From the Afghan Detainee torture scandal to the Helena Guergis Magical Mystery Police Adventure, governmental transparency is at a dangerously low ebb and risks being “totally obliterated,” says the interim access-to-information commissioner Suzanne Legault. Her report, released yesterday, gave low ratings to 13 out of 24 government institutions on their compliance with requests for information, […] More »
On the night of March 15, 2009, I was surrounded by thousands of celebrating Salvadorans. The first left-wing president, Mauricio Funes of the FMLN, a left-wing political party, had just been elected and San Salvador was erupting into a sea of red. I had come to El Salvador to work as one of 5,000 election […] More »
Q: Dear Progressive Detective: I’m worried about radiation from the cellphone tower that was just installed on my building’s roof. What can I do about it? A: Everyone and their grandma is on a cellphone these days, and because we believe nothing should impede us from updating everybody on everything, cellular service companies are rushing […] More »
Today in Verbatim, This contributing editor Andrew Wallace interviews Dave Zirin, sports editor of U.S. progressive weekly The Nation and host of Edgeofsports.com, a blog and radio show that examines the collision of politics and sports. He’s the author of several canonical books on that topic, most recently of A People’s History of Sports in the United States, […] More »
The French Revolution demonized organized religion, calling it an agent of conservatism that held society back. And while there’s no denying that organized religion is still generally a conservative force, every now and then it can push forward social reforms. Let’s look at how several major faiths have helped shape many societies into more inclusive, […] More »
Sunday morning was dark and my alarm didn’t go off, so I slept in. I was awakened late in the morning to a fellow gringo, my friend Luke, shouting through my window. “Ashley!” he yelled, “wake up, did you hear what happened?” I had heard nothing but silence that day. I let him in and […] More »
As part of our partnership with Toronto’s Images Festival, we’ve got a week of free tickets to give away for festival screenings and other events. Every day this week we’ll have a pair of tickets to give away to some lucky winner, and all you have to do to be that person is correctly answer […] More »
A new generation of designers propose products and buildings that are energy efficient and elegant Rick Mercer’s quip during the Copenhagen climate conference last December summed it up best: “So [Stephen] Harper flew to Copenhagen to have a club sandwich and hide in his room?” The post-Copenhagen doldrums were still bringing us down when Thomas […] More »
This Magazine is pleased to offer, as part of our partnership with Toronto’s Images Festival, a week of free tickets to festival screenings and other events. We’ll be giving away a pair of tickets every day this week, and all you have to do to win is correctly answer our skill-testing question of the day. […] More »
“Working people did not cause this crisis … and we won’t pay for it!” These words were printed in bright red letters on a flyer recently published by the Communist Party of Canada as part of its effort to raise public awareness about the root causes of the global economic crisis. The flyer sat atop […] More »
We’ve done something a little different with Listen to This #008, bringing you a special hour-long conversation between several This Magazine contributors and Toronto’s Vibe Collective, a group of broadcasters who do a weekly mix of talk and music on CIUT 89.5 FM (available anywhere, anytime, at ciut.fm). Interviewers Jamaias DaCosta and Chantelle Jaime welcomed […] More »