Carson couldn’t stand being at parties with Nikki. Nikki flirted. But Carson stuck through it. When Carson was a kid, his brother and he played Alice in Wonderland. One of them had to wear their sister’s communion dress and tap shoes to play Alice the whole way through. Carson hated being Alice. Not because of […] More »

Rio de Janeiro has a murder rate as high as a war zone—millions of impoverished people here resort to crime for survival. A kid from the favelas of Rio has limited career options: kidnapper, cocaine trafficker, gang leader, robber, or hit man. For many, prison is safer than the streets, and comes with more reliable […] More »

The Harper government has placed a bill before Parliament that would alter the formula for how seats are redistributed following the census. It would give Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia more seats in the House of Commons; naturally, Quebec and the Atlantic Canadian provinces are upset with this change as it diminishes their relative influence […] More »

UPDATE: Wednesday, July 28, 12:14 — The Council of Canadians reports that the United Nations general assembly has voted in favour of the resolution to recognize water and sanitation as basic human rights. The still-unofficial vote count was 124 votes in favour, zero votes against, and 42 abstentions. We’ll update with the official vote when […] More »

Summer festivals were once kingpins of the concert season, but in recent years their popularity has waned significantly. The recession has been blamed, and it certainly has had an effect, but the more likely cause for a drop in popularity has to do not with personal economics, but greed by the promoters. A great summer […] More »

I suspect you already know why I think scrapping the long-form census is a terrible idea. Good data is good for society. Done right, statistical research keeps us all honest, forcing us to interact with the world as it actually is, rather than imagining ourselves as part of a reality that is personally or politically […] More »

Proportional representation comes in, well, not quite 31 flavours, but it’s a lot. There’s more than one way to elect an MP! Party List System In list systems, parties put forward a list of candidates, and voters cast a ballot for one party and its slate of individuals. Seats are allocated to parties based on […] More »

Descriptions of Conrad Black in news stories about his arrest, conviction, subsequent time served in jail, and now his bail hearing, often liken him to some sort of greasy mammal, who has “wriggled free” after “swindling” the public out of $6 million. News of Black’s bail-granting in Chicago broke on Monday, overshadowing the results of […] More »

Previously in our special week on electoral reform: Parliament needs women and proportional representation is the solution (to which this article was a sidebar); and our interview with Judy Rebick. Electoral reform is on the agenda in the U.K. following the May election that saw the creation of the first British coalition government in more than […] More »

This week’s installment of Tuesday Tracks comes care of a little bit of serendipity. Tuesdays tend to sneak up pretty quick sometimes and it can be quite distressing and a little embarrassing when Monday night rolls around there are no new tracks to be found. Most weeks it’s pretty easy—there’s so much to listen to, and […] More »

It’s time for a little refresher course in Canadian civil society: Canada’s formal political dependence on Britain came to an end in 1982 with Pierre Trudeau’s Canada Act.  The Act led to the patriation of the Canadian Constitution–you know, that old document that outlines the vibrant democratic system of government we so proudly employ in […] More »