BC's LNG Strategy Is Not Climate Friendly

World leaders gathered in Lima, Peru, this month for global climate change talks. British Columbia's Environment Minister Mary Polak was among them. She shared the province's successful experience in implementing commendable climate policies, like B.C.'s carbon tax -- a policy that the president of the World Bank hailed as a "powerful example" of carbon pricing.

However, Minister Polak also included the province's liquefied natural gas export aspirations as part of B.C.'s climate success story, arguing that LNG will displace coal in Asia. Unfortunately, the evidence doesn't support this claim.

MH370 was 'shot down by US military', claims former French airline boss

A former French airline CEO Marc Dugain claims that the US may have shot down Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 and then covered it up, adding to a rash of conflicting theories about the missing plane.

In a six-page article published by French weekly Paris Match, Dugain claims that the Boeing 777 may have got into trouble and as it was approaching the US military base on the British territory of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, it was shot down. US forces may have feared the plane was attempting a 9/11 style attack on the base, Dugain said.

Judge Takes Away Minimum Wage Protections From Home Care Workers

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon struck down a rule change issued by the Department of Labor that would have extended minimum wage and overtime pay protections to home care workers come January.

In 1974, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) — the law requires American employers to pay their workers at least the minimum wage and extra pay for overtime hours — was expanded to cover domestic workers. Yet a carve-out was included for those who provide “care and fellowship” to the elderly and disabled in their homes. That exemption became so broadly interpreted as to deny basic labor rights from those who feed, clothe, and bathe clients, as well as give them medical care. In 2007, under that law, the Supreme Court ruled that a woman named Evelyn Coke’s employer, who had her work long hours giving care, did nothing illegal by failing to give her overtime pay.

How Our 1989 Invasion of Panama Explains the Current US Foreign Policy Mess

As we end another year of endless war in Washington, it might be the perfect time to reflect on the War That Started All Wars—or at least the war that started all of Washington's post-Cold War wars: the invasion of Panama.

Twenty-five years ago this month, early on the morning of December 20, 1989, President George H.W. Bush launched Operation Just Cause, sending tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of aircraft into Panama to execute a warrant of arrest against its leader, Manuel Noriega, on charges of drug trafficking. Those troops quickly secured all important strategic installations, including the main airport in Panama City, various military bases, and ports. Noriega went into hiding before surrendering on January 3rd and was then officially extradited to the United States to stand trial. Soon after, most of the US invaders withdrew from the country.

Minimum Income: What You Should Know About The Idea That Could Revolutionize The 21st Century

Imagine the government started handing out $10,000 annually to every adult in the country, or implemented a negative income tax rate so that low earners and people out of work would receive tax money instead of paying it.

Sounds like the ultimate socialist scheme, doesn’t it? Exactly the sort of thing the business community and conservative economists would label a job-killing farce destined to create a nation of lazy, uncompetitive good-for-nothings.

Hold the rations: The Canadian government vs. First Nations

I was wondering when the first media report speaking about the resource revenue received by First Nations in relation to the First Nations Transparency Act (FNTA) would come out. And then there was a swarm of media articles.

This sudden interest in First Nations governance prompts the question: What is the real reason why the Canadian Government is forcing the issue of financial transparency amongst First Nations people?

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Calls For Pause In Protests After Police Killings

(Reuters) - New York Mayor Bill de Blasio implored protesters on Monday to wait until after the funerals of two policemen shot dead in an ambush before resuming rallies that have roiled the city and beyond over the deaths of black men at the hands of police.

But de Blasio's plea was quickly dismissed by several activist groups that vowed to continue protests that have stirred the city daily after grand juries chose not to indict police officers who killed Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Ottawa takes First Nations to court over transparency law

The federal government is taking six First Nations band governments to court for not complying with a new law that requires bands to post their audited financial statements online for members to see.

Those statements include the salaries and expenses of the band chiefs and councillors.

Of 582 First Nations, 48 have not complied, according to the office of the minister of aboriginal affairs.

Ontario's Debt Situation Is About To Get a Whole Lot Worse

When the federal government faced a growing debt problem in the late 1980s, then Opposition finance critic Paul Martin was initially skeptical about cutting spending. In 1989, he labelled mild government efforts to cut spending as "ideological." Six years later, as finance minister, Martin recognized that cascading debt and compounding interest on such debt have an unrelenting logic all their own: "The debt and deficit are not inventions of ideology," said Martin in 1995. "They are facts of arithmetic. The quicksand of compound interest is real."

Stop saving the Queen. She's the worst.

The new mayor of Victoria refused to swear an oath to the Queen, and this made the Monarchist League of Canada really mad. Because Canada has a Monarchist League. They even have a website where you can buy a royal wedding DVD or a $17 "royal grab-bag," which I assume has a bumper sticker that says "Have your driver honk if you love royalty" and a novelty sponge in the shape of Africa that grows when you soak it in blood.

In our constitutional monarchy, the role of the Crown is to personify the nation. Who better to personify Canada than a rich British lady who heads an institution that enslaved and murdered and pillaged its way around the world for hundreds of years?