The Charest government has granted a Montreal-based forestry company permission to log on Algonquin land in Northern Quebec. The Algonquin community at Barriere Lake, however, say that they were not consulted and that the new clear-cutting logging project at Poignan Bay violates a trilateral agreement on resource co-management they signed with the province in 1991
Category: Politics
Police brutality attention-starved
Police brutality in Montreal – especially killings at the hands of police officers – is a year-round issue, a point yesterday’s demonstration was attempting to make. The lack of sustained political pressure and media coverage is clearing the path for a controversial police brutality bill currently under debate in the Quebec National Assembly…
The People of the State of New York vs. Malcolm Harris
A decision handed down by the New York State Supreme Court two weeks ago regarding Twitter’s release of user information could set a precedent for court decisions in Canada
How to discuss climate change with your conservative relatives
Understanding the arguments behind climate change is important because there’s lots of misinformation out there, thanks to some very powerful interest groups. It’s also handy to have the facts down should you find yourself at a family reunion with politically divergent relatives, or if you’re trying to get someone to leave you alone at a bar…
Victorian values still reign in Canada
A modern-day witch hunt is underway in Canada. The hunted: not terrorists, but fetishists. The RCMP is investigating the conduct of one of its officers who posted pictures of himself on a fetish website. The most shocking aspect of the story is not the photos, though, but the fact that people are outraged by them
The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Problem
The occupy movement was fairly successful at bringing to light the massive influence that corporations have over our governments, the internet and our daily lives. If only they could see what was going on in San Diego, California. Cloaked in secrecy, negotiations are taking place between 600 industry advisers and non-elected trade representatives to engineer an international agreement called the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Oda’s career epitomised Harper government’s lack of accountability
It does seem like Oda was never really on top of her files or fully in control of her own ministry. Then again, apart from a handful of ministers, none of these “servants of the crown” seems to be able to escape the tight leash Harper has imposed on them. They would do well to remember that the term “responsible government” in Canada means that they are accountable to the Parliament and not to the Prime Minister
Oreos show their true colours
Is there really anything so wrong with the Pride-cookie, as my previous article would make it seem? No, there isn’t. The difference is in whether queer rights are being used to sell a controversial product or whether the motive is to affirm the existence of a marginalized group, as it is with Kraft…
Water water everywhere
Maybe the state of water in Canada is better than a decade ago, but the folks at the Sustainable Water Management Division – now semi-defunct – say Canada needs a water charter, possibly because safe water could be considered a human right
Quebec court rejects emergency injunction against Bill 78
Quebec Superior Court Chief Justice François Rolland on Wednesday rejected a motion filed by Quebec’s student associations asking for an emergency injunction against certain elements of Quebec’s contentious Bill 78. In a twenty-one page decision released late Wednesday afternoon, Rolland found that the students case had the “appearance of right”, but failed to meet the two other criteria for this type of emergency injunction, namely “irreparable prejudice” and “balance of inconvenience”.