Issues, ethics, memory
I have participated in numerous discussions about climate change and usually they veer off into talking about recycling, composting or church greening. But those efforts, while personally commendable, are completely inadequate. "The key is scale," according to the editors of the book, Living Ecological Justice. "The problems lie with how we have organized our economy... Continue Reading →
IPCC scientists say climate change is real, Polaris Institute image Early in April, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its fourth - and most urgent - report on the dangers posed by climate change. The IPCC was created in 1988 by the United Nations, and its reports present the best thinking of hundreds... Continue Reading →
Our telephone rang early one morning a couple of years ago. “Hello, this is George Tomita calling. You have a wedding anniversary coming up tomorrow. You are on my list.” Indeed we did and it was good to be reminded by this kindly retired United Church minister. This is a lovely story that... Continue Reading →
Heather Eaton says that Canadians have much to learn about nonviolence and its effect on social change. Eaton, a professor in conflict studies at Ottawa's Saint Paul University, says that the topic of nonviolence is largely absent in the country's popular and academic circles. “Nonviolence is gaining prominence all over the world,” she recently told... Continue Reading →
Gordie Howe will soon turn 86. The man called Mr. Hockey was born into a poor family near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 1928. I idolized him when I was a boy and wanted desperately to play professional hockey one day. When, as an adult, I finally encountered Gordie back in 1994, I was pretty well tongue... Continue Reading →
The existing health care accord between Ottawa and the provinces and territories is set to expire on March 31, 2014 and the long term consequences are alarming. The issues are complex and the amount of money involved is in the many billions, but the key to understanding what is happening is this: Canada has a... Continue Reading →
Nahlah Ayed, London-based foreign correspondent for CBC Television, says the Arab Spring that erupted in the Middle East beginning in late 2010 was born in euphoria but its legacy is mainly one of dashed hopes. Ayed spoke recently to several hundred people at Carleton University in Ottawa at the invitation of the School of... Continue Reading →
Truth, as the saying goes, is the first casualty of war. There is no war in Ukraine yet, but the potentially violent standoff has been accompanied by an inflated war of words, which includes no small measure of hypocrisy on all sides. In Canada, both Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have compared Russia... Continue Reading →
The Manning Centre’s annual Ottawa-based gathering of Conservatives has come and gone for another year. Reform Party founder Preston Manning and his wife Sandra created the organization in 2006 to act as a training ground for Conservatives to win in politics. This year’s event featured the usual array of Conservative politicians and operatives from right... Continue Reading →
In November 2013, people in Switzerland voted in a referendum on something called the 1:12 Initiative for Fair Pay. Under that proposal no one in a Swiss company would earn more in a single month than someone else in that company earns in an entire year. Corporate spokespersons in Switzerland and some in government warned... Continue Reading →
Pulpit and Politics 