Nobody won at Tuesday night’s Vancouver Park Board meeting addressing the city’s latest and biggest homeless encampment in Strathcona Park. After two onerous nights of debate — in which nearly 100 speakers outlined their sympathy for the homeless park dwellers; for the board itself, having to deal with such a thorny issue; and for Strathcona…
Category: Canadian politics
Svend Robinson’s SFU appointment is a breath of fresh air
On Tuesday, I learned that my hero, Svend Robinson, has been appointed as the new J. S. Woodsworth Resident Scholar for the 2020–21 academic year at Simon Fraser University. It’s such a fitting appointment: James S. Woodsworth was a pioneer of Canada’s progressive social movement. A Member of Parliament and a founder of the social-democratic…
People say the virus doesn’t discriminate. But it does, because we do.
Readers following my blog lately will know that I’ve been commenting on two huge, powerful forces in the world right now — forces that intersect and are impossible to ignore: The pandemic and the recent flood of resistance to racism. The outrageous murder of George Floyd was the anti-racism flashpoint, but protestors worldwide have also…
No justice; no peace; no racist police
From Beverly Hills to Brooklyn, America is burning. The gruesome police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis has understandably reignited the fear, anger and concern about centuries of systemic racism — not just in the U.S. but also here at home in Canada, where racism has been embedded in society all the way back to…
A True North strong and free — from carbon
It’s time, in more ways than one, for a made-in-Canada Green New Deal. The COVID 19 pandemic seems to have convinced the federal Liberals that large deficits are now appropriate given the economic collapse we’re experiencing that echoes the Great Depression. I can think of a very good way to invest this deficit spending. Last…
Think local, shop local, buy local
This long-weekend Monday was spectacular weather-wise — the afternoon was pure sunshine. My partner, Penny, and I spent the entire afternoon on our back deck, and I enjoyed a very delicious, very cold Lonetree Apple-Peach Cider, straight from our freezer. Sipping my cider, I wondered what sort of a world we are now moving into…
How to counter a dangerous trend
I was astonished to learn that on Monday, May 11 about 50 people congregated outside of St. Paul’s Hospital to denounce COVID-19 as a hoax and urge the lifting of restrictions. They allege that doctors and scientists are lying, and hospitals are empty. This is about the fourth hoaxer march in Vancouver. I don’t know…