Have you seen the latest Katy Perry music video “Part of Me”? Remarkable would be an understatement. It’s a poorly kept secret that mainstream pop stars, actors and news media promote the establishment’s vision of society and often glorify the military force, but Katy takes it to a whole new level. Many movies and videos use product [...]
My blog has been a bit quiet of late, due largely to the launch of a new citizen initiative for open data – Québec Ouvert. This effort follows a similar format and model to the successful effort in Montreal (Montreal Ouvert). One notable difference will be the strategy and the data sets we target for release. By [...]
Yesterday, Canadian parliament passed the omnibus C-10 Crime Bill, which includes 9 laws the Conservative party of Canada failed to pass as a minority government. This is possibly the worst thing to happen to Canada in a long time; we might not see the consequences soon, but they will be large, wide and deep. Tens of thousands [...]
Chocolate is a delicious, delicious treat; however, it is far too often tainted with the sweat of child slaves. While slavery in the chocolate industry remains a small portion of the global slave population (~27 million people enslaved today), it is something that can easily be fixed. Today, the cacao industry employees somewhere between 15 [...]
Canadian history is not boring. In fact, it is far more interesting and dynamic than one might expect. In contrast to many countries, we are a country formed not so much by war and violence, but by flexibility, negotiation and a tireless work ethic. We might lack dramatic civil wars, bombings or martyrs, but we [...]
The time has come to re-open the constitutional debate. We have one party who advocates for a small and unimportant central government (The Walrus) while the progressive votes are split amongst four parties, one of which wants to break up the country. This cannot continue. Canada is a large, diverse and sparsely populated country with [...]
Yesterday, I went to vote in the advance polls for the May 2nd Canadian Federal Election. While at the polling station, one of the clerks recounted how she rejoices in seeing people come to vote at every election; exercising their right to have a say in the formation of their government. In many parts of [...]
I’ve made a point of not endorsing any political party, but to simply ask you to not vote for a Conservative government. That is why I built WhyHarperSucks and shared many articles via Twitter and Facebook. Let’s be honest, none of the party leaders have been very inspiring. That being said, there are real issues [...]
Over 23 000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Canada every year. While the survival rate is fairly high (87%), much pain could be avoided with early detection. In my continuing quest to help woman (see makeyourgirlfriendhappy.com), I have devised a simple fundraising and educational device: a breast cancer sensing and awareness booth. Particpants [...]
Things change quickly. Prior to the 1960s, Quebec was run by Maurice Duplessis and the Catholic Church. Upon his death in 1960, a radical change in government took place as power over health care, education, and much of Quebec society, perviously held by the Catholic Church, was ripped away and given to a democratically elected government. [...]