March 10, 2010
Counting the Vancouver 2010 Olympics’ broken promises
One of Pivot Legal Society's Red Tents on the streets of Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics. Photo by The Blackbird. The five-ring circus has rolled out of Vancouver, but the tents are still up. Hundreds of red tents, which became as much a symbol of our 2010 Games as those maple leaf mittens, won’t be coming down until we get our housing legacy. That’s the pledge of Pivot Legal Society,... [More >>]
February 26, 2010
When Canada flouts its own aid promises, we fail Haitians—again
This editorial appears in the March-April 2010 issue of This, which will be in subscribers‘ mailboxes and on newsstands next week. Haitians awaiting relif supplies in Port au Prince, January 15, 2010. The earthquake that devastated Haiti on the afternoon of January 12, 2010, viscerally illustrated the need for responsible, long-term, sustainable development. For many thousands of Haitians, poverty... [More >>]
February 23, 2010
Six new documentaries explore the darkest corners of modern capitalism
Noam Chomsky in "Encirclement: Neo-Liberalism Ensnares Democracy" If ever there was a conspiracy theory that had every likelihood of being true, it’s that a shadowy cabal of billionaires are meeting at some remote location in the Swiss Alps (perhaps the Hotel Mont Pelerin, or the latest Bilderberg stronghold) to plot how to most effectively screw the rest of the world. Michael Moore’s... [More >>]
February 19, 2010
Road scholarship: the slippery facts about road salt
It makes for safer driving in Canada, but the price is high Wintertime in Canada is sure to mean roads covered in snow, ice and salt. Here’s a look at the country’s de-icer of choice— how it’s good, how it’s bad, and what can be used instead. Click below to see the PDF full-screen: In December 2001, Environment Canada officially declared road salt to be damaging to the environment. Since... [More >>]
February 17, 2010
Interview: sealskin clothing designer and lawyer Aaju Peter
Europe’s sealskin ban threatens her runway-ready apparel—and maybe the entire Inuit way of life Aaju Peter. Illustration by David Donald. A majority of the 27 member states of the European Union voted to ban the trade of seal product imports such as pelts, oil, and meat last July. The ban comes into effect in August 2010. Although the EU did allow a partial exemption for Inuit populations,... [More >>]
February 12, 2010
The Olympics reveals our priorities as a nation. The news isn’t good.
Jacques Rogge's bank of Olympic televisions (artist's impression). When Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, checks into his Vancouver hotel suite a few weeks from now, he will find (as he flops, exhausted, no doubt, from the strain of private jet travel) a “video wall,” paid for by the citizens of British Columbia. The bank of televisions are a requirement of... [More >>]
February 11, 2010
Four world records Canada should be ashamed to hold
Google Earth detail showing part of the Athabasca tar sands mining operation. The tar sands is both the most carbon- and capital-intensive project on earth. Photo via Flickr user Skytruth. Nothing brings out patriotic pride like the Olympics. But before we get busy reading about gold medals and new heights of athletic glory, let’s take a few moments to reflect on a few shameful Canadian records that... [More >>]
January 29, 2010
Print media woes claim another victim: the obituary page
With the rise of paid death notices, the old-fashioned obit's days may be numbered. Photo by Graham F. Scott. Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs’ conspicuously detailed death announcement, accidentally published by Bloomberg news service in 2008, revealed a little-known fact about the craft of writing obituaries: the blood doesn’t have to have gone cold before someone writes the first draft of... [More >>]
January 27, 2010
Banned at home, Canada continues exporting deadly asbestos worldwide
Microscopic image of Asbestos. Despite being banned here, Canada remains the West's biggest exporter of the deadly mineral. Over the past two decades, Canada has spent millions stripping asbestos from the walls and ceilings of schools, the Parliament Buildings, and hospitals. The national outcry against asbestos has led to some government restrictions on its use and production, causing many Canadians... [More >>]
January 12, 2010
Olympic Countdown: Adding up the real costs of Vancouver 2010
Quebec spent 30 years paying off the debt it racked up for the 1976 Montreal Summer Games. There’s no reason so far to expect that Vancouver will be any different. British Columbian and Canadian taxpayers have already incurred hundreds of millions of dollars in rampant budget overruns—the Athlete’s Village and security budget are only two prime examples. The problem with the official budget... [More >>]
