Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Aaron Wherry discusses the deadly-serious consequences of climate denialism which is driven by frivolous rhetoric. And Andre Mayer points out the numerous ways in which the climate breakdown is actually responsible for the increased cost of living which is being used as an
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Accidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Chris Walker discusses new research showing that over half of the increase in U.S. consumer prices over the past 6 months is pure corporate greedflation. And Michael Harris warns that Pierre Poilievre is planning to use discontent among Canadian voters as to a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On discriminatory treatment
Following up on this post, let’s take a look at Tom Parkin’s other recent post which offers plenty of food for thought. Parkin’s view broadly matches Guy Caron’s position on Quebec’s treatment of people who wear niqabs – but seems to me to fall short of making the case for
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Baratunde Thurston makes the point that even beyond income and wealth inequality, there’s an obviously unfair distribution of second chances in the U.S. depending on one’s race and class. Denis Campbell reports on the link between poverty and childhood obesity, while Jen
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- Lucy Shaddock offers a response to the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ report on poverty and inequality in the UK, while McKinsey finds that hundreds of millions of people in advanced economies are seein…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Shameful Legacy
During the dark years of the Harper administrations, Canadians became almost inured to the lengths it would go while promoting its neo-liberal agenda. The extolment of free trade, the promotion of tar sands development, the sneering dismissal of all en…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Evening Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Daniel Marans reports on Bernie Sanders’ push for international action against austerity in Greece and elsewhere. And Binoy Kampmark documents the anti-democratic and antisocial ideology on the other side of the austerity debate. – Noah Smith writes that while there’s no discernible
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Stephen Harper: Merry Christmas And Bah, Humbug!
My fellow Canadians, If the above doesn’t not warm the cockles of your Christmas hearts, please check out these, a small portion of this year’s ‘gifts’: Something for your digestive consideration. Something for the greenie on your seasonal list. And, for those workers both domestic and foreign, one of my
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On consensus-breaking
Having earlier dealt with Stephen Harper’s attempt to justify war by building up hatred and hype toward ISIS, I’ll note the other main rationale on offer from the Cons – which can generally be described as government by wrong answer to a rhetorical question: If Canada wants to keep its
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Lana Payne discusses the need to address inequality through our political system. But that will require significant pressure from exactly the citizens who have decided they’re not well served by today’s political options – and Trish Hennessy’s look at Canadian voter turnout reminds
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On Sporadic Blogging And Willful Ignorance
We are hosting our dear friends from Cuba for about the next week, so depending on our sight-seeing schedule, my blogging may not be quite as regular as usual. But then again, I am an early riser, so perhaps nothing will change. Here is something I prepared the other day
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Suggestion For Kellie Leitch
She may be a lost cause, but I have a suggestion for Harper enthusiast/Simcoe Grey Conservative M.P. Kellie Leitch, about whom I have written previously on this blog. The former medical doctor turned defender of the indefensible, who is one of a series of rotating trained seals spokespeople for her
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Harper Government’s Legacy of Death
Checking my blog archive, I found that I have written a total of 22 posts on asbestos. Here is number 23. Two years ago, Canada was the sole nation to oppose adding chrysotile asbestos to the list of hazardous products under the Rotterdam Convention. Such a listing would not have
Continue readingImpolitical: Putting the Progressive back in the Conservatives?
It’s September, the big back to school month, and Parliament resumes sitting this coming week. Interesting then to note some moves being made by the Harper government, perhaps designed to put a new coat of paint on their tired, right wing shtick. Noted in the past day or so… “Canada
Continue readingIlluminated By Street Lamps: ‘Winners’ And Losers In Quebec Asbestos Mess
Photo: Vsmith/Wikipedia Support for Canadian chrysotile asbestos is dead. First point, this: Canada should have gotten out of the asbestos game a long time ago.All asbestos causes cancer. We won’t use it. And, we’ve been out of step with our European friends.But now, the inconvenient rub.With apparently no clear plan about
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Harper’s Conservatives: As Classless As Ever
Yesterday I wrote a brief post about the federal government’s decision to stop defending the export of asbestos from Quebec, not on the basis of morality, but political expediency, as the newly-elected Parti Quebecois stands opposed to it. A story in this morning’s Star reveals that, as ever, the Harper
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Canada’s Export of Death to Cease
The Harper government is throwing in the towel on Quebec’s internationally-maligned asbestos industry now that the Parti Québécois is poised to take power and prohibit extraction of the cancer-causing mineral. Industry Minister Christian Paradis said Canada will stop defending asbestos mining in international circles and no longer oppose adding chrysotile
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: An Easy Way To Gauge The Moral Fiber Of Canadian Politicians
Ask them for their stand on the indefensible export of asbestos. Recommend this Post
Continue readingLife...A Small Spark Between Two Eternities: Are Harper and Charest Murderers?
The news that the Jeffrey Mine will reopen may warm some hearts in the Eastern Townships. Nevertheless, the Quebec government’s decision to provide a $58-million loan to Canada’s last asbestos mine is a shameful thing.
As Canadians headed off to the beach and the cottage last Friday, Yvon Vallières, provincial Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and MNA for the riding of Richmond, visited Asbestos, Que. to officially announce the long-promised loan and the reopening. It’s a move that will provide 425 jobs for that community and may help the beleaguered Liberals hold Richmond and other ridings in the region when Premier Jean Charest calls an election. It’s also a move that will risk lives in India, where the mine will ship the white asbestos known as chrysotile for use as a composite in cement.
Although Canadian governments have long maintained that chrysotile is safe if properly handled, the World Health Organization, the Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Cancer Society, along with a host of other health and environmental organizations, believe asbestos use should stop because exposure causes lung disease and various cancers.
Furthermore, while safety standards have hugely improved inside Canadian mines, numerous reports – including a 2011 Globe and Mail investigation – have cast doubt on the notion that the substance will be safely handled on Indian building sites. The WHO estimates that more than 100,000 people die every year from diseases related to asbestos exposure. That’s why all other developed nations ban the substance, and why nobody in Canada uses it.
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Life...A Small Spark Between Two Eternities: Are Harper and Charest Murderers?
The news that the Jeffrey Mine will reopen may warm some hearts in the Eastern Townships. Nevertheless, the Quebec government’s decision to provide a $58-million loan to Canada’s last asbestos mine is a shameful thing. As Canadians headed off to the beach and the cottage last Friday, Yvon Vallières, provincial
Continue reading