Gifted Typist

Elections are supposed to be an exercise in the will of the people. But in Canada, elections are apparently an exercise in the will of the politicians and Big Media. In poll after poll, the people of Canada have said that the environment is a top priority, yet the pro-environment Green Party has been refused [...]

We ate by candlelight last night, joining in with the millions who participated in Earth Hour. The little typists were keen, possessed with a sense of urgency. “We have to do this for the environment!” I was glad to see their energy. I’ve been hanging out clothes, turning down the heat, flicking off lights, buying [...]

Until today, my city was a two-newspaper town. There was the broadsheet The Chronicle Herald and the tabloid Daily News. The Daily News was the little indie upstart that thought it could. It was young and hungry thirty years ago when it first started as a community paper. As it grew, it set its sights [...]

After the whirl on the London Eye, my little family of typists took a walk along the Thames River on the shortest day of the year. By mid afternoon the air was darkening and the sky began to ripen into a rich crimson that cast a reddish glow over everything and turned objects into silhouettes. [...]

I keep hearing the word “community” being used in new and creative ways. We have the “international community” reacting to the crackdown in Burma. We have the “gaming community” embracing Halo3. And last week I heard a reference to the “Halo3 community.” I’m not sure what the Halo3 community was doing but I’d hazard a [...]

The ad asks: How many Nova Scotians does it take to change a lightbulb. The ad answers: One. But that’s not quite the case, is it? The ad is sponsored by the government-funded Conserve Nova Scotia. CNS employs Heather Foley Melvin ($100,000+ per year) who got the job with no competition because she used to [...]

While Harpo worries about a counter- insurgency in Afghanistan, he may wake up to another counter-insurgency in his own back yard. Aboriginal leaders are warning of a summer of protests and blockades as the result of Harpo’s refusal to negotiate land claims with aboriginal peoples. A YouTube video describes how copper wire can be used [...]

The people who are running the minority federal government in Canada are not Tories. They are a group of neo-liberals and social conservatives emerging from the Western alienation Reform Party which reformed under the new banner of Canadian Alliance and then reformed again under the banner of Conservatives. Lately there is a new movement to [...]

How utterly embarrassing to have the Canadian prime minister using parochial politics while abroad. To see him pictured with the German Chancellor pointing fingers at the former Liberal government for Canada’s lack of commitment to Kyoto targets made me cringe. Not that anything Stephen Harper or any other Canadian Prime Minister will get on the [...]

Of course we support our troops. We pay them to do a exceptionally difficult job in Afghanistan. We dispatch journalists to record their work. We send over entertainers to boost morale, set up Tim Hortons and deliver the Stanley Cup. We fly flags at half mast when the fallen return in flag-draped coffins. We shed [...]

Canada’s Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has ripped this phrase from the song book of think tanks funded by companies that wish to cast doubt climate change science. “Intensity reduction” – a pillar of Mr. Harper’s new green plan – allows industry to increase greenhouse gas outputs as they raise production. According to Al Gore, [...]

Perhaps someone can help me here. I’m having some trouble deciding whether I’m suffering a case of cynicism and just plain dumb old reality. I’m thinking about the strange story of the stowaways who didn’t materialize on the Cypriot-registered ship in Halifax this week. Odd though this story may be, I’m not cynical about it, [...]