Category Archives: Education

Entries focusing on environmental education

Blood Money, Dark Money and Plutocrats

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October 2, 2018. US based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashogi, a critic of the Saudi government, was attacked in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul as he went to finalize his marriage papers. It was later revealed that he had been murdered and dismembered. A team of fifteen Saudi agents, operating under the orders of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, carried out the assassination. Shortly after the brutal murder, Trump’s Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin has a meeting with the Crown Prince.

 

May 13, 2025, Crown Prince  Mohammed bin Salman greets President Donald Trump with an elaborate welcoming ceremony usually reserved for kings. Trump, in turn, signs off on the largest defense sales agreement in history worth $142 billion as part of a series of bilateral deals with the Saudis worth $600 billion in investments.

 

In 2012, Chrystia Freeland wrote the brilliant non-fiction novel Plutocrats: the Rise of the New Global Super Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else. In 2016, Jane Mayer wrote an insightful non-fiction novel called Dark Money: the Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right.

On July 27, 2024, campaigning Donald Trump told a group of supporters in Florida that they wouldn’t have to vote again if they elected him President, “You won’t have to do it anymore, It’ll be fixed. It’ll be fine; you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.”

Way back in 1986, Canadian songwriter Bruce Cockburn wrote “Call It Democracy”, a scathing indictment of international greed controlled by the high rollers. It starts off with the verse: “Padded with power here they come, International loan sharks backed by the guns, Of market hungry military profiteers, Whose word is a swamp and whose brow is smeared, With the blood of the poor.” Give it a listen with 2025 in mind.

We can’t say we weren’t warned. The way I see it.

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  • cartoon by Chris Dywanski
  • Image from the news.com.pk

Lisa Post does NOT Need Strong Mayor Powers

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by Skid Crease and Patti Foley, originally published in Just Sayin’ Caledon, May 9/25

***

Lisa Post is the Mayor of Orangeville. Lisa Post believes in consensus building, the strengths of her team, and the integrity of responsible democracy. Lisa Post does NOT want to be a Strong Mayor, a title that was foisted upon her, without consultation, by the provincial government.

Mayor Post expressed her concerns in a letter to Premier Rob Ford and Rob Flack, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, describing what she feels are the negative impacts of Strong Mayor Powers (SMP) on both the democratic process and staff morale.

As confusing as it sounds, the way Bill 3: Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act is written, Mayor Post had to use SMP in order to not use them. She has signed five Mayoral Decisions to delegate certain authorities in order to effectively keep them in the hands of Council, staff, and committees, so that the democratic process is restored.

I asked the Mayor what was the tipping point that inspired such a bold move. She replied, “I pride myself on my ability to build consensus in those times when things are contentious. Our team works best when everyone’s voices and ideas can be represented in policy discussions and decisions.”

Mayor Post had observed other municipalities where the SMP had been abused, and Councils were afraid as they watched their positions of responsibility reduced and, in some cases, removed.

The SMP disempowered both Council and community. Town staff were also afraid, wondering who would be fired next as they watched experienced senior staff gracelessly swept out the door to be replaced by the Strong Mayor’s single source choices.

This simply went against everything in which she believed. Lisa had seen teamwork and consensus building in action back when she was a new councillor on a team of seven under the leadership of then Mayor Sandy Brown. When the pandemic hit, they quickly started online meetings and kept the process of governance going as smoothly as possible. Since the pandemic, in this current term of Council, there have been numerous examples of where consensus building has worked for the betterment of the community.

In 2022 Lisa Post ran for Mayor and won. She values and respects the responsibility that comes with that role. I asked if she felt she would ever regret giving up those Strong Mayor Powers and she responded immediately: “I don’t need Strong Mayor Powers. What I need is a strong community with a strong voice, and I need Council to feel like they are a part of our democracy and that their decisions are respected. Strong Mayor Powers won’t help us build a strong community – If the province wants to help us, the best way they can is with reliable and sustainable investments in infrastructure, homelessness prevention, and transit.”

Additionally, on Monday, May 12th, Mayor Post is bringing a motion to Council: item 14.1 on the agenda, to formally request that the Province of Ontario rescind the ‘Strong Mayors Legislation’ in its entirety and should the legislation not be repealed, that the Province immediately remove the Town of Orangeville from the list of municipalities designated under the Strong Mayor Powers framework. That motion, if approved by Council, will be sent to the Province as well as to all 444 municipalities as well as to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for their support and endorsement.

The letter to the Province has been sent, the Mayor’s Motion will be discussed, and Orangeville Council, together as a team, will decide their future.

As it should be.

The way I see it.

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*image from You Tube

The Rise and Fall of a Political Animal

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The results of our federal election seem to be all accounted for at this point in time, and we can enjoy those May flowers knowing that a secure centre-left majority will work their best to provide the economic, environmental, health and housing security that all Canadians hope to achieve.

It is also calming to know that Pierre Poilievre will be out of Parliament for the rest of the year. Yes, he suffered a humiliating defeat in his long held riding in Ottawa, losing his seat and his Opposition leader status, and maybe even his residence in Stornoway. And yes, there will possibly be a leadership review that could send him into the barren lands. BUT, Pierre Poilievre is a consummate political animal. Now he is a desperate political animal backed into a corner. He will fight ruthlessly to win back a seat in Parliament and resume his former role as Leader of the Opposition by any means possible. Why? Because he doesn’t have any other skills – politics is the only thing he has ever done and ever wanted to do. The only other thing he has ever wanted to do was to drive a stake through the heart of the Liberal Party of Canada.

If his Party doesn’t reject him in a leadership review, they will seek a sacrificial lamb of a newly elected or re-elected MP to give up their seat for him. It can’t be anywhere near Ottawa, because the good citizens of Ottawa have kicked Pierre to the curb and don’t want him back. That’s what you get for waving support to a  convoy of anti-everything insurrectionists who blockaded and terrorized your hometown for weeks while you just smiled down on the chaos. That was really, really stupid.

How could anyone who wanted to be the leader of our country align themselves with a group of burly, bearded, bully truckers and bikers who desperately wanted to have sex with our Prime Minister? But I digress … back to slithering into the House.

Having been born and raised in Calgary, Pierre would be very safe moving to rural Alberta and trying for a seat there. He would be quite comfortable in the nest of discontent woven by past Reform,  Alliance, and Conservative mentors. He could easily settle under the warm wings of Danielle Smith, Premier of Alberta’s far right United Conservative Party. There was a joke circulating when Trumpism began to rear its ugly head to our south: “What do you get when you cross a far right Floridian with a far right Texan? A UCP Albertan.” Pierre would fit right in with that crowd.

In the meantime, if needed ,the Conservative Reform Alliance Party will sit a place holder in the House of Commons and may even figure a way to let Poilievre and family stay in Stornoway until  the party’s leadership is decided. Heaven forbid that poor homeless Pierre would have to go house hunting for an affordable abode like so many hard working tax-paying Canadians do every year. And imagine, having to do new job skills training at the same time. Oh, the horror, the horror!

Until then the unemployed Pierre will be putting on his election defeat speech demeanor as he continues to seduce the media circuit with his newfound co-operative spirit to work positively for all Canadians. He cannot afford to let Canadians see his true colours – that provocative, petulant partisan personality that is hardwired into his reptilian brain stem.  He also cannot afford to lose the many angst filled Generation Z young adults who drank his kool aid during the election campaign. What happens if they discover that he lied to them (Canada is 1st in the G7 in per capita GDP share), and what if their needs get met, as promised, by the new minority/majority government in his absence?

Until then, if and when her returns, there will be entente in the family. Just remember that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

The way I see it.

UPDATE: As we predicted, the Conservatives found a sacrificial lamb –  on May 2,2025 Damien Kurek stepped aside from his seat in Battle River-Crowfoot, Alberta to allow Poilievre to run in a safe seat. Prime Minister Carney then threw Poilievre a lifeline by promising that he would call a by-election “as soon as possible … no games.” That means that Pierre Poilievre could be back in Parliament this as early as this September. Let’s hope he’s ready to work for Canada this time.

Ignorance & Stupidity vs Environmental Literacy

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Ignorance: 1. the condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uniformed;

2. willful neglect or refusal to acquire knowledge which one may acquire and it is their duty to have.

Stupidity: 1. the condition of being slow to learn or understand

2. a tendency to make poor decisions or careless mistakes;

3. describing actions or decisions marked by a lack of intelligence or care

*****

The five pillars of Environmental Literacy are:  Awareness, Knowledge, Attitudes, Skills, and Action. In order to be environmentally literate, one must be very well informed, able to see the patterns that connect, and able to ruthlessly fact-check. The sources used for assembling that knowledge must be legitimate practising, peer reviewed, and published – the 3Ps. Otherwise we will get garbage in, garbage out.

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Which begs the question, dear adult voters living in Dufferin-Caledon: Why would we re-elect Kyle Seeback? Why, after knowing that the last MP who actually did anything significant for us was when we were represented by farmer Murray Calder, a Liberal MP who held the position from 1993 to 2004 when our riding was rearranged to become Dufferin-Caledon. Then a conservative lawyer, David Tilson was elected. Tilson was a former Progressive Conservative MPP who had joined the anything but progressive Conservative Reform Alliance Party. David Tilson served as MP from 2004 to 20019, spending most of that decade warming his political briefs on the backbench. He did virtually nothing for Dufferin-Caledon.

Mr. Tilson was succeeded in 2019 by Kyle Seeback, another conservative lawyer who has also warmed the backbench, again doing nothing significant for Dufferin-Caledon and Canada as a member of a hostile, divisive opposition party.

Yes, Dufferin-Caledon needed a change all right. We are entering an era of economic and political threats from the USA President, we are entering an era when the old spectre of western separatism is being stoked by far right conservatives, and we are already immersed in an era of global social and environmental upheaval. We needed someone who would fight for our security and sovereignty, not another bench warming Conservative Reform Alliance Party lawyer.

The way I see it.

 

The Morning After the Night Before

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Dawn rose on a new Canada this morning. Instead of the Conservative majority predicted by pollsters at the start of the campaign, Prime Minister Mark Carney wins his seat and the government of Canada will be Liberal. One of the greatest reversals of fortune in Canadian political history. To add insult to injury, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre loses his seat and a place in the House of Commons. Didn’t see that one coming.

New Democrats lose their Party Status, and Jagmeet Singh also loses his seat and graciously gives up his leadership as soon as a successor can be chosen. Elizabeth May, so-leader of the Green Party wins her seat and a place at the table. While votes in close races are still being tabulated it appears at this point that we have a Liberal minority that will need every vote from the few NDP, Green, and Bloc seats to advance their agenda.

We are going to need a united front to deal with the Trumpian threats from the south, yet it appears unlikely that a bitterly disappointed Conservative Party will be anything but the obfuscaters and obstructionists they have been for the last ten years. If you look closely enough you may see that the “lost decade” as Mr. Poilievre calls it, really had nothing to do with ten years of Liberal governance. There were global financial crises, global health pandemics, and the rise of far right politics that gave the stamp of approval to nasty, divisive behaviour.

The Conservatives frequently liked to state that because of Liberal policies, Canada was ranked last of the G7 countries in terms of GDP. True, but what they didn’t clarify was that Canada also has the smallest population of the G7 countries. When you look at the rankings, each country’s place in the list corresponds exactly with its population.

So, when we calculate how Canada is doing using GDP per capita as our guide, lo and behold, Canada comes out in #1 spot at $38,000 per person. The USA and UK are next at $35,000, Germany at $34,000, Japan at $33,000, France at $31,000. and Italy at $29,000. Gee whiz, Conservative Reform Alliance Party, you’ve been lying to us for the last ten years! Shame. Canada is actually #1 in the G7. Not last, NUMBER ONE.

And you never told us that the real reason that house prices and inflation went out of control was caused by a global financial crisis, and greedy developers, land speculators and real estate agents who all got richer while most us us got quite a bit poorer. Very little to do with our government. Dear Conservative Party, please tell all those young Gen Z people who flocked to the size of your rallies, your seductive sloganeering, and your rabble-rousing rhetoric that you’ve been pulling the proverbial wool over their eyes.

When the forces from the South come looking to plunder the richness of our lands, and when the next election comes, we are all going to need to see very clearly.

The way I see it.