I had CBC radio playing in the background on Monday and an item about property tax assessments in New Brunswick came on and the next thing I knew, I was listening to Kevin Lacey of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF). I didn’t actually catch what he said but I can guess withRead More

On March 27, over 130 states will meet at UN headquarters in New York to commence negotiations, mandated by the General Assembly last December, on a treaty outlawing nuclear weapons. This country, alas (see my January column, ‘Divided Nations: Canada Ducks Disarmament Challenge’), will be joining most of its NATORead More

Old King Coal I was so puzzled today when I reached into my mailbox and pulled out a 1720 edition of The Cape Breton Post.  “King coal” screamed the headline on the front page. Hallelujah, a coal mine has opened on the island! I searched excitedly to see what otherRead...

In my October column, “Roads to Hell: Nuclear Waste on the Move,” I reported on legal efforts to block shipments of highly-radioactive liquid waste from the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories in Ontario to the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, a journey of over 2,000 kilometerss passing the GreatRead More

Dear Mr. Obama, During your momentous visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial last May, the first by a sitting US president, you placed the quest for a nuclear-weapon-free world in the profoundest of contexts: the struggle of humanity to transcend the darkest vices of its own nature. As you leaveRead More

Over 350 people gathered in front of the Civic Centre in Sydney on Tuesday night to stand vigil for the victims of Sunday’s attack on a Quebec city mosque, the Centre culturel islamique de Québec. Six Muslim men were killed and 19 injured when a man opened fire in the mosque duringRead More

It’s only just begun, yet the whole world seems to be feeling the weight of Donald Trump’s presidency. Many more affected and more knowledgeable than myself have commented (boy have they commented) on where he will take the United States during the next four years, but there’s no doubt whatsoeverRead More

I was just a kid the first time I learned the word “scab” could be applied to something other than a rough patch of skin. I had gone with my father to visit his aunt in a nursing home up the street from our house. The staff were on strike, andRead More

“Just because we’ve made gains doesn’t mean we can’t go backwards,” says Dana Mount, co-organizer of the CBRM version of the Women’s March on Washington, “It’s up to us to be vigilant.” Mount and Pamela Johnson of the Coady Institute’s International Centre for Women’s Leadership brought together over 100 peopleRead More

On December 23 – the day after US President-elect Donald Trump tweeted his intent to “greatly strengthen and expand” American “nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes” – the United Nations General Assembly voted to open negotiations next year on a treaty outlawingRead More