Government analyzing its surveys

The federal government has begun to analyze some of the public opinion surveys it commissions rather than use the impartial analysis of the polling companies themselves. The result is that some findings have become less transparent.

Under the Accountability Act, federal departments must submit final reports and executive summaries of commissioned public opinion research to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) within six months of the completion of field work. LAC then posts them to a public website.

Another day of mass protest in Quebec: 'Liberate us from the Liberals!'

Yesterday was another day of massive protest in Quebec in support of the student movement's battle against a proposed 75 percent hike in university tuition fees and government repressive apparatus seeking to impose it.

This was the fourth consecutive monthly march in Montreal of solidarity with students, each one on the 22nd day of the month. Previous marches have drawn several hundreds of thousands of participants, including an estimated 400,000 on May 22. This one was smaller, though still a very impressive 100,000, according to organizers.

Why Jason Kenney getting an award for 'diversity' only reinforces discrimination

Conservative minister Jason Kenney is to receive an award for "diversity" from the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in London, Ontario this Sunday. It is hard to say which does more harm to the true values of diversity: the "honouring" organization or the politician being "honoured."

The JNF covenant reserves the 13 per cent of Israeli land it owns for the exclusive benefit of Jews. It plays the same discriminatory role in the Israeli Lands Authority: together, these two interlocking institutions control 93 per cent of land in Israel, which (with a few short-lease exceptions) is not available to Palestinians. Many of these lands, originally belonging to Palestinians expelled in 1948, were expropriated and then sold to the JNF.

Police arrest five at 'Casserole' Quebec solidarity demonstrations in Vancouver

Two separate 'Casseroles Night in Canada' demonstrations in solidarity with Quebec student protests ended in arrest last night in Vancouver, with five arrested for mischief and obstructing police officers.

Detainees said they were locked in a pitch-black garage for an hour, intimidated and banned from being downtown until August. One of the demonstrators added that she was forced to remove her bra and skirt and stared at by all-male jail staff.

“When I was processed, I was made to take off my bra and skirt, and was thrown in cell,” said Anushka Nagji. “I'm completely uncomfortable to be a woman in this situation.

Bombshells left and right at hearings into political corruption in Quebec

"It's one of the best businesses we've had in Quebec for decades." - Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay, commenting on the "remarkable work" of construction magnate Antonio Accurso's company at City Council on Tuesday. Accurso has been charged with fraud, conspiracy, influence-peddling, breach of trust and two counts of defrauding the government.

While news out of Quebec in recent months has focused on the student strike, and the social movement it has generated, that is not the only reason people here are dissatisfied with our government.

Three reasons Stephen Harper is going easy on Thomas Mulcair

For six years Stephen Harper’s opponents have wondered when he would stop spending millions of dollars to whale the tar out of them. Apparently the answer was that he’d stop as soon as his opponent stopped being Liberal.

Say hello to Thomas Mulcair. A few surprising things have happened since the hairy cosmopolitan took over the New Democratic Party. First, his party has closed ranks behind him. That was hardly guaranteed at the outset. He arrived late to Canada-wide prominence, first elected outside the hothouse of Quebec provincial politics in 2007. His Outremont cloister has no history as an NDP hotbed. And he made a show of running as an outsider to the party’s culture. But everyone’s been grown-up about things so far, and lately he actually seems to be running a more cohesive party than Harper is.

Turkey threatens retaliation after Syria shoots down jet

Syria said Saturday it shot down a Turkish reconnaissance plane because the plane entered its airspace, insisting it was “not an attack” as both sides desperately tried to de-escalate the episode before it exploded into a regional conflagration.

Turkey threatened to retaliate but did not say what action it would take as it searched for the aircraft’s two missing pilots.

Province working hard to get deal with teachers before Sept. 1, McGuinty says

SUDBURY, ONT. —Premier Dalton McGuinty is assuring millions of parents to hang tight, that the province is working hard on getting a contract with all public and Catholic teachers before Sept. 1.

McGuinty made the statement at the Ontario Liberal Party council meeting after he was asked by reporters if there is a deal between the Catholic elementary teachers and the province.

Sources say the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Assocation is very close to signing an agreement with the province. Such a move would break ranks with the other teaching unions who have refused to negotiate with Ontario after they were told their wages would be frozen.

Prisons, Privatization, Patronage

Over the past few days, The New York Times has published several terrifying reports about New Jersey’s system of halfway houses — privately run adjuncts to the regular system of prisons. The series is a model of investigative reporting, which everyone should read. But it should also be seen in context. The horrors described are part of a broader pattern in which essential functions of government are being both privatized and degraded. 

First of all, about those halfway houses: In 2010, Chris Christie, the state’s governor — who has close personal ties to Community Education Centers, the largest operator of these facilities, and who once worked as a lobbyist for the firm — described the company’s operations as “representing the very best of the human spirit.” But The Times’s reports instead portray something closer to hell on earth — an understaffed, poorly run system, with a demoralized work force, from which the most dangerous individuals often escape to wreak havoc, while relatively mild offenders face terror and abuse at the hands of other inmates.

Mulcair says Tories damaging Canada's reputation

Federal NDP Leader Tom Mulcair says Canada and its once-admirable image around the world have become unrecognizable under the Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Mulcair said he recently had a meeting with European Union ambassadors in Ottawa, and they are not happy with the federal government.