plant lover, cookie monster, shoe fiend
18608 stories
·
21 followers

What is the point of the Liberal party? – Phill MV

1 Share

Here is my problem: why does Justin Trudeau even want to govern anymore?

As I write this, Trudeau is on the verge of stepping down, the dam has broken, his time is up, so fine – but I was thinking about this question six months ago. You can repeat this question for Bonnie Crombie, here in Ontario.

(What does Bonnie Crombie want to do other than cut taxes? We already have a party that likes to cut taxes.)

What do Liberals want to accomplish? What do they want to govern for?

It’s not to do electoral reform. It’s not to expand social assistance. They had to be dragged kicking and screaming to expand pharmacare. It’s not to give rights to workers. It’s not to fix the housing crisis. They’re not radically expanding public transit. They’re not breaking up the oligarchies that rule our lives, or reducing inequality. They’ve been reduced to limping along on climate change.

I am extremely thankful for legal weed, the canada child benefit, some modest daycare reform, and I think the carbon tax was a good idea.

I obviously prefer to have them in government than the “destroy everything that is nice and good and reward our cronies” alternative currently on offer.

But why run? What’s the point? What’s the agenda? What else do you want to do while in government?

I could forgive the insufferable smarm these people exhibit at every opportunity if they were competent, if they were good at their jobs, if there were mandarins in smoke filled rooms secretly pulling strings in a game of 4d chess. But it turns out, again and again, that given the ball they fumble it.

Look at the Canada Post strike. Who won from that? If you were going to force workers back to work all along, why wait four weeks? Retailers got screwed, workers got screwed, the government looks bad, and the only winner here is the management at Canada Post, who refused to negotiate because they knew this would happen. Those people will drift off to their next job being able to brag about cowing their union.

All of this just to protect a having subclass of part-time workers who are more exploited than full timers?

There’s no vision for the country. There’s just more of the same, keeping the lights on, protecting the status quo even as everyone agrees that it sucks, it’s untenable, it’s broken.

Is it any wonder that people aren’t excited to go out and vote? YOU NEED TO MAKE PEOPLE EXCITED TO GO OUT AND VOTE.

What is the point of the Liberal party? I have some answers to this question but they’re all unflattering.

# 2025-01-02

Read the whole story
sarcozona
4 hours ago
reply
Epiphyte City
Share this story
Delete

Private equity to lobby Trump for access to savers’ retirement funds

1 Comment
Read the whole story
sarcozona
5 hours ago
reply
Yeah, the wealthy are happy to siphon all the resources of the pmc too. They’re sick. Nothing will ever be enough.
Epiphyte City
Share this story
Delete

New MLAs Reveal Surprising Financial Holdings | The Tyee

1 Share

The Conservative Party of BC’s newly elected justice critic owns real estate worth $50 million, and a BC Green MLA who campaigned against expanded gas development owns shares in an oil and gas royalty company.

There are also NDP MLAs with oil and gas stocks and one who holds shares in Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram that Premier David Eby has scolded for its ban on sharing Canadian news and for causing harm to people using its online services.

The information comes from the disclosure statements that all MLA candidates are required to complete under the Financial Disclosure Act.

The forms include similar information to the declarations MLAs make each year under another piece of legislation, the Members’ Conflict of Interest Act, and provide the first look at the financial interests of the 57 MLAs newly elected in October.

One of the most widely invested is the BC Conservatives’ critic for jobs, economic development and innovation. Gavin Dew, the representative for Kelowna-Mission, holds shares in more than 30 companies.

The disclosures are not available online but are intended to be available for public inspection. They require candidates to list the name of each corporation in which they own one or more shares, including ones held on their behalf by a trustee, but do not include dollar figures or indications of how much the investments are worth.

Among Dew’s investments are solid names like Apple Inc., Constellation Software, communications and media software company Lumine Group, stock exchange manager Nasdaq Inc., European software company Topicus, clean energy provider Brookfield Renewable Partners, and Brookfield Infrastructure.

Dew also owns shares in U.S. utility AES Corp., natural gas company Cenovus, Calgary energy company Vermilion, apartment rental real estate company Mainstreet Equity, office real estate investment trust Allied Properties, and FirstService Corp., which provides professional services and investment management.

Some companies in his portfolio are active in health care in the United States like Danaher Corp., Enovis Corp. and UnitedHealth, a company whose CEO was murdered in New York in December.

There’s something Dew listed as “Indmed Pharmaceuticals,” which could be either an unlisted pharmaceutical company based in India or a typo for InMed Pharmaceuticals, a Vancouver company that’s had a spectacular price collapse since 2018 heights (shares that were once worth nearly US$20,000 each are now trading at around $4.70).

He lists Bionoid, a company that describes itself as “a private, hemp-based cannabinoid extraction and processing company with licensed operations in the U.S., Canada and Ecuador.”

Dew’s more speculative investments, some of which have collapsed badly, include Delta Cleantech, agriculture technology firm CubicFarm, Water Ways Technologies and cannabis company Lotus Ventures, whicih was delisted from the Canadian Securities Exchange in August when a new owner took over as part of a bankruptcy proceeding.

Also in Dew’s portfolio are en education company called Benji Learning, the agriculture company Lucent BioSciences and machinery manufacturer Insporos.

Dew, who has criticized the provincial government over the collapse of advocacy group Small Business BC, owns, along with family, at least 30 per cent of three small businesses.

He is a co-owner of Play Area Indoor Recreation Inc., described on its website as a family business, which has an indoor playground in Kelowna available for drop-in play, birthdays and field trips.

He owns Llewellyn Holdings Ltd., which he says does management consulting business as ADDO Consulting. Another company, Land Value, he describes as an “artificial intelligence and analytics company” that’s an early-stage startup with no debts.

Along with assets, the Financial Disclosure Act requires candidates to declare their liabilities, real estate, corporations they or family members own more than 30 per cent of voting shares in, and their sources of income. They do not have to include their personal residence or any mortgage on it.

Oil and gas critic has stake in industry

Green MLA Jeremy Valeriote, who represents West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, owns shares in PrairieSky Royalty Ltd., a Calgary-based company that holds crude oil and natural gas interests in Canada.

According to Yahoo, PrairieSky has an interest in some 9.7 million acres of petroleum or natural gas rights, plus gross overriding royalty interests in another 8.5 million acres.

The BC Green Party has long opposed oil and gas development. The party’s 2024 election platform promised that a Green government would approve no new liquefied natural gas projects, stop permitting new fracking wells or pipelines and “set a date to phase out gas production in the province.”

Valeriote himself campaigned on cancelling the Woodfibre LNG project under construction on Howe Sound and was recently quoted in the Squamish Chief saying it was “tremendously disappointing” to fail to get the NDP to agree in power-sharing negotiations to cancel the project.

Valeriote, whose address in Whistler is a home assessed at $2.6 million this year, also invests in some companies that aim to reduce carbon emissions and build a cleaner economy. They include wind power company Innergex Renewable Energy Inc., bankrupt electric and hybrid vehicle drive producer Azure Dynamics Corp. and Foremost Lithium Resource and Technology Ltd., a company that mines in Manitoba for a key battery ingredient.

His other holdings include Telus Corp., a phone company whose push into providing health care the Greens have regularly criticized; plane maker Bombardier Inc.; Toronto-Dominion Bank; and software provider BlackBerry Ltd.

He also owns shares in rail tank car provider Kelso Technologies Inc., water management consulting firm Paradigm Environmental Technologies Inc., cannabis company Alliance Growers Corp., drug developer Arbutus Biopharma Corp. and IM Cannabis Corp., as well as equity, bond and balanced funds.

Valeriote’s disclosure also lists income from the Green Party Political Association of BC to be a candidate for MLA.

NDP rep has shares in Facebook parent

Sunita Dhir, the NDP MLA for Vancouver-Langara, holds 25 units in Meta Platforms, the parent company for Facebook and Instagram, worth more than US$600 each in late December.

In 2023 the B.C. government cut most advertising with Meta in response to the company’s decision to block Canadian news, and the province has taken steps to tackle what it describes as harmful online services.

Dhir, a language instructor, also lists herself as part owner and landlord of two adjoining properties in the Sunset area of south Vancouver that have a combined assessed value of more than $4.1 million.

A much larger landholder is Dallas Brodie, the Conservative MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena. Her disclosure says she’s the “owner/president” of Three Cedars Holdings Inc., which owns four residential and two commercial buildings in Vancouver. The total value of the properties according to BC Assessment is $49.7 million in 2025, down from $53.6 million last year. Brodie’s disclosure form names Coast Capital as a creditor for Three Cedars. Her home address in West Vancouver is assessed at almost $3.6 million.

Another widely invested Conservative is Kiel Giddens, the MLA for Prince George-Mackenzie. The party’s critic for labour, Giddens declared income as an employee of TC Energy, the pipeline company that he lobbied for before stepping away in September. He also disclosed holding shares of parent company TC PipeLines.

The investment is among about three dozen Giddens holds. Many are blue-chip Canadian names including pipeline competitor Enbridge, gas utility Fortis, railways Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Canadian National, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Telus, oilsands giant Suncor Energy, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, Brookfield Renewable Partners, Granite Real Estate Investment Trust, and Constellation Software.

Giddens owns shares in U.S. and international technology firms ASML Holding, Microsoft, Amazon and Google, plus investments in Costco and Warren Buffett’s giant Berkshire Hathaway. He also holds units in funds that invest around the world in stocks, bonds and particular sectors like consumer staples, information technology and real estate. He even has some money in a bitcoin fund.

The Conservative MLA for Prince George-North Cariboo, Sheldon Clare, lists investments in oil and gas companies Cardinal Energy and Tamarack Valley Energy, as well as income as faculty at the College of New Caledonia and as a firearms instructor and CORE examiner of people learning to hunt.

Lynne Block, the Conservative MLA for West Vancouver-Capilano, went beyond what was required and included dollar amounts for her investment in Telus Corp. and half a dozen funds she holds. In total Block listed about $188,000 in investments, the majority of which is in a global balanced fund that holds stocks and bonds.

Oil, gas, banks, batteries and more

Stephanie Higginson, the NDP MLA for Ladysmith-Oceanside, has shares in the Bank of Nova Scotia, Laurentian Bank of Canada, pipeline companies TC Energy and Enbridge, gas station and convenience store operator Parkland Corp., gas utility Fortis, chemical company Methanex, fertilizer provider Nutrien, packaging company Transcontinental Inc., Canadian National Railway, telecommunications providers Cogeco Communications and Telus, industrial machinery company Toromont Industries and Vancouver Island sawmill and wood shop Coastal Timbers.

Terry Yung, who represents Vancouver-Yaletown for the NDP, lists shares in Brookfield Corp., Cenovus Energy, TC Energy and Granite REIT, as well as Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and PayPal Holdings.

He holds American utility AES, medical technology firm Enovis, U.S. health insurance provider UnitedHealth Group, investment firm KKR and snack giant Mondelez International.

Jessie Sunner, the NDP MLA for Surrey-Newton, listed natural gas company Tellurian and battery technology company Microvast Holdings as ones she owns shares in. She also had income as legal counsel to the Hospital Employees’ Union and as a director of the BC College of Social Workers.

Nanaimo NDP MLA George Anderson owns shares in oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil, movie theatre company Cineplex, American real estate investment trust Simon Property Group and cannabis company Tilray Brands.

Bryan Tepper, a Conservative representing Surrey-Panorama, lists shares in CIBC, oil and natural gas producer Canadian Natural Resources, battery company E3 Lithium, critical minerals company Lomiko Metals and pipeline operator TC Energy.

Á’a:líya Warbus, a Conservative who represents Chilliwack-Cultus Lake, has shares in oil and gas infrastructure company Topaz Energy and in recycling and garbage collector Waste Connections. She also owns a videography and photography company, Salish Legends Media Inc., from which she takes an income, and has income as an employee of the Stó:lō Xwexwilmexw Government and Capilano University.

Steve Kooner, the Conservative MLA for Richmond-Queensborough and attorney general critic, lists shares in electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive and electric vehicle charging technology provider Wallbox. He owns a law corporation, a company that holds a mortgaged commercial property in Surrey worth $1.2 million and a “non-operating software development company” called Nuffsoft Systems. He lists shares in Vancity credit union and Khalsa Credit Union.

The Conservative MLA for Maple Ridge East, Lawrence Mok, holds shares in OceanaGold Corp., New Gold Inc. and penny stock Kiplin Metals.

Macklin McCall, the Conservative MLA for West Kelowna-Peachland, lists himself as a “shareholder/partner” in something called Nuncvero Inc., which advertises itself as “an integrated team of former police officers having extensive investigational and technical expertise relating to all aspects of criminal and associated investigations.”

Claire Rattée, the Conservative MLA from Skeena, is the owner of Arcane Arts Inc., a Kitimat tattoo shop that promotes itself as the largest in the northwest of the province.

Tamara Davidson, the NDP MLA for North Coast-Haida Gwaii and the newly appointed minister of environment and parks, disclosed income as a manager with the federal government and as a contractor to the Council of the Haida Nation.

A surprising number of the newly elected MLAs disclosed nothing, leaving the sections for assets, liabilities, income, real property and corporate assets all blank.

They include NDP MLAs Nina Krieger in Victoria-Swan Lake, Steve Morissette in Kootenay-Monashee and Randene Neill in Powell River-Sunshine Coast, as well as Conservatives Rosalyn Bird in Prince George-Valemount, Reann Gasper in Abbotsford-Mission and Heather Maahs in Chilliwack North, who until recently was a school trustee.  [Tyee]

Read the whole story
sarcozona
16 hours ago
reply
Epiphyte City
Share this story
Delete

Israel warns troops off social media after Brazil seeks soldier over Gaza

1 Share
Read the whole story
sarcozona
17 hours ago
reply
Epiphyte City
Share this story
Delete

Bay Area foods are full of plastic chemicals, report finds

1 Share

A single black tea with tapioca pearls from Boba Guys contains more BPA than a person can safely consume in a year, according to a new report on Bay Area food products. 

The findings, published in a report titled PlasticList, come from researchers led by former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman. 

“We were, like many others, asking ourselves if plastic chemicals would turn out to be the next public health crisis for humanity to overcome,” the report says. “We realized it was important to try and get closer to the true answer.”

The team tested 300 popular Bay Area foods, including some “bougie favorites” from local cafés and regional chains. The results, though limited and presented by the authors as just “a starting point” for further research, showed these chemicals are everywhere.

A vast majority (86%) of the 775 samples from 312 foods contained an alphabet soup of plastic chemicals: BPA, DEHT, DEHP, DBP, and others. These compounds have proved harmful to animals in lab tests, are known to disrupt hormones in people, and are seemingly unavoidable for anybody who shops at grocery stores and eats at restaurants.

The study also suggests that chemicals from plastic takeout containers leach into food, and the longer the food stays in the containers, the more chemicals it absorbs. 

Boba Guys tea had the most BPA — bisphenol A, an industrial chemical used to harden plastics — of any tested item.

In a statement to The Standard, the bubble tea company cast doubt on the study’s findings and said it’s looking into the possibility that the contaminants are from tap water in Palo Alto, where all tested samples came from.

“The tap water sample yielded the second highest BPA level and we suspect the two could be related,” the statement said. “We will be conducting our own study with a third-party laboratory and we will share the results.”

The company added that its equipment and ingredients are “in line with the industry standards to our peers in the cafe world.”

Products from Blue Bottle Coffee, Salt & Straw, Tartine, and the Stanford University dining hall also contained startling levels of plastic compounds, as did food from California chains like In-N-Out and Sweetgreen. 

Salmon and steak from Whole Foods had more plastic chemicals than most fast-food burgers, the study found. Even baby food, infant formula, and breast milk from a hospital had harmful chemicals in them.

But almost none of the tested products violated U.S.Food and Drug Administration or European Food Safety Authority regulations

“So the question of plastic chemical safety in food comes down largely to whether you believe those organizations have set intake limits correctly,” the report notes. 

None of the above-mentioned companies or institutions responded to requests for comment.

Read the whole story
sarcozona
17 hours ago
reply
Epiphyte City
Share this story
Delete

It’s Perfectly Constitutional to Talk About Jury Nullification | ACLU

1 Comment

Eric Patrick Brandt and Mark Iannicelli were handing out pamphlets outside a Denver courthouse in July 2015. They wanted to inform the public about jury nullification — that is, the power of jurors to vote against convicting criminal defendants under laws that the jurors believe are unjust.

Brandt and Iannicelli were trying to participate in a centuries-old and still-thriving discussion. The pamphlets they were handing out included statements such as:

  • “Juror nullification is your right to refuse to enforce bad laws and bad prosecutions.”
  • “Once you know your rights and powers, you can veto bad laws and hang the jury.”
  • “So, when it’s your turn to serve, be aware: 1. You may, and should, vote your conscience; 2. You cannot be forced to obey a ‘juror’s oath’; 3. You have the right to ‘hang’ the jury with your vote if you cannot agree with other jurors.”

But the two activists’ attempts to educate the public led to their arrest. Brandt and Iannicelli were each charged with seven counts of criminal jury tampering under a Colorado law that bars any person from communicating with a juror with the intent to influence the juror’s vote in a case.

On Tuesday, we filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Colorado Supreme Court arguing that the application of the jury tampering law to Brandt and Iannicelli’s pamphleting is an unconstitutional restraint of speech.

The most essential function of the First Amendment right to free speech is to protect discussion and debate over government affairs and public issues. From access to effective counsel to the selective enforcement of criminal laws, the criminal justice system and the way criminal trials are conducted are quintessential matters of public concern.

The role and power of juries, in particular, have been subjects of debate and discussion since before the founding of the republic. English courts first recognized the jury’s power to acquit a criminal defendant — even when the weight of the evidence points to the defendant’s guilt — in 1670. Juries in colonial America used jury nullification to protest the power of the British Parliament over the colonies, and Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and prominent judges in the early days of the nation all believed that jurors had a duty to vote their conscience regardless of the evidence.

Important discussions about jury nullification aren’t limited to lawyers and scholars. Different views about the topic have popped up in popular articles, podcasts, lifestyle blogs, and advice columns. This isn’t surprising: Jury service is the most intimate interaction with the criminal justice system that many people ever experience, and many individuals completing jury duty may find themselves in the difficult position of having to apply a law that they believe is unfair or immoral.

Nullification often occurs today where people are prosecuted under draconian drug laws for low-level drug offenses or face harsh mandatory sentences. Historically, jurors have acquitted against the weight of the evidence in cases against Vietnam War protesters charged with destroying draft files and in Fugitive Slave Act prosecutions against escaped slaves and individuals who aided them.

Of course, the state can and should prevent individuals from intentionally tampering with a jury in the hopes of influencing the outcome of a specific case. But far from trying to tamper with any particular case, Brandt and Iannicelli sought to educate all jurors — including potential jurors — about the concept of jury nullification. Courts have recognized that such advocacy is protected by the First Amendment.

Troublingly, the government’s argument that Brandt’s and Iannicelli’s speech was criminal jury tampering could extend to almost any statement advocating jury nullification that a juror might see, from a newspaper op-ed to a tweet.

The government may prefer a jury pool that has never heard about jury nullification. The Constitution, however, prohibits the government from banning speech that it doesn’t like. The public benefits when ideas — good or bad — are aired out. We all suffer when they’re criminalized into silence.

Read the whole story
sarcozona
23 hours ago
reply
Important info especially for New Yorkers rn
Epiphyte City
Share this story
Delete
Next Page of Stories