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Okay, give us an account

A letter to the premier dashed off very quickly without much re-thinking or even re-reading because then I would just pause and never send it. The minister of environment told a member of a citizen lobby group I'm connected with to “hold us accountable” and that hearing from people face to face or phone or personal email is better than form letters. So here goes... The wildfires are terrifying. Not because they've been anywhere near me, but because they are evidence the climate scientists have been right all along, and a hellish future of floods, fires and famines awaits us sooner than we think. And we're just idling our cars with our “gas tax holiday” full tanks. I was extremely disappointed to hear you briefly discuss the fires with Marcy on CBC the other morning and mention in passing the huge expense of purchasing more fire bombers, but not the reason we need them (climate change) and certainly not your failure to show any leadership on climate (pausing pollutio...
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Dear Mr Carney...

A little addendum to a form letter on worker's rights.  https://workerstogether.ca/ Prime Minister Carney, much of what currently ails us circles back into income inequality.  Please don't fight workers' demands while MPs give themselves raises: if people deserve comfortable remuneration for their labours then all people deserve comfortable remuneration for their labours.  Please don't fight the postal workers.  Please don't fight Indigenous people in court.  Please don't leave it to the private sector to address housing shortages (but only for those they can make a profit off of).  And please don't make jobs on the backs of a livable future for humanity on the planet.  Oh, and please, sir: you seem like a very decent man -- your speech on humility and kindness was beautiful -- please condemn the genocide. Silence is complicity. On any other human rights issue, it doesn't seem so hard. Please: indiscriminate bombing and starvation of a people trapped i...
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What's a political football?

 Dear Federal leaders, I am dismayed to learn that a recent report lists a Canadian company as the sole provider for $78.8 million of artillery propellants to the U.S., destined to Israel, being held by General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems - Canada (GD-OTS-Canada). This contract was awarded in September 2024, months after the Liberal government promised to halt weapons exports destined to Israel, as they are being investigated for genocide against the Palestinian people.  There is simply no measure by which the actions of Israel against the Gaza Strip are not egregious. This is no time for politeness. The government must not be allowed to continue to violate human rights.  As a signatory to the Arms Trade Treaty, it is prohibited to continue the sales of arms if there is a substantial risk of them being used to violate international and humanitarian law.  I call on you to halt the General Dynamics Ordnance contract immediately and impose a true two-way arms...
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Bubble zone discussion side-tracked by bias

  Dear Free Press Re: “Bubble zones sought after protests clash over Hamas” AKA “Pro-Palestinian protest at Jewish campus sparks call for safety-zone legislation” Thank you for changing the headline of Chris Kitching’s article on the event by Students Supporting Israel at the Asper Community Campus. The body of the article raises good questions about the appropriateness of protesting religious spaces. However, even after the removal of the gross mischaracterization from the headline, the second paragraph of the article gratuitously invokes Hamas, biasing the discussion. Why does the article prominently invoke memory of the violent and cruel attack on October 7, 2023, without any mention of the more salient point that the event that raised the discussion platformed soldiers of the army that has been committing a genocide for more than 500 days? (The Rome Statute, of which Canada is a signatory, defines war crimes and genocide and other states’ obligations not to participate in or...
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