kar0ling

 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/spruce-woods-byelection-1.7617699 “In a tight race, Robbins defeated NDP candidate Ray Berthelette by just 70 votes — 2,805 for Robbins to Berthelette's 2,735, with all polls reporting as of about 9:30 p.m.” When will we as citizens rise up en masse to say we are fed up First Past the Post and demand a voting system where our choices can be properly accounted for in the final numbers. My objection is not the candidate or party who won. It's that 70 votes isn't a decisive enough lead. What about the 2,735 votes for the runner up candidate? What about the 444 for the third place candidate? And why was there no Green candidate? (I know, I know, because the Green Party of MAnitoba is in absolute shambles, and because people don't view it as a viable choice,but as long as we have FPTP, it will be a self-defeating cycle of people voting other than Green because they don't think it's viable enough, which gaurantees it can ne...

“Marooned by Air Canada flight attendant strike? Here are your options”. A headline in the news. Biased framing right off the hop. Here’s the thing. It's not the flight attendants who marooned folks. It’s corporate greed.  It’s funny how frequently the general sentiment is to begrudge other people getting fairly compensated for their work. Yet each one of us would be unhappy to have our job demand hours of unpaid labour. Okay for thee and not for me? This is why I am troubled by this framing. Sure, it’s just a headline, but it directs the understandable frustration of disrupted travel plans at the folks who are just asking for fair wages instead of at the executives who would rather create travel chaos than pay their staff. It directs the blame for the strike at the workers who are exercising their right to strike when their reasonable demands are not met rather than at the executives who didn’t make any contingency plans for the strike because they expected the government to f...

 This letter comes from Kairos with additions from me. Sign your own version here Israel’s blockade is pushing Gazans deeper into famine. On May 20, you joined leaders from Britain and France in stating that “the level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable,” promising further action if Israel failed to halt its offensive and lift restrictions on aid. You have since made similar public statements and promises with other countries and allies, stating that you are prepared to take further action. We welcome your words and intentions. But where are the actions? An ultimatum means nothing when it is not followed up on. You cannot keep using “strong words” with no action and think history will absolve you of complicity in war crimes. The bombardment, displacement, blocked aid and the deaths of civilians – desperate for food and water – continues.  Now is the time for action, including the use of all  diplomatic, political, and economic measures to: Secure an imme...

I’m getting pretty tired of not being able to read the news without an urgent need to write a letter to at least one if not several levels of government regarding the wrongheadedness of their pursuits.  Today, at least, I got a little encouragement. PM Carney’s office replied to me regarding *one* of my messages, assuring me it had been read. Of course, it was the one where I thanked them for deciding to recognize Palestine and stayed mostly in the realm of positivity.  So *I* replied:

 A letter adapted from #BreakFreeFromPlastic’s campaign regarding the UN negotiations regarding a Global Plastics Treaty taking place in Geneva right now.  Send your own letter here Dear Minister Dabrusin CC Leader of the Green Party, interim NDP leader, interim Conservative leader, local MP This is urgent. Manitoba was under the highest air quality advisory yesterday after a summer of smog and cancelled activities. This isn’t just seasonal forest fires or silly accusations of arson. Drought and extreme heat are driving these wild fires – and those are caused by climate change, which in turn is caused by massive industrial extraction of fossil fuels.  Plastic is driving climate change and polluting oceans, rivers, soil, air, impacting humans and other beings. Plastic is poisoning our communities, our homes, and our bodies. Citizens should and must make better choices regarding how they manage the plastic that comes through their hands but we desperately need you ...

A little letter to the FreeP: Thank you for the work of your newsroom. Hearing how PostMedia has taken over Canada, including the major newsrooms in the largest Canadian cities, I'm proud scrappy little Winnipeg has maintained an independent free press.  If I may be so bold as to offer some suggestion/critique... The constant air quality warnings and drought conditions we're experiencing are deeply worrying. What is equally disturbing is the general conversation around it which acknowledges the unpleasantness, blindly hopes it's temporary, and moves on, without addressing the climate change at the root of the conditions – and most importantly, that it is crucial we act in as many ways as we can as quickly as we can to do things to address it. Notably, pressuring our politicians that more pipelines are not the direction to go.  Public transit is an important climate mitigation as well – getting people out of wasteful private vehicles into more efficient buses and onto ...

Another form letter adjusted with my own sentiments added. Click here to send your own, either as is or comments added .