tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38492086201134919862024-03-08T04:37:17.512-05:00J. Paul MorrisonPaul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comBlogger765125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-55910089966415615662014-06-08T11:03:00.001-04:002014-06-08T11:05:07.715-04:00Alana Westwood: Stephen Harper’s blatant hypocrisy on science (in The Toronto Star)"In a CBC interview, Stephen Harper chided Canadians for not listening to
scientific evidence, but he has been doing that for years." <br /><br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/06/06/stephen_harpers_blatant_hypocrisy_on_science.html">Stephen Harper’s blatant hypocrisy on science | Toronto Star</a> <br/><br/>
<i><b>Alana Westwood</b> is a PhD Candidate at Dalhousie University and a volunteer coordinator at Evidence for Democracy.</i>Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-27616995661632357912014-05-31T13:31:00.001-04:002014-05-31T13:34:22.441-04:00Chantal Hébert: Stephen Harper presiding over Tories’ self-destructive madness (in The Toronto Star)"When historians look
back on Stephen Harper’s (first?) decade in power, what will they make
of the trail of institutional wreckage that his government is leaving in
its wake?<br /><br />
"Will they conclude
that a mastermind determined to change the course of the ship of state
at all costs was in charge, or just a bunch of drunken sailors?<br /><br />
"The Conservatives came
to power in 2006 as institutional reformers. But three mandates later,
one would look in vain for a method to the self-destructive madness that
they are presiding over. ...<br /><br />
"A Forum Research
survey revealed this week that the PMO has become one of Canada’s least
trusted political institutions, almost on par with the maligned Senate.
<br /><br />
"It may not yet have
dawned on its occupants that what Canadians think of the PMO is usually
not divorced from their opinion of the leader who runs it."
<br /><br /><br/>
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/05/30/stephen_harper_presiding_over_tories_selfdestructive_madness_hbert.html">Stephen Harper presiding over Tories’ self-destructive madness: Hébert | Toronto Star</a>Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-83126015348428962852014-05-30T10:10:00.001-04:002014-05-30T10:11:50.595-04:00Jerry Dias: Anyone but Tim Hudak for Ontario premier (in The Toronto Star)"[Ontario PC Leader Tim] Hudak said in February that he would not pursue right to work
legislation if he becomes premier. But now his claims for a million jobs
rely in part on right to work laws coming to Ontario. That means either
Hudak is still committed to the idea or the analysis is even more
deeply flawed. Either way, we can’t trust the numbers.
<br /><br />
"The Conservatives’ own
analysis claims that Hudak’s regulatory changes would mean a one-time
boost of 10,600 jobs. But once the Conservative campaign team got its
hands on the research, the claim was inflated to 84,800 jobs, or 10,600
in each of the next eight years.<br /><br />
"That’s a far cry from the one-time boost their analysis predicted.<br/><br />
"So this is what we end up with: job creation numbers based on suspect
assumptions, stemming from a policy that Hudak claims he will not
pursue, and then multiplied by eight by the Conservative campaign team." <br /><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/05/29/anyone_but_tim_hudak_for_ontario_premier.html">Anyone but Tim Hudak for Ontario premier | Toronto Star</a>
<br /><br />
<i><b>Jerry Dias</b> is National President of Unifor, Canada’s
largest union in the private sector. To see Unifor’s research into Tim
Hudak’s job plan, go to: <a href="http://www.unifor.org/sites/default/files/brief-statements/zycher_and_million_jobs_final.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.unifor.org/sites/default/files/brief-statements/zycher_and_million_jobs_final.pdf</a></i><br /><br />
Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-6210534412925184002014-05-17T10:49:00.000-04:002014-05-17T10:49:56.097-04:00Rick Salutin: Tim Hudak's fear-based economic policy (in The Toronto Star)"I used to think balanced budget panic was a pretext whipped up by right wing ideologues who hate big government or equality but I now think it’s more truly felt. Debt was a basis of growth for 5,000 years — as anthropologist and activist David Graeber has written — but only recently became a source of mass fear and shame. ...<br />
<br />
"The economics professoriat has a lot to answer for here. They provided the murky rationales for the discontinuous two-step that Tim Hudak has happily uncloaked for all to see. Why economists receive such cred is another question. They alone get to torture whole countries like Greece, solely on the base of their dubious models. Would you let a historian tell you what alliances to make or give him the keys to the foreign policy car?"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/05/15/tim_hudaks_fearbased_economic_policy_salutin.html">Tim Hudak's fear-based economic policy: Salutin | Toronto Star</a>Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-78594171049320004922014-04-19T09:34:00.005-04:002014-04-19T09:35:25.975-04:00Carol Goar: Natural catastrophes mount while Harper shrugs (in The Toronto Star)"As scientists produce ever more <a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2014/03/31/dire_un_climate_change_report_is_a_call_to_action_editorial.html">evidence</a>
that climate change is disrupting the atmosphere, causing more floods,
droughts, storm surges, wildfires, landslides, extreme cold snaps and
deadly heat waves, Canada’s financiers are beginning to sound the alarm. ...
<br /><br />
"What [the <a href="http://www.tdbank.com/aboutus/about_us.html" target="_blank">Toronto Dominion Bank</a>'s report entitled <a href="http://www.td.com/document/PDF/economics/special/NaturalCatastrophes.pdf" target="_blank">Natural Catastrophes: A Canadian Perspective]</a> aims to do is
persuade policy-makers, business leaders and individuals in Canada to
mitigate the impact of the climate upheavals that are already happening
or foreseeable.
<br /><br />
"Most of the provinces
are already taking steps to limit the damage. Oil companies, automakers
and homebuilders, likewise, are making adjustments. Only the federal
government refuses to deviate from Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s
full-steam-ahead approach to energy development.<br /><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/04/17/natural_catastrophes_mount_while_harper_shrugs_goar.html">Natural catastrophes mount while Harper shrugs: Goar | Toronto Star</a>Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-47968579851718482452014-04-11T10:01:00.001-04:002014-04-11T10:03:05.203-04:00Rick Salutin: The end of Mad Men and the era of ads (in The Toronto Star)"What ever made anyone
think news and ads could easily mix? It wasn’t always so. If you look at
early newspapers, like William Lyon Mackenzie’s Colonial Advocate
(Toronto in the 1830s), it’s a solid wall of news and opinion. The only
ads are classified, from readers to readers, like the Internet. Ads came
to dominate all other forms of income but it was an uncomfortable
marriage; and it’s crazy to think the divorce won’t ultimately be a Good
Thing, even if the stresses are agonizing now, especially for people
working in journalism.
<br /><br />
"Or TV. Who could
imagine TV without ads, it was always ads. But the best TV ever, like
Mad Men, was done for cable, with its alternate revenue stream, coming
straight from viewers."
<br /><br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/04/11/the_end_of_mad_men_and_the_era_of_ads_salutin.html">The end of Mad Men and the era of ads: Salutin | Toronto Star</a>
<br /><br />
Interesting article on the future of ads. Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-66916413639294665582014-04-06T10:49:00.001-04:002014-04-06T10:53:06.335-04:00Tony Burman: Climate change — time to wake up, smell the CO2 (in The Toronto Star)"If hell on Earth doesn’t actually exist, the essential message from this week’s dramatic <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/03/30/un_report_on_climate_change_rings_alarm_on_warming_polar_regions.html">United Nations climate change report</a> is that it one day might.<br /><br />
"And if that does
happen, can I be the first to propose that its hottest corner be
reserved for the political and media ideologues and “deniers” —
including here in Canada — who act as if this fragile, overwhelmed
planet is their own personal piggy bank from which to loot? ...
<br /><br />
"The world’s nations
are beginning to work toward a new international climate change protocol
that would replace Kyoto. The crucial meeting will be in Paris at the
end of 2015. Governments will gather there claiming some sort of mandate
from their voters to determine the road ahead.<br /><br />
"Canada is scheduled to go the polls next year, shortly before this meeting is held.<br /><br />
"Isn’t this a great
opportunity for Canadians as a people to reclaim our commitment to an
environmental policy that truly serves our future generations?"
<br /><br /> <br/>
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/04/05/climate_change_time_to_wake_up_smell_the_co2_burman.html">Climate change — time to wake up, smell the CO2: Burman | Toronto Star</a>
<br /><br />
<i><b>Tony Burman</b>, former head of Al-Jazeera English and CBC News, teaches journalism at Ryerson University. (<a href="mailto:tony.burman@gmail.com">tony.burman@gmail.com </a>)</i> Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-61715700782204974142014-03-28T13:18:00.001-04:002014-03-28T13:22:19.239-04:00Carol Goar: Fighting for help for voiceless seniors (in The Toronto Star)
"Minoo Shakibai sometimes wants to weep as she examines a patient’s
ulcerated feet. Many of the chiropodist’s clients are elderly and
diabetic. They come to the <a href="http://www.dufferinfootclinic.com/" target="_blank">Dufferin Foot Clinic</a> thinking she can fix the “small cuts” on their feet.
<br /><br />
"In severe cases, she
sends them straight to the emergency department of the nearest hospital,
knowing the lesions are gangrenous. In less urgent circumstances, she
cleans and dresses their wounds and tells them to make an appointment
with their family doctor immediately. Most don’t. ...<br />
<br />
"Too often, the young
chiropodist watches seniors — mostly Italian and Portuguese immigrants
from the neighbourhood — walk out the door, knowing they’ll eventually
face amputation.
<br/><br />
"This month, she
launched a one-woman crusade to raise public awareness and get help for
seniors with no private health coverage. “They deserve to be taken care
of and treated right,” she appealed to then-MP <a href="http://www.parl.gc.ca/Parliamentarians/en/members/Olivia-Chow" target="_blank">Olivia Chow</a>, who passed her entreaty on to Shakibai’s federal representative, <a href="http://www.parl.gc.ca/Parliamentarians/en/members/Andrew-Cash" target="_blank">Andrew Cash</a>,
before launching her mayoral bid. He phoned Shakibai back and gently
explained that health-care services are a provincial responsibility,
promising to raise the issue with his counterpart at Queen’s Park, <a href="http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/members/members_detail.do?locale=en&ID=7172" target="_blank">Jonah Schein</a>.
<br/><br />
"Shakibai doesn’t know
much about politics, as she readily admits. She has no allies or
advisers. She’s never spoken out before. But she can no longer remain
silent."
<br /><br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2014/03/27/fighting_for_help_for_voiceless_seniors_goar.html">Fighting for help for voiceless seniors: Goar | Toronto Star</a>
<br /><br />
A classic case of "penny-wise, pound-foolish". If you've had a friend lose a foot because of an untreated ingrown toe-nail, it seems a no-brainer!Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-51225556544284021802014-03-25T22:22:00.001-04:002014-03-25T22:24:55.491-04:00Stephen Bede Scharper: Wrecking the climate is bad business | Toronto Star"Last month,
Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church unanimously voted to ensure that its
own funds are not invested in the world’s 200 largest fossil fuel
companies.<br />
<br />
"The vote emerges from a
growing concern over “climate justice,” which asserts that while
wealthy industrialized nations are the most responsible for carbon
emissions engendering climate change, the most destructive effects of
climate change are often felt by impoverished groups who are the least
responsible for global warming. ...<br/><br />
"As recent reporting by Carol Goar in these pages has suggested, the <a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/03/10/manufacturing_rises_from_the_ashes_goar.html">clean technology industry</a>
in Canada, with Ontario as its epicentre, now employs more than the
forestry, aerospace and pharmaceutical industries, generating 2,300 jobs
alone last year, upping the total number of jobs to 41,000. This
industry spawns $5.8 billion in export revenues, is tops in research and
development investment and exhibits promising resilience, continuing to
show growth even during the 2008-2009 financial debacle.<br /><br />
"The fossil fuel
divestment moves by Trinity St. Paul’s and the investment risks posed by
climate change in the Mercer study both point to the wisdom of moving
away from a climate changing, fossil fuel extracting economy to a
life-affirming, clean and more equitable financial — and moral —
environment.<br /><br />
"It turns out wrecking the climate is bad business all around."
<br /><br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/03/24/wrecking_the_climate_is_bad_business.html">Wrecking the climate is bad business | Toronto Star</a><br /><br />
<i>Stephen Bede Scharper is associate professor of environment at the University of Toronto. </i>Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-1250050581528658022014-03-21T10:31:00.001-04:002014-03-21T10:33:56.041-04:00Rick Salutin: Kathleen Wynne backs down from the great tax debate (in The Toronto Star)"Another golden moment is slipping away. I don’t mean the Leafs (not
only). I mean the Ontario election we might have had, the one about
taxes, with a debate on what it means to be a society....
<br /><br />
"... What makes us human?
It’s our interconnectedness and interdependence. That conditions
everything, from crossing a street to turning on a tap. We are webs of
interconnection. Most good things cost money and taxes are how we
monetize many of those mutual needs. Among good things are
non-dehumanizing transit, decent schools, roads that don’t rise up to
devour your car — the pensions issue bites because it raises those
issues not just horizontally, in space, but vertically, through time,
between generations. Everyone stretches out their hands to embrace and
support everyone around them, often informally but sometimes via taxes
paid. I’m for fairness and I hate the free ride the rich routinely get,
but it’s more urgent to construct a social reality that serves most
people than be sticklers for it all balancing out. Their time will come,
eventually.
<br /><br />
" ...One peculiar
implication of this debate is that the best way to make taxes more
acceptable is to raise them so that people see results, like better
transit and pensions. They have to be high enough to accomplish
something. That’s why high tax countries generally register fewer
complaints than low tax places like us or the U.S. It makes perfect
sense, since people who see fewer results rightly ask why they’re paying
taxes. That’s the Harper-Ford formula: cut taxes, services languish,
people don’t see the point and don’t wanna pay. Vote for me and I’ll cut
your pointless, useless taxes.<br /><br />
" ...Alas, <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2014/03/13/wynne_vows_no_increase_to_hst_gas_tax_for_transit_expansion.html">it wasn’t to be</a>. ... I grant, reluctantly, it sounds savvier, but I’ll sorely
miss the debate that didn’t happen and never may."
<br /><br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/03/20/kathleen_wynne_backs_down_from_the_great_tax_debate_salutin.html">Kathleen Wynne backs down from the great tax debate: Salutin | Toronto Star</a>
<br /><br />
In my view Rick Salutin is saying some very important things about the relationship between the individual and the state. Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-600970465964893482014-03-20T09:55:00.001-04:002014-03-20T09:55:41.077-04:00Thomas J. Duck: Echoes of Walkerton in Environment Canada cuts (in The Toronto Star)"In May 2000, the water system of Walkerton, Ont., suffered an E. coli outbreak that left nearly half the community’s 4,800 people ill. Seven died. ...<br />
<br />
"Underlying the failures of the Walkerton PUC and the MOE, however, were government of Ontario cutbacks. How deep were the cuts? In the years leading up to the Walkerton tragedy, the MOE’s budget was reduced by 68 per cent and its staffing by 40 per cent. These numbers are comparable to what Environment Canada is experiencing today. Consider, for example, that Environment Canada’s climate change and clean air program is having its budget reduced by an astonishing 77 per cent. The cuts are so deep that they appear designed to break Environment Canada once and for all.<br />
<br />
"It is interesting to note that three members of that Ontario government have played key roles in Stephen Harper’s federal cabinet: Jim Flaherty (the outgoing minister of finance), John Baird (minister of foreign affairs), and Tony Clement (president of the Treasury Board). Flaherty, Baird and Clement were there when Ontario’s cuts were made and witnessed the result. Surely they must see the parallels now. So why haven’t they spoken out about the dismantling of Environment Canada?"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/03/19/echoes_of_walkerton_in_environment_canada_cuts.html">Echoes of Walkerton in Environment Canada cuts | Toronto Star</a><br />
<br />
<i><b>Thomas J. Duck</b> is an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science at Dalhousie University.</i>Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-72601750953695797252014-03-14T10:03:00.001-04:002014-03-14T10:04:18.507-04:00Rick Salutin: The century that knew too much (in The Toronto Star)"... the novel,<i> The Man who Loved Dogs </i>, by Leonardo Padura. It’s built around Leon Trotsky’s assassination in Mexico City in 1940. But it’s also about the 20th century, especially the Soviet Union, RIP, 1917-1991: 74 years, the lifespan of a normal person. It asks how the most beautiful dream humanity ever dreamed, a world of peace and social harmony, became its most awful nightmare." <br/> <br/>
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/03/13/the_century_that_knew_too_much_salutin.html">The century that knew too much: Salutin | Toronto Star</a> <br/> <br/>
We tend to forget that this dream attracted a lot of bright, energetic N. Americans to Russia in the early '30s. We need to study what went wrong.Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-3715982230818080172014-03-07T11:03:00.001-05:002014-03-07T11:04:45.811-05:00Rick Salutin: Putin may be crazy, but it doesn’t matter (in The Toronto Star)"If you designed a computer program to react “rationally” on the model of great power leaders pursuing what’s consensually viewed as the National Interest, it would probably “behave” as Putin has, or perhaps more drastically. ...<br />
<br/>
"The dilemma of the squares. There have always been spontaneous outbreaks of democratic will, like the Paris Commune or slave revolts. There’s a collective as well as an individual need to control one’s life. ...<br />
<br/>
"The trick is finding a way to link the genuine popular outbursts to institutionalized, constitutional, representative forms. I know that’s a mouthful but I don’t think anyone’s come up with a solution. Yet who wants to be stuck with merely voting in the occasional election, then going to sleep for another four years?"<br />
<br/>
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/03/06/putin_may_be_crazy_but_it_doesnt_matter_salutin.html">Putin may be crazy, but it doesn’t matter: Salutin | Toronto Star</a>Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-64533651554120465612014-02-05T21:18:00.001-05:002014-02-05T21:20:14.439-05:00Swedes Seek Regime Change as Tax Cuts Turn Into Poison Pill - Bloomberg"Swedes are preparing to punish the government for cutting their taxes. ...<br /><br />
"“The government has done completely the wrong thing when they have
pushed through big and ineffective and expensive tax cuts instead of
making important investments in jobs and education,” Magdalena
Andersson, economic spokeswoman for the Social Democrats, who aspires to
become the next Finance Minister, told reporters today in Stockholm.<br /><br />
"In
Sweden, unlike in most other countries, “you don’t have to win on a
pledge to cut taxes,” said Carl B. Hamilton, economic spokesman for the
Liberal Party, a junior partner in [Prime Minister Fredrik] Reinfeldt’s coalition. “People have
felt they have received a decent return on their tax money.”"<br />
<br /><br />
<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-20/swedes-seek-2014-regime-change-as-tax-cuts-turn-into-poison-pill.html">Swedes Seek Regime Change as Tax Cuts Turn Into Poison Pill - Bloomberg</a>Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-27321667773063892332014-01-31T12:27:00.001-05:002014-01-31T12:28:58.464-05:00Rick Salutin: Medium for Pete Seeger's message was the singalong (in The Toronto Star)"[Pete Seeger] was essentially a figure in the Oral Tradition, versus most
musicians who belong to the Written Tradition in the sense that their
music is edited, perfected and sent one-way to audiences. They’re part
of a print approach although they use recorded sounds instead of words
on pages. Even on his recordings, Seeger strove to capture the ambience
of interaction. <br />
<br />
"This is especially subversive in the concert context because it breaks down the cash nexus. You pay to go but you perform....<br />
<br />
"“I’ve never sung anywhere without giving the people listening to me a
chance to join in,” said Seeger: “as a kid, as a lefty, as a man touring
the U.S.A. and the world, as an oldster. I guess it’s kind of a
religion with me. Participation. That’s what’s going to save the human
race.” You could say the singalong was a metaphor for all that, though
you could also say the singalong came first in his life (as son of a
musicologist) which extended outward and took in politics." <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/01/30/medium_for_pete_seegers_message_was_the_singalong_salutin.html">Medium for Pete Seeger's message was the singalong: Salutin | Toronto Star</a>Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-3163929752783589602014-01-24T10:25:00.001-05:002014-01-24T10:27:27.886-05:00Rick Salutin: Harper's fawning over Israel was unseemly (in The Toronto Star)"... it didn’t embarrass me
as a Jew, which I’d thought it might; it embarrassed me as a Canadian.
It was so unrestrained and disproportionate. It’s unseemly to go so gaga
for another country.<br />
<br />
"I don’t think at the
height of the Cold War, Canada ever put on such a show of adoration for
the U.S.; I doubt it did for Britain in Empire days....
<br />
<br />
"Canadians would never do stuff this garish at home (think of Chris
Hadfield’s dignified “O Canada” at the last Leafs-Canadiens game) but
they go to a foreign place and let it hang out like cheerleaders at a
Texas high school football game." <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/01/23/harpers_fawning_over_israel_was_unseemly_salutin.html">Harper's fawning over Israel was unseemly: Salutin | Toronto Star</a>Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-63516701701722284872014-01-14T10:05:00.001-05:002014-01-14T10:06:34.924-05:00Stephen Harper should take economics lesson from Henry Ford (in The Toronto Star)Toby Sanger:<br />
<br />
"A century ago, the trail-blazing automaker proved the benefits of paying a fair wage. It’s a lesson our prime minister ought to learn."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/01/13/stephen_harper_should_take_economics_lesson_from_henry_ford.html">Stephen Harper should take economics lesson from Henry Ford | Toronto Star</a><br />
<br />
<i>Toby Sanger is the economist for the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Twitter: @toby_sanger.</i> Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-20460223302102676202014-01-06T15:03:00.001-05:002014-01-06T15:03:11.357-05:00Canadian would-be astronauts in line to colonize Mars (in The Toronto Star)"[Stephen] Fenech, who has travelled to Antarctica and the middle of the Sahara desert, is no stranger to isolation and extreme climates. He says he’s not going into this blinded.<br />
<br />
"“I know there is risk involved but I’m willing to take that chance because I figure I can leave my own mark on society,” he said."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/01/02/canadian_wouldbe_astronauts_in_line_to_colonize_mars.html">Canadian would-be astronauts in line to colonize Mars</a><br />
<br />
It's a lot more important than "leaving his mark" on society - this may be the only hope for the species... if they can lick the cosmic ray protection problem...Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-81221843607494758552014-01-04T15:08:00.001-05:002014-01-04T15:08:09.346-05:00Aquaponics brings fish-fuelled vegetables to Toronto (in The Toronto Star)"Aquaponics operates as a complete ecosystem: Farmer feeds fish, fish poop in water, effluent-rich water is pumped to vegetable roots....<br />
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"The do-it-yourself farm — built from an aquarium, a garden trough, a pump and grow lights — only cost her about $300. ... <br />
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"Toronto only has two aquaponics farms aside from hobby farms. They are set up in two high schools to teach students about farming.<br />
<br />
"But Toronto’s first large-scale commercial aquaponics farm is now in the works, and it is expected to bring fresh, fish-fuelled vegetables to Toronto markets in the new year." <br />
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<a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/01/03/aquaponics_brings_fishfuelled_vegetables_to_toronto.html">Aquaponics brings fish-fuelled vegetables to Toronto</a><br />
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The way of the future?Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-3746226868072808412013-12-31T11:36:00.001-05:002013-12-31T11:36:04.292-05:00Stephen Bede Scharper: Environmentalists have reason for hope in 2014 (in The Toronto Star)"As we progress toward the New Year, three ... signs of hope ... come to mind.<br />
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"First, Bolivia is on the verge of passing one of the most far-reaching environmental bills in history. The “Mother Earth” or Pachamama law, approved by Bolivia’s majority governing party, draws deeply on indigenous concepts that view nature as a sacred home. ...<br />
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"A second beacon of hope can be seen emanating from Vatican City in the humble, pastoral and compassionate smile of Pope Francis...<br />
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"A third source of hope is the creative, dynamic youth who are embracing the environment as a focus of their studies, avocation and chosen careers." <br />
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<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/12/29/environmentalists_have_reason_for_hope_in_2014_scharper.html">Environmentalists have reason for hope in 2014: Scharper | Toronto Star</a><br />
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<i><b>Stephen Bede Scharper</b> is associate professor of environment and religious studies at the University of Toronto. </i>Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-40933894878600459462013-12-31T11:17:00.001-05:002013-12-31T11:39:34.705-05:00Joe Fiorito: The apology at the front door (in The Toronto Star)"He said, “I cut taxes. I built the subway.” I said, “You’ve raised taxes. You blew millions cancelling the LRT agreement. You built nothing, and you cut services to the poor.”<br />
<br />
"“I stopped the gravy train.”
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"“There was no gravy train.”"
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<a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/12/26/the_apology_at_the_front_door_fiorito.html">The apology at the front door: Fiorito | Toronto Star</a><br />
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Wonderful piece by Toronto Star columnist Joe Fiorito - Toronto readers will know exactly who he's talking about!Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-73154094497855091172013-12-13T23:03:00.001-05:002013-12-13T23:03:00.321-05:00Rick Salutin: Harper, Hudak and the dangers of an education (in The Toronto Star)"Tim Hudak is a great example of the damage a good education can do. So is Stephen Harper. Both are products of university economics departments in the late 20th century. Each has a proud M.A. in the field. Like their American cognate — Paul Ryan — they’ve chosen to implement economic policy with no or little experience in the work world....<br />
<br />
"...Yves Smith of <a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/12/12/nakedcapitalism.com">nakedcapitalism.com</a>, ... notes the special delusion of economists: “Every social science save economics rests on the assumption of human irrationality.”" <br />
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<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/12/12/harper_hudak_and_the_dangers_of_an_education_salutin.html">Rick Salutin: Harper, Hudak and the dangers of an education</a>.<br />
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Great article - only slightly tongue-in-cheek! It's good to read someone drawing people's attention to the dangers of the non-science called "economics". Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-45780071425263908852013-11-11T21:46:00.001-05:002013-11-11T21:48:24.855-05:00Christopher Hume: Climate change vs. Rob Ford and Stephen Harper (in The Toronto Star)"Toronto Mayor Rob Ford isn’t this country’s only global embarrassment; Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s appalling record on the environment and contempt for international diplomacy has also shamed Canada around the world.<br />
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"Harper’s ... abject servitude to business, especially the oil industry, knows no bounds....<br />
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"The meltdown happening in Canada’s leadership is much more immediately gripping than that unfolding in the Far North. It has a beginning, a middle and at some point, an end. Besides, it makes for better TV.<br />
<br />
"And though these dual disasters leave Canadians feeling frustrated and impotent, we are responsible for both. The difference is that one will go away; the other will be around forever."<br />
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<a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/11/08/climate_change_vs_rob_ford_and_stephen_harper_hume.html">Climate change vs. Rob Ford and Stephen Harper (in The Toronto Star)</a>Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-5505738059468732512013-11-06T16:33:00.000-05:002013-11-06T16:33:06.846-05:00Economists deserve the battering they're getting (in The Toronto Star)"It’s been a rough patch lately for economists, no question about it.<br />
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"You might even say it’s been a tough millennium.<br />
<br />
"Generally unloved at the best of times, practitioners of the dismal science have come in for a pummelling at home and abroad for a range of sins.<br />
<br />
"A recent Bank of Canada internal audit found, according to media reports, that its economists had difficulty “being succinct, grammatically correct and prioritizing the data into useful information.”<br />
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"Now, the fact that some number-crunchers routinely take cover in the hazy vagueness of jargon and bafflegab hardly comes as a surprise, not in an age when bombs are referred to with straight face as improvised explosive devices...<br />
<br />
"Hard on the heels of the Bank of Canada report came word of American research that finds economists are not merely incoherent but are more apt than others to be greedy, selfish weasels...<br />
<br />
"[The study by three Cornell University professors] said economics majors were more likely than others to fleece colleagues and that they, and students who had taken at least three economics courses, were more likely than their peers to rate greed as good. <br />
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<a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2013/11/02/economists_deserve_the_battering_theyre_getting.html">Economists deserve the battering they're getting </a> (Jim Coyle in The Toronto Star)Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849208620113491986.post-36213716160931127102013-10-30T10:10:00.001-04:002013-10-30T10:10:04.968-04:00Michael Byers: Stephen Harper should make like a Viking (in The Toronto Star)"Climate change poses enormous challenges for Iceland, a country of 320,000 people located just south of the Arctic Circle. Melting permafrost is destabilizing buildings, roads and precious farmland. Rising sea temperatures and acidity levels, caused by heat and carbon dioxide being absorbed into the ocean, are threatening the fishing industry, the cornerstone of Iceland’s economy.<br />
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"Icelanders are doing their part to mitigate the damage. By harnessing the volcanic power of the earth and the gravitational power of glacier-fed rivers, they already produce the most renewable energy, per capita, of any country in the world. Now, their focus is on helping other countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions — and on making money in the process....<br />
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"Canada, with a land mass 100 times larger than Iceland’s, is endowed with large rivers, strong tides, persistent winds, sunny regions and promising geothermal sources. It too has massive potential for renewable energy production and an almost insatiable market next door.<br />
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"But with the exception of hydroelectricity, renewables have never been given a chance in Canada. Instead, governments subsidize the production and export of oil, gas and coal, either directly, or indirectly through royalty rates significantly lower than those charged elsewhere in the world. It is these subsidies that could soon attract trade sanctions from other countries."<br />
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<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/10/28/pm_must_make_like_viking.html">Stephen Harper should make like a Viking (in The Toronto Star)</a><br />
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Michael Byers holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of <i>International Law and the Arctic</i>, recently published by Cambridge University Press.<br />
Paul Morrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814710521045499785noreply@blogger.com