Curtis Cardinal
Additional Music: Dexter Britain Into the Electric Fields, Together in the Empty
freemusicarchive.org
As Albertans watch the Stanley Cup playoffs with their own two hockey teams once again on the outside, a recent report published by Parkland Institute shows similar shared grief and angst over the state of politics in the province.
The report, which I co-authored, uses data from an extensive survey of Albertans conducted by the Population Research Laboratory at the University of Alberta in June 2012 to examine attitudes toward governance and how to possibly improve the processes of political decision-making.
by Bill Tieleman
“Politics determine who has the power, not who has the truth.”
— Economist Paul Krugman
Last night’s victory by Premier Christy Clark and the BC Liberals will go down in British Columbia political history as one of the biggest upset victories ever. Unfortunately, it will also go into the books as a triumph of fear over hope, of choosing incredibly negative, personal attack ads over policy and vision, and a revolting example that using taxpayer dollars to advertise your own party cause works.
