Biased, lapdog investigations mean cover-up of Senate scandal likely, public inquiry needed
Biased, lapdog investigations mean cover-up of Senate scandal most likely outcome and public inquiry will be needed – Wright, Duffy should be found guilty of violating ethics rules, and possibly other laws
Ethics Commissioner has covered up twice already for Nigel Wright, Senate Ethics Officer is controlled by a Senate committee, Auditor General is failing to do audit, Elections Canada has secret, questionable enforcement record, and even the RCMP’s independence is questionable
OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch set out the details of why biased, lapdog investigations mean that a cover-up of the Senate expenses scandal is the most likely outcome, and why a public inquiry will likely be needed to ensure a full investigation.
NDP launches new campaign to abolish the Senate
Thomas Mulcair said Wednesday morning that it's time to start a conversation across Canada about abolishing the Senate. The Official Opposition leader called the ongoing Senate expenses scandal a turning point on the issue, "the whitewashing by the Senate was the beginning of the end of the Senate."
The NDP also launched a new website on Wednesday to promote their Senate abolition campaign -- rolluptheredcarpet.ca
The site encourages Canadians to sign a petition for Senate abolition, giving the following rationale for eliminating the upper house of Parliament:
Peruvian campaign against TPP: 'Our Rights are Not Negotiable'
A broad-based coalition of Peruvian civil society launched a campaign and petition against the Trans-Pacific Partnership last week as a 17th round of TPP negotiations began in the capital city of Lima. The campaign is called "Our Rights are Not Negotiable," or Not Negotiable for short, and targets three areas that should not be part of the TPP negotiations: intellectual property rights for pharmaceuticals, intellectual property rights affecting copyright and the Internet, and an investor-to-state dispute process that threatens public health and environmental laws.
The resilience of the West?
"The West is in decline." "Great powers rise and fall." "We now live in a post-American world." We have perpetually heard various proclamations about the inevitable collapse of Western domination since the end of World War I. These assessments have been cyclically presented by both progressives and conservatives for almost one hundred years. Will they continue to be disproven? If so, why?
We have perpetually heard various proclamations about the inevitable collapse of Western domination since the end of World War I. Will they continue to be disproven? If so, why? Prediction for 2013: The decline of China and the resilience of the U.S. Progressives who are looking for a better world should not place their bets on the emergence of a polycentric world: China is not going to overtake the U.S. and will more likely enter into decline. The Empire vs. Iran (and Syria): A New World War for a New World Order? Confronted with a declining World Order it can no longer control, does the West want to re-assert its will through a new world war, which this time would be really global? The nature of the beast: Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin on 'The Making of Global Capitalism' Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin have just released their latest book, The Making of Global Capitalism. Aaron Leonard recently sat down with Panitch and Gindin in New York City to discuss their work.The PKOLS reclamation: Saturating the land with our stories
On May 22, members of the Tsawout (SȾÁUTW) nation, with support from the Songhees and the other local WSÁNEĆ nations, including Tsartlip (WJOȽEȽP), Pauquachin (BOḰEĆEN), Tseycum (WSIKEM), Malahat (MÁLEXEȽ) and allied supporters from the Greater Victoria community, will lead an action to reclaim the original name of PKOLS, now known as Mount Douglas, in what is now known as Victoria, in what is now known as British Columbia.
Pack the Senate with cheats, then call for reform, then take off for Peru? Good plan!
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was apparently grinding away at his Conservative caucus yesterday morning about the need for Senate reform.
An interesting strategy, his!
First you pack the place with self-entitled cheats and porkchoppers like Mike "The Puffster" Duffy, then you argue that their misdeeds are proof the institution needs reform!
If nothing else, this suggests Calgary Centre MP Joan Crockatt was sticking right to the party strategy handbook when she suggested in a now-notorious Tweet that her Conservative Party is more ethical than all those other parties because some of its unethical senators resigned from caucus when they got caught.
Activist Communique: Power in the name -- the reclaiming of PKOLS (Mount Douglas)
On May 22 at 5 p.m., a powerful renaming ceremony will take place in British Columbia. Name and Blood both hold important power of identity for First Nations communities, as many seek to take back both language and landscape.
Indigenous activists and their allies have been working hard on a campaign to reclaim and reinstate the traditional name of the mountain known now as Mount Douglas, and along with it, reclaim the area where the Douglas Treaties were first signed in British Columbia, Canada.
May 22, 2013, at 5 p.m., Mount Douglas will be known as PKOLS.
PKOLS Mountain -- pronounced p'cawls -- according to Indigenous tongue -- is translated into "White Rock" or "White Head".
Tim Hudak looks to import anti-union politics from south of the border
Tim Hudak recently turned to prominent Republican lobbying firm Greener and Hook for direction. It's a fitting move as the Progressive Conservatives most significant policy proposal comes straight out of the U.S. Right's empower big business and attack your opponents playbook.
Hudak has made it clear that if he wins the next provincial election he plans to make it illegal for employers and employees to agree to have union dues automatically deducted from every workers' paycheck. A Progressive Conservative policy paper released last summer says, "No clauses in any provincial legislation, regulation or collective agreement should require a worker to become a member of a union or pay union dues as a condition of employment."
Muslims and the War on Terror
A tipoff from a prominent Toronto imam more than a year ago appears to be at the heart of arrests at the end of April in the alleged VIA Rail terror plot in Canada. In fact, counterterrorism police began their press briefing by thanking Muslim leaders.
Even in the Boston marathon tragedy, national and local Muslim organizations have condemned the bombings. The largest Muslim civil rights group in the country, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, even asked Muslims to offer authorities any leads that they may have.
Indigenous Nationhood Movement activists 'reclaim' Mount Douglas in Victoria
Ontario's wildlife needs continued protection
In the early 1970s, a significant shift occurred in the relationship between North Americans and the world we live in. People started to recognize that nature’s bounty isn’t bottomless and that human activities often strain the Earth’s limits. Across Canada and the U.S., faced with society’s perpetual penchant for economic growth as an end unto itself, many people started to advocate for protecting nature lest it be irreparably broken by our actions.
Global opposition in wake of 'Key of Knowledge' award to Morgan Freeman in Toronto
A number of Toronto organizations -- including Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA), Faculty for Palestine, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, Students Against Israeli Apartheid, Independent Jewish Voices (Toronto), the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Women in Solidarity with Palestine, and Labour for Palestine (Toronto) -- recently protested an award gala where actor Morgan Freeman was given the 'Key of Knowledge.' They have now released this follow-up statement.
Ontario election off the table: NDP agrees to support Kathleen Wynne's budget
Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath held a press conference Tuesday to announce her support for the budget put forward by Ontario's Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne. Horwath thus put an end to months of consultation and negotiation, and weeks of speculation about a possible Ontario election.
A statement from the NDP outlined their reasons for supporting the budget:
Action needed to stop 'climate deniers' from winning the information war
The global warming deniers are at it again, and it is high time that the environmental movement in Canada and the United States launched an organized campaign to expose these scientific community charlatans.
The mainstream business media, which bows to corporate interests in both countries, is quick to publish interviews and opinion articles by the tiny percentage of scientists who deny that global warming exists. Some say that it has not been proven that human activity damages the environment. Some bizarrely claim that emissions of carbon dioxide are beneficial to the planet.
Proving the proven: Advocates push for a safe consumption site in Ottawa
"There's a health crisis in Ottawa."
Chris Dalton's pronouncement contains not a trace of drama, but it's hard to reconcile with the city I see at the moment. It's springtime in the national capital, and it's beautiful -- the bike paths along the canal and rivers are getting busy, trees are flourishing in greens and reds, and the historical architecture in the core of the city glints beneath the sunlight.
But even in a well-groomed capital city, social inequities are playing out with detrimental health consequences. If you’re paying attention, they’re apparent. As a social worker, Dalton is paying attention.
Elle Canada makes strides towards diversity: A look at the June issue
The Closet Feminist is the newest addition to rabble.ca's blogging network. TCF focuses on the intersections (or lack thereof) between fashion, style, dressing-up and feminism. We hope you like this smartly dressed and smartly written blog that examines the connections between what we wear and what we mean.
Sex, alcohol and gender norms: Time for a sober look at desire and consent
In every movie I have watched lately, the scene of the not-yet consummated couple binge drinking is quickly followed by the shots of stilettos flying off in darkened apartments, passionate love-making, and sunny mornings in alarmingly clean, white sheets. Voila! Alcohol has once again eased pesky plot line tensions and now romance begins!
Being the enthusiastic party-pooper that I am, I question this.
Video: Palestine solidarity activists protest Toronto awards gala featuring Morgan Freeman
Best-of-the-Net video: On May 6 CAIA protested outside the venue where Morgan Freeman accepted an award from Canadian Friends of Hebrew University, ignoring the cultural and academic boycott of Israel launched by Palestinian civil society in 2005. Radio host Jian Ghomeshi was emcee of the event.
PKOLS: First Nations plan Day of Action to reclaim original name of Mount Douglas in Victoria
On Wednesday, an important event will take place in Victoria in support of the Indigenous Nationhood Movement, "which aims to begin the process of decolonization through reoccupying, renaming and reclaiming traditional indigenous territories." The following statement was issued by organizers of Wednesday's event to reclaim the original name of Mount Douglas.
Canada's culture of mean: Beating up on refugees
Toronto's legendary refugee rights lawyer Barb Jackman has a unique way of framing issues at their most human level, an art often lost by those who spend their lives in courts and immigration tribunals fighting for their clients' right not to be deported to torture and other cruelties. Testifying recently before a Senate committee on a repressive piece of deportation legislation, Jackman aptly summed up the mean political culture that increasingly grips the land.
Testifying before a Senate committee on a repressive piece of deportation legislation, refugee rights lawyer Barb Jackman aptly summed up the mean political culture that increasingly grips the land. Perversions of justice in Canada's cases of inadmissibility Findings of inadmissibility in Canada's immigration system are condemning growing numbers to endless deportation procedures or decades of essentially stateless limbo. Harper government responsible for CBSA made-for-TV debacle As the smoke clears from the CBSA's made-for-TV debacle, it's important to point out that the conditions which made it possible are the direct result of Harper government policy. Open letter from artists and cultural producers: End the 'Border Security' TV series "We write this letter out of serious concern for those already affected and those who may be harmed by future episodes of this show."
