64 posts categorized "environment"

June 28, 2010

G20 Video and Blog Package I Prepared for Indie Media Site PtboCanada.com

  The-real-thugs-G20-protester


PTBOCANADA: Peterborough Activists Insist The Media is Missing the Message with the G8/G20 Protests

is a G20 blog and video package I prepared for indie media outlet PtboCanada.com yesterday afternoon. There are a dozen videos (accessible on YouTube via a link in the article) plus a blog post with many embedded links. You'll find eye-witness accounts from activists who were in Toronto on Saturday, analysis of G20 issues - including media coverage of the protests - from Peterborough-area activists, protests songs and a whole lot more.

November 08, 2009

Let's Have a Grownup Conversation About Climate Change: Pembina Institute to Harper Government

Denying Canada's Environmental Truths, (The Toronto Star, November 8, 2009) is another must-read. But be forewarned: you'll feel frustrated as you're reminded, yet again, of how far Canada has strayed from its once-proud record of environmental leadership -- and how far out of synch the Canadian government is with the attitudes of the Canadian public when it comes to taking action on climate change.

Here's a key quote.

"[The Harper government's attitudes towards the environment] runs counter to modern ideas of sustainable development and green growth, which are now part of mainstream business thinking. As countries around the world act to cut emissions, the federal government's approach risks putting Canada at a serious disadvantage in the global race for clean energy jobs....It's clear that Canada can choose to be both green and prosperous. Science and economics both argue that we need stronger climate policies urgently. Now the politicians need to show that they are grown up enough to face the climate challenge."
- Clare Demerse, Associate Director of the Pembina Institute's climate change program.

Related:

ParentCentral.ca: Moms Against Climate Change

Hey, Big Spenders: Devolin and Del Mastro Rank in Top 25 for Printing Bills

MPs spending more on flyers - Peterborough Examiner - Ontario, CA.

The print version of this story contains additional information that the online version is missing. (It's a bit odd because it's not as if you have to crop online stories to work around space constraints. But whatever.)

Here are the key facts that are missing from the online version of this story, but that residents of Haliburton-Kawartha-Lakes-Brock and Peterborough Ridings should know:
  • Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MP Barry Devolin (CPC) spent $80,460 on printing in 2008-09 (ranking him eighth among all MPs).
  • Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro (CPC) spent $70,629 (ranking him 18th among all MPs).
It's a good thing the trees used to print these flyers aren't harvested locally or our tourist operators would be none-too-happy.....

May 27, 2009

Can You Reclaim Editorial Neutrality Once You've Lost It?

Here's an interesting journalistic case study, courtesy of Peterborough This Week (a.k.a. MyKawartha.com).

First they back Dean Del Mastro's Little Lake Proposal (after first spelling out many of the proposal's fatal flaws).

Voting on the future of Little Lake  MyKawartha.com, 4/21

Votingonthefutureoflittlelakeouropinion MP Dean Del Mastro cannot seem to dodge criticism on the idea of developing the Parks Canada land along Little Lake's shore.

He brought the idea to council without checking with the public, some critics say. He is promoting a complex that will only benefit a private developer, say others.

He will ruin the lake. He will only bring low-paying service jobs to the community. He is selling an idea that will never fly!

We've heard them all. At least he has the courage to try....

[Del Mastro] has always been entrepreneurial and this is a wonderful example of him seeing the potential in a waterfront property with good road access and a water taxi in the summer.

So, we can take a chance and do something really creative or we can turtle.

In the past, we have voted on the side of caution. Is that what we really want?

Then, one month later, they (attempt to) adopt a more neutral editorial stance.

Open Your Mind and Join the Debate  MyKawartha.com, 5/20

Openyourmindandjointhedebateouropinion The best decisions are made when the people making them have information and understand that information. As the community newspaper that reaches all 91,000 voters, we feel responsible to deliver that information in a way that is clear and neutral.

We're hoping that voters will judge the project on its merits and not get caught up in the partisan who-said-what hooey that, frankly, is takes the level of debate down a notch.

So here's my question. Can a media outlet reclaim its editorial neutrality once it has lost it? If so, how long does it take to get it back - to earn back audience trust?

Please Note:
Screen captures were added 5/31 to address a reader concern raised in the comments section below. Please note that each piece contains the tag "Our Opinion" in the story header and each is written in the style of an editorial opinion piece (e.g., "We've heard" and "We're hoping") as opposed to a news story.

Related:

Canadian Broadcast Standards Council: Decision re: CJCH-TV (CTV Atlantic) re CTV News at 6 (Stéphane Dion interview)

Canadian Broadcast Standards Council: Decision re: Mike Duffy Live Prime Time (Stéphane Dion Interview)

Press release summarizing above two decisions


The Timing of Del Mastro's Survey "Couldn't Have Been Worse": Peterborough City Planner

"The timing with [Dean Del Mastro's Little Lake] survey couldn't have been worse for us," said City planner Mary Gallop, at the City of Peterborough's first community meeting to develop a master plan for Little Lake.

"Many people who turned out to Tuesday's meeting wanted to vent about MP Del Mastro's proposal for a 7.2-acre parcel of land where the Trent Severn headquarters are currently located," noted MyKawartha.com.

Citizens aren't happy about having their Federal MP jumping the gun on the city's own planning process - particularly given that their municipal tax dollars are being spent to pay The Planning Partnership, a planning and design firm based in Toronto, to take the community through a community-based planning process to determine the future of an historic and much-loved public green space.

That's not to say that they're entirely happy with the city-led planning process. According to The Peterborough Examiner, citizens who showed up for the kick-off meeting grilled City officials about the integrity of its own planning process for Little Lake:

There was applause when Rob Cory asked why the city would want to reverse its policy of buying waterfront property in that area to create more waterfront space for public use.

“The city taxpayers bought frontage for its natural environment and public use,” he said. “Why would the city want to reverse that policy?

“Now they want to put a wall of condominiums up there.”

Another person at the table said that’s Del Mastro’s plan, not the city’s proposal.

Del Mastro’s plan has brought people together to defend the green space, said Mary-Anne Johnston, a Lakefield resident.

“His plan [to allow a private developer to build on the Trent-Severn Waterway headquarters property that’s owned by the federal government ] has totally galvanized people against it,” she said.

Meanwhile, citizens continue to sign a petition designed to declare Del Mastro's ballot about the future of Little Lake null and void. After all, voting about the future of Little Lake before citizens have had a chance to participate in the city-led planning process (which will continue into the summer) certainly isn't in the best interests of the citizens of Peterborough. That certainly begs the question: in whose best interest is it to have those ballots signed, mailed, and delivered to Ottawa in such a hurry?

Related:

Impolitical is also asking questions: "Why Is Dean Del Mastro Taking Surveys on Behalf of Private Developers in Peterborough?"

April 19, 2009

Flora MacDonald to Speak in Peterborough Tomorrow Night: Event in Support of YWCA Peterborough

This comes via Betsy McGregor (Peterborough Federal Liberal candidate):

An Evening with Flora MacDonald

The Hon. Flora MacDonald will be speaking on Monday April 20th, at 7:00 PM, at the Princess Gardens Atrium in Peterborough. Donations will support YWCA Peterborough Victoria and Haliburton's fundraising efforts for its new women’s shelter.

The evening will commence with the showing of her recent CBC documentary Flora’s Mission about her courageous work building girl’s schools in Afghanistan and promoting the use of solar panels in mountain villages. That will be followed by a short talk by Flora on Canada’s challenges; and an open community discussion.

Flora MacDonald has been active in Canadian politics since the 1970s. She served as an MP and Cabinet Minister, and in 1979 she became the first woman to be appointed Secretary of State for External Affairs. Since leaving politics in 1989, Flora has been deeply involved in a range of human rights and environmental activities around the globe, and is currently working in Afghanistan and India.

Flora MacDonald has received numerous honours in her life, including the Order of Canada and Companion of the Order; the Pearson Peace Medal; the Churchill Society’s award for Excellence in the Cause of Parliamentary Democracy; the El Kawkab Medal by King Hussein for significant contribution to public service and was the Padma Shri Award (India’s highest award to civilians) from the President of India for distinguished service in the field of public affairs. She was given the EVE award from Equal Voice, a national multi-partisan advocacy organization committed to promoting the election of more women to every level of government, and to raising awareness about the under-representation of women in Canadian politics. Ms. MacDonald holds honorary degrees from universities in Canada, the United States and United Kingdom.

This remarkable woman was born in North Sydney, NS, in 1926, is a sixth generation Canadian whose forebears came to Canada from the Scottish Highlands in the 1790s. She also worked in Peterborough in her early career, singing in a local church choir. She will be departing within weeks of this event for her 11th solo trip to Afghanistan.

There is no charge for this event.

Seating is limited so please come early.

January 13, 2009

Transition Town Peterborough: Meeting This Week

Plantman Transition Town Peterborough is hosting a meeting that will focus on permaculture (designing sustainable human settlements that mimic patterns and relationships found in nature) on Wednesday, January 14th. The meeting will be held at the Peterborough Public Library from 6:45 to 8:45 p.m.

The session will be introduced by Trent Rhode of Transition Town and led by Paula Anderson of Peterborough Green-Up. It will define permaculture, outline local action steps, and end with a public discussion.

To find out more about the event or Transition Town Peterborough, email Trent Rhode.

December 11, 2008

Emily Berrigan, Political Whirlwind

Peterborough Green Party of Canada Candidate Emily Berrigan must dream political dreams at night. (Does she count political sheep as she tries to fall asleep?)

It's the only way she can possibly have time to come up with all these great ideas -- and do all the things she's already doing.


In a town that has more than its share of political dinosaurs/neanderthals, it's so refreshing to have Emily speaking the language of political change. Go, Emily, Go!

December 08, 2008

Dion vs. Harper

Partofcanadianflag It's no secret that I've always had a great deal of respect and admiration for Stéphane Dion. A politician with his kind of personal integrity and long-term vision for what this country actually needs (as opposed to what it wants for itself over the short-term) doesn't come along very often.

Unfortunately for Canada, Dion had the bad luck to cross the political stage at the same time as another once-in-a-generation (or once-in-a-lifetime) politician: in this case, a mean-spirited, rabidly partisan politician who is willing to do anything to keep his bulldog grip on power, including creating a political and national unity crisis.

The contrast in personal styles or value systems between the two men couldn't be greater. Dion mapped out a vision that represents where we really need to be headed as a country, if we're to kick start the green economy and address the growing gap between the haves and have nots in this country (a root cause of much of the youth crime that the neo-conservatives bellow about so much). What prevented Canadians from hearing much of what Dion had to say was the bully who misled Canadians about what the man and his policies were all about.

I don't know about you, but I'm not proud to live in a country where the top politician in the land can savage a political opponent and get away with it -- and then go on to "hide behind the Queen" (as some Americans are putting it as they watch what's been happening in our country in amazement) in order to escape his own political day of reckoning. When George Bush was acting so outrageously a few years back -- and the American people went on to re-elect him, we Canadians looked smugly at one another and said, "That could never happen in Canada."

But, of course, it did: the neo-conservative way of thinking is alive and well and living in Canada now. And we're going to be stuck in this political twilight zone until enough Canadians wake up and realize that they are being lied to and misled by the party in power -- on a routine basis.

This is why parliament isn't working: the traditional rules about parliamentary conduct have been tossed out the windows of the House of Commons and replaced by the same U.S.-style political code of conduct that has made George Bush famous -- or rather infamous -- the world over.

Dion bore the brunt of the attacks from the bully-in-chief of the current regime. When history looks back on this time, people are going to be astounded that more Canadians didn't speak up and decry the McCarthy-like attacks that were carried out during this time -- and that the media was complicit in these attacks.

I feel proud that I will be able to tell my grandchildren that I spoke out against the attack ads, the campaign of misinformation about Dion and his policies (to say nothing of the Conservative Party of Canada and its record) and that I had the opportunity to let Mr. Dion know, on more than one occasion, how much I appreciated his efforts to hold the Harper government accountable.

Dion may not have been the most savvy politican our country has produced, but he is certainly one of our most dedicated. He has served his country well.

November 11, 2008

Environment + Justice and Fairness + Strong Political Democracy = Powerful Progressive Force: James Gustave Speth

Tulip “Our best hope for real change is a fusion of those concerned about the environment, of those concerned about justice and fairness, and those concerned about building strong political democracy. The fusion of these things will create one powerful, progressive force. We’ve got to remember that we are all in a community of shared faith. We are all in the same boat and we will rise or fall together.”
- Yale professor and environmental activist James Gustave Speth, delivering the 2008 Beatty Memorial Lecture at McGill University in October