By Alison@Creekside The best part of International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland signing the U.S. corporate rights agreement TPP -- the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- in Aukland, NZ on Wednesday was that it was done here in this gambling casino, and a casino is where the house always wins. In her 2012 book, Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else, Freeland explains: "Trying to slant the rules of the game in your favour isn't an aberration, it is … [Read More...]
Stealing the Cons’ best ideas
By Alison@Creekside "They're stealing all our best shit," wailed CPC MP Remplestiltskin from her parliamentary selfie twitter account, rattling off all the HarperGov ideas embraced by the Liberals … [Read More...]
BC Ferries and the attack dog
By Frank Moher I first noticed the dog in August of last year. Apparently it had been posted after an incident earlier that summer at the small ferry terminal that I pass through in order to get … [Read More...]
Triumph of the drama nerds
By Frank Moher Two drama nerds have recently moved into high profile positions. Before I name them (or perhaps you’ve already guessed who they are; or perhaps you’d like to scroll down and look at … [Read More...]
Why I won’t pray for Paris
By Kenneth Brown In the aftermath of the Paris killings, the Facebook world has been, as is only appropriate, afire with opinion, speculation, ire and sympathy. I do not have the kinds of Facebook … [Read More...]
The fix for local TV
By Jim Henshaw We're in an age of media decline. Last week I posted my thoughts about what's gone wrong with Canadian newspapers. But local TV in Canada is also losing viewers at an alarming … [Read More...]
The Video: Justin Trudeau, actor
In 2007, Justin Trudeau was an actor in the CBC docudrama The Great War, in which he played decorated Canadian soldier Talbot Papineau, and ignored W.C. Fields' dictum never to act with children or … [Read More...]
Media
The fix for local TV
By Jim Henshaw We're in an age of media decline. Last week I posted my thoughts about what's gone wrong with Canadian newspapers. But local TV in Canada is also losing viewers at an alarming rate. This week the CRTC was told that fully half of our local stations could be gone within the next four years. Local stations have seen their revenues decline by 25% since 2010 or around the last time the major nets were able to wring some local subsidies out of the cable providers and the public … [Read More...]
Culture
Why I won’t pray for Paris
By Kenneth Brown In the aftermath of the Paris killings, the Facebook world has been, as is only appropriate, afire with opinion, speculation, ire and sympathy. I do not have the kinds of Facebook friends (I’m happy to report) who leap to make bigoted statements about Muslims, or to publicly indulge in revenge fantasy. I am, however, surprised that more people are not making a direct correlation between religiosity in general and the murders. If this ghastly day taught us anything, it is … [Read More...]
Science & Tech
The Libs pass the science test
By Mark Leiren-Young In yet another sign that Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have a very different approach to drugs than the previous government, federal Health Minister Jane Philpott yesterday toured Insite, the long-standing supervised injection site on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and called the experience 'incredibly moving.'"– CBC News Federal Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo says science will determine not only which areas of Canada’s oceans the government will designate for protection, but also what development, if any, will be permitted in those areas." – CBC News It’s strange for me to be celebrating the return of science to Canada. If those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, what about those who fail science? My last high school science class was Chemistry 11, back in the ancient pre-internet era when kids still thought chemistry sets were cool. The only reason I survived was because my lab partner was a science wiz. I received a “C-“ on the condition that I never darken the doors of a lab again. I wonder if our former Prime Minister, Steve Harper, had a similar … [Read More...]
Living
BC Ferries and the attack dog
By Frank Moher I first noticed the dog in August of last year. Apparently it had been posted after an incident earlier that summer at the small ferry terminal that I pass through in order to get home to the small island I live on, Gabriola, one of the Gulf Islands in BC. Apparently it had also been posted there because the guards doing canine patrol duty at the larger ferry terminal nearby have time left on their shift when they’re finished, and so the BC Ferries Corp. sends them over to our terminal to get their remaining hour in. In any event, our ferry now has an attack dog posted at the entrance to the terminal, in time for the last sailing. Some people don’t like it when I use the term “attack dog.” They prefer to call it a “security dog.” But I don’t like euphemisms. I was told by one BC Ferries employee who would know that the dog is not a drug-sniffing dog (or rather, dogs – there’s a series of them, each with a different handler). I asked one of the handlers if the dog was an attack dog. “It’ll do what it has to do,” the handler replied. I’ll take that as a “Yes.” Anyway, the dog and its buddy arrive at around 10:10 each evening. Now, it seems to me if BC … [Read More...]
Living
The Jets tickets that weren’t
By Chris Turcotte So a funny thing happened on a recent Wednesday evening. It was funny for a few minutes and then it ended up causing me a lot of grief and wasted time. I was mad, like really, really mad. I’m all for a practical joke, anyone that knows me, knows that I have […]
