Canadians who maintain the dream of a more equal, democratic and civilized society may no longer be reeling from the death of Jack Layton. But they are surely stuck in a kind of political limbo, trying not to think of the damage Stephen Harper can do whenever he wants, as they try to imagine how this catastrophic situation ...

BC is in deep trouble: we now have a government that has no moral, no public and no legal legitimacy to govern. Christy Clark’s government was never elected by the people of this province, on the basis of any endorsed platform, program, promises or outlined plans for governing. And she herself--before taking the premier’s...

When Elections BC announced the turnout in this summer’s HST referendum, it’s likely a few bottles of champagne were popped. Cheap champagne, but still champagne. It seemed conventional wisdom was cutting both ways as pundits weighed-in on who would benefit the most from what was seen as a higher than expected turnout: the scrap the […]

By Michael Jessen Written in 1967, Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower simmers with images of an impending day of reckoning. A mysterious and understated poem of simple rhyming couplets, it is the ideal musical accompaniment to the reality of today’s war on oil from Alberta’s tar sands. The businessmen and plowmen of Dylan’s song […]

Ali Farzat, the Arab world’s greatest cartoonist – in fact one of the very best and bravest creative voices in the Arab world – was bundled into a van by Syrian regime filth last night. Some hours later he was found bleeding at the side of the airport road. First reports suggest that his hands have been broken.I’ve often used...

After six months of struggle, the Libyan revolution has arrived (again) in Tripoli. There may still be a trick or two up the megalomaniac’s sleeve, but the news coming in at the moment suggests a precipitous collapse. Saif-ul-Islam al-Qaddafi has been arrested. The tyrant’s daughter Aisha’s house is under the revolutionaries’ control, as is the […]

The cat is officially out of its not-so-tightly-closed bag: I’m moving. At the end of September, I’ll be packing up my actual cat, Juno, and all my stuff, and moving to the coast. Maple Ridge, to be specific. It was a difficult, devastating decision, and I have another column planned talking about my reasons for the move, but...

It’s impossible to divine anything concrete from the flurry of interesting chatter surrounding Enbridge’s embattled 1,100 km Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal. Alternate routes, Asian energy experts laughing at our stupidity, Enbridge as a straw man to help push through another pipeline to the US…Much of it coming via rumours, hypotheses, and veiled political innuendo. But […]

It’s the easiest way to dismiss what we see going on: a mindless group of hooligans, drunks and thieves wreaking havoc for havoc’s sake — and for profit.And that’s what the “official”  investigations always conclude afterwards. But they’re wrong. There are several common threads that link the disturbances throughout the UK right now, France last year, […]

There has been a fair amount of debate of late in regard to genetically modified organisms (GMOs). We often see misconceptions and ‘myths’ being perpetrated by proponents of this technology which upon closer scrutiny cannot withstand the light of day. One myth is that GMOs will eliminate poverty and hunger in the world. Another is […]