Youth should be a priority in federal, N.B. budgets
The backlash against two budgets unveiled last week, New Brunswick’s and Canada’s, has not begun in earnest, regardless of the protests on the legislature’s lawn and the foyer of Parliament. Those demonstrations could seem like prayer circles once the details of budget cuts come out in the weeks ahead. Budget speeches and estimates offered a [...]
On Saturday, the NDP’s version of March Madness will reach its climax as the party selects the new leader of the Official Opposition, succeeding the late Jack Layton. Of the seven contenders, deputy leader Thomas Mulcair is the bettor’s favourite. The former provincial environment minister in Quebec has the support of more politicians, raised more [...]
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Controversy has struck again. Two candidates in the recent St. Thomas University students’ union general election have filed appeals. And with only two other appeals in its four-year history, the STUSU appellate board is being called on to hear the appeals. Elizabeth Strange said Alex Driscoll, who defeated her for the position of vice-president education [...]
Continue reading …Talk of “lawful access,” the lifeless term that has dominated the last two weeks of Canadian politics, is bullshit. “Online spying” is a more accurate description of what Bill C-30, misleadingly named the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, would allow: government and police collection, without a warrant or probable cause, of internet records. The [...]
Continue reading …In the U.S. last week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed a district court judgment finding California’s controversial gay marriage ban unconstitutional in the case of Perry vs. Brown, also known as the Proposition 8 case. The court ruled 2-1 that “Proposition 8 serves no purpose and has no effect, other than to lessen [...]
Continue reading …The Ancient Greeks measured a fouryear period with Olympiads, celebrated with religious festivals, artistic tributes and of course, the famous athletic competitions. In the modern United States, four years are marked with presidential elections, a nearly year-long celebration of interminably prolonged debate and endless votes, beginning with the mysterious procession of caucuses and conventions. As [...]
Continue reading …The Mayans did not predict the apocalypse would happen in 2012. Rather, 2012 is when the current cycle of the Mayan Long Count calendar concludes and a new period of creation begins. So, in many political circles, as political parties and governments must, people will discuss and enact change, change that will forge new eras [...]
Continue reading …Political theatre returns to Fredericton this week with the re-opening of the New Brunswick Legislature. Local government reform, French immersion, fracking, health, the urban/rural divide, and the resilient provincial deficit will all be hotly debated, soliloquized, and maybe even sorted out by our esteemed MLAs this session. Although it won’t gain as much ink as [...]
Continue reading …The province is consulting about putting a tip differential on the minimum wage. If introduced, it would effectively create two minimum wages: a lower one for tip-collecting workers, like wait staff and bartenders, and a higher one for everyone else. The minimum wage is controversial for David Alward’s Progressive Conservative government. Last summer, it delayed [...]
Continue reading …Makedonia Koutsoumpeli’s story in last week’s edition of The Aquinian is a compelling account of how ordinary Greeks are reacting to their devastating economic crisis – read it if you haven’t. But Koutsoumpeli also examined a crucial question: Could what’s happening in Greece happen here in New Brunswick? The short answer is no, since [...]
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Scene: A courtroom in New York City, just down the road from the NHL head offices where the keepers of the flame – the defense represented by the firm of Milbury, Cherry, Burke and Clarke – and voice of the sane, this irrelevant writer, are in the room to decide the fate of fighting. Prosecution: [...]
Continue reading …In Battlestar Galactica, “frak” is an all-purpose swear word, as in “frak those frakking motherfrakkers.” In New Brunswick politics, “fracking” is also a four-letter word, albeit one that could have more explosive consequences for Premier David Alward’s government. Fracking, for those who aren’t familiar with the term, is short for hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracking and [...]
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