The current exec pay hooha is a timely reminder about the real scandal here: the willingness of politicians to hand over billions of dollars in subsidies to a few favoured companies. What is Bombardier really selling? Itself as a recipient for government funds. As for planes, “it is selling the making of planes, or more particularly conspicuous government support for the making of planes, or perhaps just the idea of making planes,” writes Andrew Coyne, tongue firmly in cheek, for the National Post.
Have you heard about the Yazidi people?
The Yazidi crisis is not as familiar to people as the crisis in Syria, if people know who the Yazidis are at all. Yet, everyone has heard of ISIS, so why then has one of their most brutal atrocities gained such little public attention?
The Induced Earthquakes Database
Mining-related activity accounts for the most frequent cause of human induced seismicity, followed by water reservoir impoundment, according to The Induced Earthquakes Database – a comprehensive global review of all human-induced earthquakes.
Trump and Brexit make the EU more irrelevant than ever—and Europeans have had enough
Without the U.K., the EU becomes a socialistic economy indulging weaker, poorer members.
China is desperately trying to control what information the public can get about pollution
Quartz news reports local weather bureaus in China can no longer issue smog warnings to the public. But they can still alert citizens to the “pollution scapegoat” fog.
China builds world’s biggest solar farm in journey to become green superpower
Does China see the Trump presidency as a chance to position itself as a world leader in fighting climate change? The Guardian looks at China’s green edge and its troubles at home to make renewables work.
Big Brother open for business
As China braces itself for the possibility of an omnipotent digital dystopia — a credit rating system aimed at reducing the resources, choices and activities of every citizen to a single trustability score — one Chinese newspaper has revealed a Big Data menace already underway. For a small fee, anyone in China can invade your private data sphere.
The Kinder Morgan pipeline: permits or permission?
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s approval of the Kinder Morgan pipeline has raised a storm of protest about its predicted impacts on the orcas, climate change, First Nations’ rights, as well as concerns about the project’s “flawed” approval process and lack of “social licence”. Lawyer Andrew Roman contextualizes some of the hot-button issues raised by critics.
The Law Society of Upper Canada expresses grave concern about the sentencing of human rights lawyer Xia Lin in China
In response to the harsh sentencing of a respected lawyer on what many claim are trumped-up charges, the Law Society of Upper Canada, in a public statement released this week, urged the People’s Republic of China to comply with its obligations under international human rights laws, including the United Nations’ Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.
Freedom of Information in Canada
Since it was devised in the 1980s, Canada’s Freedom of Information law has not been significantly updated or reformed to reflect the needs of the data revolution. On the heels of the 250th anniversary of Sweden’s freedom of the press act last week, TVO’s The Agenda looks at the state of FOI law in Canada.
Joy as China shelves plans to dam ‘angry river’
Environmentalists celebrate as Beijing appears to abandon plans to build mega dams on its Grand Canyon of the East. Although dam-building isn’t off the table in other parts of China, activists say Beijing is deterred in this case by growing concern for the environment, the wisdom of dam construction in areas of high seismicity and – most importantly – the economics of large-scale dams that no longer make financial sense in a slowing Chinese economy, in combination with the scale of difficulty in transmitting electricity from remote regions to the rest of the country.
U.N. finally apologizes for cholera in Haiti … but omits one point
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s “sorry” last week for the organization’s role in Haiti’s deadly cholera outbreak, called a “half-apology” by some for omitting to mention the likely source of that outbreak: Nepalese UN peacekeepers. Ban Ki-moon’s statement nevertheless marks the first time the organization has publicly acknowledged its role in the spread of the cholera epidemic in Haiti that killed at least 10,000 people after the 2010 earthquake.
Environmental scepticism of China’s ability to meet the Paris climate pledge
Despite substantially increasing their renewable energy sources, those sources are “still a tiny fraction” of China’s energy mix, says Probe International’s Patricia Adams in this interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Electoral reform could curse Canada with a Parliament full of Trumps
The problem isn’t with winner-take-all electoral systems, it’s a problem within Canada’s political parties.
Is China really showing ‘leadership’ on tackling climate change?
Beijing played the Paris climate agreement for money and kudos. But no country that ratified the agreement was in it to win the war on global warming, says Patricia Adams, executive director of Probe International, in this radio interview with the Australian current affairs program, Counterpoint.
Patricia Adams
Brady Yauch
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
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