Giant squirrel ravages government office
So here it is. I’ve seen it more than a few times and it still makes me chuckle. I also like it because it’s not your typical union campaign video. We’ll see how it fares and if it gets a life of its own. Please share it with friends and squirrel lovers.
Attawapiskat: laying out the numbers
This excellent explanation of what happened to the so-called millions sent to Attawapiskat all over my little corner of the internet, but I want to share it anyway. Another inbound hyperlink can’t hurt, eh?
Attawapiskat: don’t much care who’s to blame, I would like to see it fixed
An odd choice of headline on Heather Scoffield’s item today about the housing crisis in Attawapiskat. And it’s particularly odd because Scoffield doesn’t actually get to the issue that the editor saw as headline worthy until paragraph 24, two from the end.
United Way Ottawa de-funding progressive groups
An important post at rabble.ca about the rightward direction of the United Way Ottawa under its current CEO Michael Allen. Don’t know the man and know nothing of him but I find the de-listing of organizations that mainly service women and immigrants to be deeply disturbing.
The weekend is here and wages are falling
Phew. Made it through another week. Work is really busy these days. I hope y’all will see why soon enough. And then immediately afterwards we will have the workers paradise here on earth.
Occupy movement: was there an exit strategy?
This will also be unpopular with many of my friends and readers. But it’s been bugging me since the first few weeks after the occupy movement took hold across North America.
Supreme Court orders Canada Post to pay 20 years of pay equity wage top ups
It took the Supreme Court of Canada all of 20 minutes to decide that it was time for Canada Post to pony up after 28 years of trying to avoid paying 6-7000 odd mostly female administrative staff what they were owed according to the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Capitalism has a lot of staying power
I was thinking about this as I went about my one per cent Sunday, putting up shelves in the laundry room, raking leaves, trimming back the grape vines and disposing of the now-rotting jack-o-lanterns on the front porch.
Remembrance Day: comparative poetry
The poppies, the poems. I’ve gotten yelled at before about this, and this topic very rapidly leads to a proof of Godwin’s Law, but here goes anyway.
Jim Flaherty pushes back deadline for balanced budget
Gosh. Never saw that coming. He could beat his earlier date if only he’d rescind those corporate tax cuts and use the money to put people back to work instead.
Air Canada arbitration: so what was that decision all about?
Air Canada was happy. The union was not. But then, this is Lisa Raitt’s shop, we could have predicted that, right? So here is my understanding – as an outsider – of what was at stake.
NGO looking for a home? Consider Under One Roof
Amongst civil society groups, aka NGOs, aka social change organizations, advocacy organizations etc, Ottawa has a rich tradition of architectural folklore. Buildings where marginally funded, maximally mandated organizations out to change the world have tended to congregate accumulate legends faster than rumours on a picket line.
The Harper government: like little boys who’ve never grown up
When I was in grade school, my friend J – I’ll spare him the mention – and I used to like to break things. We’d set leaves on fire with a magnifying glass, we’d destroy models and toy cars with rocks, with lighters and aerosol cans and – whenever we could get our hands on one – with a pellet gun.
It’s so the cops know what’s on the other side of the door
…when they respond to the domestic violence call.
Lisa Raitt sends labour relations back to the 1920s
When I first saw reference to this on Twitter I thought maybe it was some sort of hyperbole. Or that some progressive soul, like myself, prone to Swiftian rhetoric, had done the whole reductio ad absurdium thing to normal Tory talking points. But no. Labour minister Lisa Raitt actually said the definition of “essential” – as in the kind of worker who should not be allowed to withdraw their labour as part of bargaining new wages and working conditions – should be redefined to include any worker whose absence would affect the economy.
