...non-profit social and environmental organizations, protest groups like Occupy and OCRAP, etc.?
Tasha Kheiriddin: Don’t scapegoat corporate Canada
It’s not a good time to be rich in North America. Millionaires and corporations have become the punching bags of both the left and the right, with Occupy protestors, Barack Obama, Warren Buffett and even Republican presidential contenders all taking their jabs.
You can now add to that list the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) — a union umbrella group — which has just released a study purporting to calculate “Corporate Tax Freedom Day.”
The CLC report parodies the Fraser Institute’s annual “Tax Freedom Day study,” which calculates the day of the year on which Canadian taxpayers start working for themselves, having discharged their fiscal burden to the government. (In 2011, it came on June 6.) The CLC pegs the corporate-tax date at February 1, earlier than in previous years due to corporate tax reductions by successive Liberal and Conservative governments over the past decade. Read More »
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Retirement Of The Likes Of Bob White...
...opened the gates of mediocrity in the union movement. IMHO if unions want to turn things around it will be done in the boardrooms not the streets.
Kelly McParland: Some helpful suggestions for organized labour
The Toronto Star has a secret memo from two big labour unions in which they concede they could go the way of the dinosaurs unless they reinvent themselves.
The paper, titled “A Moment of Truth for Canadian Labour,” says the economic pressures of globalization, growing employer aggression, hostile government policy and public cynicism have weakened unions significantly during the past two decades. “If unions do not change, and quickly, we will steadily follow U.S. unions into continuing decline,” says the paper, which is marked “confidential.”
“We must reverse the erosion of our membership, our power and our prestige.”
Membership in private sector unions is down to 17.4%, compared to 75% in the public sector. In the U.S., private sector membership is even worse — just 7% — and even public sector membership is just 35%. Canada could go the same way. Read More »
Kelly McParland: Some helpful suggestions for organized labour
The Toronto Star has a secret memo from two big labour unions in which they concede they could go the way of the dinosaurs unless they reinvent themselves.
The paper, titled “A Moment of Truth for Canadian Labour,” says the economic pressures of globalization, growing employer aggression, hostile government policy and public cynicism have weakened unions significantly during the past two decades. “If unions do not change, and quickly, we will steadily follow U.S. unions into continuing decline,” says the paper, which is marked “confidential.”
“We must reverse the erosion of our membership, our power and our prestige.”
Membership in private sector unions is down to 17.4%, compared to 75% in the public sector. In the U.S., private sector membership is even worse — just 7% — and even public sector membership is just 35%. Canada could go the same way. Read More »
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Hmmm! Two Sides To An Issue...
...but not in rabble.ca which fails to meet the basics of journalistic integrity.
Activist Communique: Take action to support KI
January 25, 2012
By Krystalline Kraus
Ontario is violating Native land rights by allowing gold mining company God's Lake Resources to prospect Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) sacred burial grounds without consultation or consent.
God's Lake Resources Responds to Kitchenuhmaykoosib ...
Oct 2011 – God's Lake Resources Responds to Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug.
Activist Communique: Take action to support KI
January 25, 2012
By Krystalline Kraus
Ontario is violating Native land rights by allowing gold mining company God's Lake Resources to prospect Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) sacred burial grounds without consultation or consent.
God's Lake Resources Responds to Kitchenuhmaykoosib ...
Oct 2011 – God's Lake Resources Responds to Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug.
Selective Freedom Of Expression...
...not only on many, many campuses, ask Christie Blatchford, Ann Coulter, but public venues where a Toronto citizen (David Menzies) was verbally and physically "assaulted" but police took no action.
Expect the Expected
Just over a week ago Anne Marie Waters, a Council Member of the National Secular Society, was scheduled to give a talk at Queen Mary University of London as a Co-Spokesperson on behalf of the anti-Shariah group One Law For All. You'll never guess what happened next:
Before (the talk) started, a man entered the lecture theatre, stood at the front with a camera and filmed the audience. He then said that he knew who everyone was, where they lived and if he heard anything negative about the Prophet, he would track them down. The man also filmed students in the foyer and threatened to murder them and their families. On leaving the building, he joined a large group of men, apparently there to support him.
Campus security to the rescue!
He said: 'If you have these discussions, what do you expect?'
Well, in any country anywhere in the world with a substantial Muslim population you can expect to be hung out to dry by politicians and law-enforcement officials. Would-be speaker Ann Marie Waters - who is courageous by virtue of even attempting to speak out against Islamist censorship and threats - seems just a half-step away from understanding that in the relativistic, equivocating West, front-line defenders of free speech are essentially on their own:
I am left wondering what exactly we could have done. I would love to say that we stood up to him and carried on bravely in a valiant defence of free speech, but it was a frightening experience and I know that people felt genuinely threatened and upset. In any case, is it the role of speakers and students to face off against potentially violent Islamists in defence of our free speech, risking our safety in the process?
Posted by EBD at 12:04 AM Comments (24)
Expect the Expected
Just over a week ago Anne Marie Waters, a Council Member of the National Secular Society, was scheduled to give a talk at Queen Mary University of London as a Co-Spokesperson on behalf of the anti-Shariah group One Law For All. You'll never guess what happened next:
Before (the talk) started, a man entered the lecture theatre, stood at the front with a camera and filmed the audience. He then said that he knew who everyone was, where they lived and if he heard anything negative about the Prophet, he would track them down. The man also filmed students in the foyer and threatened to murder them and their families. On leaving the building, he joined a large group of men, apparently there to support him.
Campus security to the rescue!
He said: 'If you have these discussions, what do you expect?'
Well, in any country anywhere in the world with a substantial Muslim population you can expect to be hung out to dry by politicians and law-enforcement officials. Would-be speaker Ann Marie Waters - who is courageous by virtue of even attempting to speak out against Islamist censorship and threats - seems just a half-step away from understanding that in the relativistic, equivocating West, front-line defenders of free speech are essentially on their own:
I am left wondering what exactly we could have done. I would love to say that we stood up to him and carried on bravely in a valiant defence of free speech, but it was a frightening experience and I know that people felt genuinely threatened and upset. In any case, is it the role of speakers and students to face off against potentially violent Islamists in defence of our free speech, risking our safety in the process?
Posted by EBD at 12:04 AM Comments (24)
Blood Diamonds Are Illegal But People Still Crave Diamonds So...
...you have to wonder if labelling high tech gadgets "blood gadgets" will decrease parent demand's for substitute baby sitters for a more human approach and will this improve the lives of Foxconn workers in Shenzhen?
iPad factory misery leads to suicides
Corporate social responsibility is often just a quaint paragraph on a website. Apple and other...
...you have to wonder where the labour movement is, whether corporation care about workers, why don't we hear about the Shenzthen and the list goes on and on but this is just another case hypocricy of which I am guilty. I have to wonder how many "blood" gadgets I have and to be honest I am not about to give most of them up, especially my iPad, but I will give up my blender, electric can opener, etc.
Apple profit doubles, thanks largely to 37 million iPhone sales
iPad factory misery leads to suicides
Corporate social responsibility is often just a quaint paragraph on a website. Apple and other...
...you have to wonder where the labour movement is, whether corporation care about workers, why don't we hear about the Shenzthen and the list goes on and on but this is just another case hypocricy of which I am guilty. I have to wonder how many "blood" gadgets I have and to be honest I am not about to give most of them up, especially my iPad, but I will give up my blender, electric can opener, etc.
Apple profit doubles, thanks largely to 37 million iPhone sales
Like It Or Not This Is The Hot Topic Of The Day And...
...the plight of seniors, hungry children, gangsta street crime, affordable housing, etc. will have to take a back seat for the next few days. Once the hullabaloo dies down the media will concentrate on important issues like When parking is as good as gold Website helps car lovers and big families looking for a place to put their cars.
Chris Selley’s Full Pundit: Fixing native education — a huge, complicated first step
The hot buttonsIn which federal politicians grapple fearfully with aboriginal affairs and same-sex marriage, and ignore abortion.
The Ottawa Citizen‘s editorialists issue the standard call for action, not just talk, with respect to the Crown-First Nations Gathering in Ottawa. And they echo the fairly common notion that the first step in a long process of improving relations and conditions should be “closing the education gap between the performances of aboriginal and non-aboriginal children in Canada, something that is both achievable and measurable.” We agree. In many cases the monetary, physical and human resources devoted to aboriginal education are indefensibly meagre. But while it’s certainly “achievable,” improving educational achievement in remote, troubled communities with no history of it is also going to be incredibly hard work.
Ken Coates and Greg Poelzer, writing in the National Post, highlight some of the challenges: convincing “dedicated professionals [to] go north for prolonged periods of time”; developing “homegrown professionals (who are much more likely to stay)”; getting the community squarely behind the school; and the fact that many of “the most talented” people will always tend to leave. Challenges aside, however, they believe “the overwhelming media fixation with stories of tragedy belies the increasing number of success stories that are far less well known. Failure, like success, can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Read More »
Chris Selley’s Full Pundit: Fixing native education — a huge, complicated first step
The hot buttonsIn which federal politicians grapple fearfully with aboriginal affairs and same-sex marriage, and ignore abortion.
The Ottawa Citizen‘s editorialists issue the standard call for action, not just talk, with respect to the Crown-First Nations Gathering in Ottawa. And they echo the fairly common notion that the first step in a long process of improving relations and conditions should be “closing the education gap between the performances of aboriginal and non-aboriginal children in Canada, something that is both achievable and measurable.” We agree. In many cases the monetary, physical and human resources devoted to aboriginal education are indefensibly meagre. But while it’s certainly “achievable,” improving educational achievement in remote, troubled communities with no history of it is also going to be incredibly hard work.
Ken Coates and Greg Poelzer, writing in the National Post, highlight some of the challenges: convincing “dedicated professionals [to] go north for prolonged periods of time”; developing “homegrown professionals (who are much more likely to stay)”; getting the community squarely behind the school; and the fact that many of “the most talented” people will always tend to leave. Challenges aside, however, they believe “the overwhelming media fixation with stories of tragedy belies the increasing number of success stories that are far less well known. Failure, like success, can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Read More »
I Don't Think Any Of My Ancestors Met Any Indians...
Native protesters dig up the road in front of their barricade as violence breaks out between white residents, native protesters and the OPP at the barricade in Caledonia in 2006.
...so hopefully they will not be the lynchpin that drives the discussions and concessions will not be made on anything they are falsely accussed of doing.
There is hope for Canada’s First Nations
Ken Coates and Greg Poelzer: Harper’s meetings this week with First Nations leaders have a quiet urgency about them. It has been a long while since there was a First Nations meeting of this importance.
...so hopefully they will not be the lynchpin that drives the discussions and concessions will not be made on anything they are falsely accussed of doing.There is hope for Canada’s First Nations
Ken Coates and Greg Poelzer: Harper’s meetings this week with First Nations leaders have a quiet urgency about them. It has been a long while since there was a First Nations meeting of this importance.
John Ivison: Pragmatic PM looks ahead as Chiefs air old grievances
The Crown-First Nations gathering in Ottawa was a classic example of a failure to communicate.
Both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and National Chief Shawn Atleo recognized the history of Canada’s relations with its First Nations as a register of crimes and misfortunes. Both paid lip-service to the idea of unlocking the potential of aboriginal Canadians.
But they talked past each other when it came to moving forward.
Read More »
The Crown-First Nations gathering in Ottawa was a classic example of a failure to communicate.
Both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and National Chief Shawn Atleo recognized the history of Canada’s relations with its First Nations as a register of crimes and misfortunes. Both paid lip-service to the idea of unlocking the potential of aboriginal Canadians.
But they talked past each other when it came to moving forward.
Read More »
Matt Gurney: A native uprising isn’t likely, but it’s possible
Led by a charismatic young leader, small groups of natives strike a series of Canadian military bases and launch terrorist attacks in major Canadian cities. While the numerically tiny and underequipped Canadian Army scrambles to respond, a second wave of attacks by native insurgents bring Canada’s petroleum industry and electrical generation capability to a halt, causing economic disruption and blackouts in the United States. Eventually, the U.S. mounts a major military incursion into Canadian territory to restore order and stabilize their own economy.
That is all confined to fiction — namely, Canadian military expert Douglas Bland’s 2010 novel Uprising. But while the prospect of a native insurgency in Canada admittedly seems a remote threat, it is a real one, and something that Canadian strategic planners, who plan for pretty much every scenario, must consider.
Read More »
Led by a charismatic young leader, small groups of natives strike a series of Canadian military bases and launch terrorist attacks in major Canadian cities. While the numerically tiny and underequipped Canadian Army scrambles to respond, a second wave of attacks by native insurgents bring Canada’s petroleum industry and electrical generation capability to a halt, causing economic disruption and blackouts in the United States. Eventually, the U.S. mounts a major military incursion into Canadian territory to restore order and stabilize their own economy.
That is all confined to fiction — namely, Canadian military expert Douglas Bland’s 2010 novel Uprising. But while the prospect of a native insurgency in Canada admittedly seems a remote threat, it is a real one, and something that Canadian strategic planners, who plan for pretty much every scenario, must consider.
Read More »
Missing From Discussions About First Nations Partnership...
...are they missing on purpose or by design?
Sunday, January 22, 2012
I Would Suggest It Be Putoff...
...this is how the leftists would have you believe the situation is in the middle east!
...until after the US Presidential election because based on past performance there is no way Obama would provide military assistance to our only friend in the Middle East.Burman: Why there will be a war in the Middle East this year
2012/01/21 10:08:30
There will be a war in the Middle East within the next several months, triggered by an Israeli attack on Iran, and this is how it will happen: (65)
2012/01/21 10:08:30
There will be a war in the Middle East within the next several months, triggered by an Israeli attack on Iran, and this is how it will happen: (65)
Anything Would Be Better Than Silly Hall Malaise...
Editorial: City lockout better than a strike
...that was the operational mode during the Miller years where if you were artsy/fartsy, had the race card in your deck, wanted to save the world (so you could start a cottage industry), etc. and you don't need anymore proof than the fact that Comrade Miller had to leave the country to get a job.
...that was the operational mode during the Miller years where if you were artsy/fartsy, had the race card in your deck, wanted to save the world (so you could start a cottage industry), etc. and you don't need anymore proof than the fact that Comrade Miller had to leave the country to get a job.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Wrapup From The Left...
rabble.ca weekly blog roundup! January 20, 2012
By rabble staff
This week the rabble.ca weekly blog roundup welcomes new blogger Mandy Hiscocks and looks at her story of the G20, as well as Toronto public service cuts and accessibility to post-secondary education.
Do You Have The Same Rights Where You Are Employed?
City Hall
Labour pains
In the city vs the unions, can we stop the time travel?
By Ellie Kirzner
There it was again, in the city’s press release on Monday, that “jobs for life” piece of deliberate vocabulary malfunction.
The mayor’s followers have crafted a language to reposition CUPE 416’s precious seniority principle as a rare entitlement, a selfish comfort at a time of scarcity and want. Oh, please.>> More
...is it possible that it is not the right to :jobs for life" but the way it is interpreted and manipulated by the unions, the workers and previous administrations who failed to MANAGE the city work force. You would think that Toronto is the only major city having problems but:
Cracks in the Socialist Reality Bubble Begin
Public sector workers in New York state are beginning to learn a few important lessons in math.
“We can no longer sustain the current pension system,” [Democrat Governor] Cuomo said, citing a projected 185 percent treasury-busting increase in pension costs from 2009 to 2015 if nothing is done.
“This is devastating to the state and the local governments,” he said of the rising costs.
“We need pension reform. We need it desperately.”
Posted by Robert at 4:21 PM Comments (26)
Labour pains
In the city vs the unions, can we stop the time travel?
By Ellie Kirzner
There it was again, in the city’s press release on Monday, that “jobs for life” piece of deliberate vocabulary malfunction.
The mayor’s followers have crafted a language to reposition CUPE 416’s precious seniority principle as a rare entitlement, a selfish comfort at a time of scarcity and want. Oh, please.>> More
...is it possible that it is not the right to :jobs for life" but the way it is interpreted and manipulated by the unions, the workers and previous administrations who failed to MANAGE the city work force. You would think that Toronto is the only major city having problems but:
Cracks in the Socialist Reality Bubble Begin
Public sector workers in New York state are beginning to learn a few important lessons in math.
“We can no longer sustain the current pension system,” [Democrat Governor] Cuomo said, citing a projected 185 percent treasury-busting increase in pension costs from 2009 to 2015 if nothing is done.
“This is devastating to the state and the local governments,” he said of the rising costs.
“We need pension reform. We need it desperately.”
Posted by Robert at 4:21 PM Comments (26)
Thursday, January 19, 2012
We Have Potential Customers...
...but Obama and his Green Buddies don't care about the jobs, dependency on Middle East oil supplies, etc.
You Have To Wonder...
...if possibly it is CUPE that is "collapsing" with their cave in on wages in order to try and appease the Ford Nation at the bargaining table. Oh! Let's not forget contracting out garbage collection and hiring freeze...
City’s rush to declare impasse latest step in Ford administration’s attack on public services
January 16, 2012
The City of Toronto’s hasty decision to declare an impasse in bargaining is the “latest step in the Ford administration’s campaign against public services.
Canadian Union of Public Employees
more
Ford Nation collapses
January 19, 2012
By Krystalline Kraus
Inside Toronto city council chambers yesterday, the anti-Ford cuts voting bloc was able to draft a last-minute omnibus motion to save $15 million worth of city services and programming from being cut.
City’s rush to declare impasse latest step in Ford administration’s attack on public services
January 16, 2012
The City of Toronto’s hasty decision to declare an impasse in bargaining is the “latest step in the Ford administration’s campaign against public services.
Canadian Union of Public Employees
more
Ford Nation collapses
January 19, 2012
By Krystalline Kraus
Inside Toronto city council chambers yesterday, the anti-Ford cuts voting bloc was able to draft a last-minute omnibus motion to save $15 million worth of city services and programming from being cut.
How Far Will You Go...
...to protect your internet freedom? Will you come out from behind your anon and rush the government ramparts seeking something akin to "Arab Spring?"
The Captain Didn' Desert His Post...
...but it is obvious the mushy middle on council did!Huge loss for Rob Ford? Not so fast: Podcast
Today we’re talking about three issues – the controversial budget passed by Toronto city council, a proposal...Continue reading
EditorialBoard THE STAR
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Real Battle Is Yet To Come...
Editorial: Ford’s budget a good start
Mayor Rob Ford began the long, slow process Tuesday of dragging city council, kicking and screaming, into a new era of fiscal responsibility.
...when push comes to shove and 60%+ of every $$$ goes to wages union "negotiations" will be where the real long term savings will come and the sooner Ford lockouts out CUPE the sooner the unions make more "shell concessions" like their proposed wage freeze.
Mayor Rob Ford began the long, slow process Tuesday of dragging city council, kicking and screaming, into a new era of fiscal responsibility.
...when push comes to shove and 60%+ of every $$$ goes to wages union "negotiations" will be where the real long term savings will come and the sooner Ford lockouts out CUPE the sooner the unions make more "shell concessions" like their proposed wage freeze.
James: Rob Ford loses the gamble
2012/01/18 09:53:52
It was supposed to be Mayor Rob Ford’s day of triumph. Instead, it showed councillors the big bad wolf isn’t nearly as scary as they... (63)
2012/01/18 09:53:52
It was supposed to be Mayor Rob Ford’s day of triumph. Instead, it showed councillors the big bad wolf isn’t nearly as scary as they... (63)
...and at stake is the future of ours and our children.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Let's Send That Message Loud And Clear...
Recommended TransportationMichael Coren
Canada must be Canada: We are not the North American version of Switzerland
...and start by deporting the current crop of deserters. There currently is no draft in the US and these people joined the military voluntarily.
Canada must be Canada: We are not the North American version of Switzerland
...and start by deporting the current crop of deserters. There currently is no draft in the US and these people joined the military voluntarily.
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