kar0ling

Manitoba's budget dropped last week. The premier pasted that huge smile on his face and hauled out some prevaricating hyperbolisms. One of the much touted "gifts" of the budget was free transit for youths aged 12-18 in Winnipeg.* “We have money set aside in the budget to work with municipalities to cover the cost of transit for high school-aged youth,” a spokesperson for the province said Monday. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/03/23/provincial-budget-includes-free-transit-passes-for-youths-in-winnipeg-four-other-cities  Let's think about this. Young people are *already* riding the bus because they aren't even allowed to have a driver's license until 16 and not everyone gets one right away or at all. So this doesn't provide any new ridership. And the province promises some money to cover the resulting shortfall. We just gotta hope and trust their math/predictions are right. So how is this a gift? It's nice for the teens an...

This message is directed at all the CCs: Mr Carney, Mr Champagne, Mr Long, Mr McGuinty. My MP is surely already well aware and fully concerned about the steps the Canadian government is currently taking to play a leadership role and potentially host the new Defence, Security and Resilience Bank. I am calling for you to reject the DSRB.  The steady flow of public and private funds to weapons manufacturers the war bank would facilitate for a rapid expansion of military production will only harm Canadians.  Public-private funding is usually just a shady way of ensuring private enterprise is subsidized by public money so it can maximize its profits. To do so with the goal of increasing the manufacturing and procurement of weapons is fundamentally at odds with hopes for not only a peaceful world but a liveable one.  Moreover, the DSRB will mark an escalation in public spending on weapons and militarism, drawing money away from critical spending on social needs and the climate ...

Who needs the nefarious Evan Duncan when you've got dastardly Sean Fraser to curtail freedoms federally? The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group provided this form letter. Obviously they know their stuff way better than I do so I didn't touch the bulk of it, but I slapped a first paragraph on there to try to get my letter counted as unique. Use the template to write and send your own Dear recipient's full name will go here , At a time when Canadians are overstressed, worried about jobs and affordability and now war, it unconscionable that the government would try to sneak through legislation that harms us while people are too busy with other worries to take notice.  I am alarmed that the proposed Combatting Hate Act (Bill C-9), which the government has said is meant to prevent hate crimes, will instead threaten the Charter rights and civil liberties of all people in Canada, including those communities that the government wishes to help protect. I am doubly alarm...

A letter from World Beyond War, Just Peace Advocates, Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, Canadian BDS Coalition. Slightly adapted.  Send your own Dear Prime Minister Carney, How could you possibly suggest formally dispatching Canadian troops to assist Trump and Netanyahu’s completely illegal aggression? A recent Angus-Reid poll shows that 70% of Liberal party supporters *oppose* this war. The US and Israel have already killed over 1200 Iranians. They’ve been committing a horrific massacre everyday. On Wednesday US War Secretary Pete Hegseth bragged about killing 100 Iranians by blowing up a defenseless, ammunition-less Iranian navy vessel taking part in a ceremonial exercise far away in the Indian Ocean. In Lebanon – which Israel has no reason to pick a fight with -- Israel has killed more than 100 and demanded half a million evacuate their homes. Israel is ramping up its bombings in the country and ground invasion. Even musing about Canada formally dispatching troops boost...

When CMU announced “Singing Resistance” – an event to come on down to the chapel and sing protest songs together with music professors at the beginning of February – at the height of the terrible ICE raids happening in Minneapolis, I thought, yes! This is exactly right.  SINGING RESISTANCE In solidarity with Minneapolis Join us for an evening of singing old and new songs of protest and courage, in solidarity with Minneapolis, shaped by traditions of faithful voices choosing community over violence and hope over despair—part vigil, part community chorus. This is not a concert. It is the community coming together to raise voices in the face of injustice, fear, and the uneasy times we are living through Singing Resistance is an open invitation to remember that even when things feel out of control, our voices still matter. And so does being together. But then I saw how popular it was. The news was racing through Facebook. This event is going to be packed, I realized. My heart sank. Thi...

Thanks to Just Peace Advocates for this letter template. I changed the final paragraph, however. Worrying about Canadian soldiers possibly being harmed by helping out the USA is *not* good enough. Canada should not be anywhere near this totally illegal war.  Spain showed the way. Just say no.  What happened to middle powers pushing back against dominant superpowers?  Dear Defence Minister McGuinty, Contrary to the will of the electorate, the Prime Minister has shamefully maintained he “supports” the US/Israeli aggression against Iran. But, Mark Carney also claimed Canada was not participating directly in the war and “not party to the military buildup or planning.” This appears untrue. Does he think Canadians are stupid? According to the CBC article “Canadian military members likely involved in planning U.S. strikes on Iran, retired general says”, Canadians forces have assisted the US/Israeli aggression. A Canadian military website says there are “approximately 18 CAF me...

In June of 2024, a man was just riding his bike to work. Early in the morning when traffic should be low to nonexistent. Wearing a helmet and a reflective vest.  A racing driver lost control and plowed him over.  Anyone who bikes in this city was grieved and outraged.  This stretch of roadway is designated as a bike route. There's a little green sign with a bicycle icon to tell you that. The wide road that invites speeding certainly doesn't. How does a person even drive 159 km/hr on a sleepy residential street within city limits? (Because the street is too damn wide.) For about as long as it has existed, the cycling advocacy organization has identified this stretch of roadway as a route in critical need of remediation to make it safer.  So, within a week, temporary safety measures had been rolled out. Reduced speed limit signs were erected, poly posts narrowed the roadway and speed cameras made sure folks took it seriously.  Ha ha ha ha ha ha. No. 20, 40,...

Dear Prime Minister Carney, First of all, let us be clear that the regime in Iran has treated its citizens terribly, especially in recent weeks when it has murdered thousands of civilian protestors. There is no question that this regime would be better ended.  There is a very real question about the best way to do that, however. U.S. intervention -- to serve the financial interests of certain wealthy oligarchs -- has never been an effective way of replacing a human rights abusing regime with a human rights respecting one.  Your statements in support of the US/Israeli war on Iran are condemnable. Tens of thousands will likely be killed in the rogue states’ bid to balkanize Iran. Already hundreds of Iranians have been killed, including upwards of 100 in a strike on a girls elementary school in Minab, southern Iran.  Why have you said “Canada supports” the US/Israeli war when this unprovoked attack is clearly a violation of the UN charter? If international law only applies t...