The Liberal-NDP coalition has great support among the countless disillusioned by the Conservative Party. The Conservative’s recent proposals for a “three-year ban on the right of civil servants to strike, limits on the ability of women to sue for pay equity and eliminated subsidies for political parties” struck many the wrong way – notwithstanding the […] More »
As a follow-up to last week’s entry called Riddle Me This I got in touch with Michael Swan, the man in Toronto City Hall who can answer all your pressing Ontario Building Code questions. I had more than a few. Most of my questions pertained to buildings that feature some accessibility features like automatic door […] More »
From left to right, above: Stephane Dion, Jack Layton, Gilles Duceppe (Artist’s impression) Your This Magazine bloggers haven’t weighed in yet on all the coalition talk that’s sprung up in the last few days, mostly because there’s been so much speculation and so little substance to talk about. The Parliamentary procedures that will dictate exactly […] More »
The November-December issue of This Magazine is now online for your screen-based reading pleasure. Read Alison Lee’s look at how a new generation of feminists are changing the porn industry, or Alex Felipe’s photo essay of Canadian-owned gold mines in the Philippines, or Craig Saunders’ profile of Buzz Hargrove at the end of his legendary […] More »
Here in Toronto, I’m hiding in my apartment as the temperature hovers just above zero and I’m wondering how it is that I turned out to be such a wimp when I spent my formative years in Winnipeg, the land of cold and snow and over-sized Halloween costumes fitted over snowsuits. It seems to be […] More »
Why does the Econo Lodge at 335 Jarvis St. have a push button automatic door with a handicap logo on it, but a single staircase that leads inside? Why does Bar Burrito on Yonge & Sheppard have a step leading into their restaurant, while the restaurant right next door is on level ground? Why does […] More »
The economy is on a lot of people’s minds as Canadian newspapers warn of recession and the United States deals with its subprime mortgage problem. And so this might be the perfect time to read Margaret Atwood’s new book Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth. Consisting of five essays, each presented during this […] More »
Forget about the drug store commercials that tout pharmacists as friendly neighbourhood fixtures who look out for your family’s well being. The Ontario Medical Association is downgrading them to med-school dropouts who can’t tell a tummy ache from metastatic stomach cancer. A new proposal floating around Queen’s Park would allow pharmacists to diagnose simple ailments […] More »
November 20th, 2008, is World Philosophy Day, an annual celebration initiated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This year, in Palermo, Italy, a set of philosophers will gather for talks under the theme “Rights and Power”, and with titles like “Human dignity, civil community and public authority”, “From the Mediterranean to […] More »
Yesterday was the Speech from the Throne, the strange annual ritual where the government writes a speech and the Governor General has to read it in Parliament. The Conservatives laid out a cautious — NDP leader Jack Layton dismissed it as “very timid” — and cost-cutting agenda, with a focus on the economy. There were […] More »
Margaret Wente has now covered race and its discontents in two consecutive issues of The Globe and Mail. Yesterday in her opinion piece, “Testing, testing, bigot 1-2-3”, she described an outwardly, and unabashedly, prejudiced aunt – a woman who would often have a nasty thing to say about the black people she called “coloureds”. This […] More »