Month: November 2011

Ethical Oil, Part Two: The Trade

In part one, I introduced everyone to Alykhan Velshi and Zoe; two ideological zealots engaged in a war of words over the nature of Canadian oil production.

Velshi is the captain of the good ship Ethical Oil and Zoe is, of course, Ezra Levant’s fictitious and quintessential environmentalist.

So, not happy with having such an important debate boiled down to a never-ending back-and-forth of pontificating and self-righteousness, I wanted to know where our oil actually comes from.

Our underlying issue is one of supply and demand: Canadians are demanding oil, and we’re supplying it to…

Tales from the G20: A Few Questions for Justin Saunders and Joseph Cami

It’s been over a year and people are still talking about the mass mobilization of protest and the repressive tactics used by authorities at the Toronto G20 Summit. Justin Saunders was there with a film crew and his documentary Tales from the G20 screens tonight in Montreal at Cinema Politica at Concordia. FTB’s Stephanie Laughlin interviewed Saunders about the film, what happened at the G20, what it means for the future of activism, the Occupy movement and upcoming projects….

2012 Election: One Year from Today

It’s the first weekend of November 2011; we’ve been talking about the Republican presidential race for the past six months and we still have a full year to go before the real deal. Anyone sick and tired of it all already? For three years we’ve witnessed the do little Democrats and the do nothing Republicans fight it out in the Senate and House as if the election was tomorrow. I can only assume this year; with unlimited ammunition being donated from corporations and two vocal, but leaderless grassroots organizations… there will be blood! Let’s start off with the Republican presidential nomination. You have…

MIGS Conference: The Responsibility to Protect

The Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) celebrated the 10th Anniversary of its program the Responsibility to Protect on October 20 and 21. The conference featured some of the key players in the international arena, such as Dr. Frank Chalk, Kyle Matthews, and the former Prime Minister of Canada Paul Martin among many others. Some called the MIGS conference “a conference of conscience,” but in my opinion, the conference had a political agenda that lacked the human story and the reality of what leads to a genocide…

Justice Moldaver: An Injustice Waiting To Happen

When is Canada going to learn what Québec already seems to understand: that Harper and his Tories were never really serious about ensuring that recognition of Québec as a nation ever become more than a bone one throws at the proverbial dog that you otherwise ignore. After appointing a unilingual Anglo judge and Attorney General (Judge Moldaver & Michael Ferguson, respectively), it’s now blatantly obvious that the PM is thumbing his nose at official bilingualism, an institution that not only directly affects Québec but also the 1 million, francophone’s scattered throughout the country…