So today the Conservatives in the Canadian Senate voted down the NDP’s climate change bill that had been bouncing around for years. Big deal. Harper haters are up in arms about what they see as the anti-democratic nature of the move. A bill passed by a majority of elected MPs has now been quashed by
After 13 years of fighting an application for the creation of a quarry in Caledon (near Mississauga) the OMB has turned down the application. The OMB ruled that the proposed Rockfort Quarry could possibly have a “catastrophic impact” on the surrounding environment if measures to guard against potential problems did not work. The Coalition of
In this article from the Globe and Mail called Does Ontario’s Green Energy Act pass the ‘net benefit’ test? the author, Jatin Nathwani from the University of Waterloo argues that there are serious problems with the Green Energy Act of Ontario. These problems put our entire electrical supply system in jeopardy and make its sustainability questionable. The most
Prime Minister Stephen Harper made it clear last week that it is likely there will be an extension of Canadian military involvment in Afghanistan. The government had previously committed to having all Canadian soldiers out of Afghanistan by the end of next July (2011). Has the government been misleading Canadians? Some media are interpreting this
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In
Canadian attack of Vimy Ridge, April 16, 1917 – Library and Archives Canada In an op-ed piece in the National Post Matt Gurney argues that Remembrance Day (November 11) should not be made a statutory holiday in Ontario . There are good arguments on both sides of this debate, but generally I agree with Gurney.
In his book Ethical Oil author and activist Ezra Levant argues that attempts to replace carbon based energy – in this case, oil from the Alberta oil sands – with renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar have been an “unmitigated disaster” [p207] in Spain, and by extension, other countries such as Germany. This
There was much consternation amongst UN observers, and a fair bit of self-satisfied clucking coming from UN-detractors over the proposed makeup of a powerful new United Nations agency aimed at promoting equality for women. Countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and some questionable African countries with terrible records on women’s equality have been lobbying to
In Part 1 called How Conestogo Got Its Name – Part 1 I offered some background into the relationship between Conestogo Ontario and an area in southeastern Pennsylvania where the name originated. Actually it is not correct to suggest that Conestogo Ontario was named after the town called Conestoga in Lancaster Pennsylvania. As I mentioned
A 400-year-old book described as “the first written history of Canada”, and containing one of the earliest and most treasured maps of the country is scheduled to be sold this month at a British auction of rare volumes and historic manuscripts. Marc Lescarbot spent two years in New France shortly after the first settlement in
I admit it, I know nothing about Facebook Credits. This just shows how online gaming-challenged I am. Facebook Credits are the “official currency of Facebook”, used in more than 200 online Facebook applications such as Farmville, YoVille and Cafe World, none of which I know anything about. The more interesting thing about this (at least
Growing up in Canada only 10 miles or so from the American border, I’ve always had an ambivalent feeling about the anti-American sentiment expressed by many Canadians. My initial experience of the U.S. was Buffalo, New York, a decaying industrial city just over the border. Buffalo had grubby old factory buildings, real movie theatres, powerful
The federal government today announced that it was rejecting the hostile takeover of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan. This bid had been in the works for almost 3 months and has created quite a fuss in Saskatchewan. Prime Minister Stephen Harper had previously indicated that he considered the takeover a fairly routine buyout of a company
If you were expecting the arrival of the Chevy Volt to be the beginning of the electric car revolution you’re going to be disappointed. Back when GM was on the verge of collapse the Volt was put forward as GM’s answer for the future. But more than two years later the Volt has turned out
Here is an interview with Mary Simon, leader of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. The interviewer is Nick Taylor-Vaisey of Listen to This a Canadian podcasting online magazine. They discuss things like climate change, health and social services for the Inuit, education in the Arctic, and the ban on seal products by the European Union. Here is
Ah yes, the Omar Khadr story. How long has it been going on now? Since July 2002? Is it really more than 8 years? And now this storey is finally coming to some kind of resolution. Early on in his stay in Guantanamo Bay Omar Khadr became something of a poster child, especially in Canada,
In an insightful article in This Magazine Graham F. Scott argues that the current concern with the loss of male masculinity is, in his words, “horseshit”. As he says, “My hackles go up when those who are obviously powerful claim they are powerless.” The kind of media coverage he’s talking about are studies that show
In this video from early September Kory Teneycke, then a VP with SunNews TV and a former top aide to Stephen Harper, and Ricken Patel of Avaaz.org square off over the application by Sun media to the CRTC to start a cable news station called SunNews. The proposed new station has been dubbed “Fox News
The name Conestogo (or “Conestoga”) of our village in southwestern Ontario derives from a location in Lancaster County Pennsylvania located in the southeastern part of that state. This name was transplanted from Pennsylvania to the Waterloo region of Ontario because many of the original settlers of the Waterloo area came from Lancaster Country. Conestoga in
