May 31st, 2007 Andrew Cash
McGuinty’s Arnie act
Why is it easier for a Republican to be green than a Liberal premier?
By Andrew Cash
Who says coincidences like this only happen in novels? At the very moment when enviro orgs are putting the heat on the McGuinty Libs to pass a private member’s bill modelled after one in California that’ll let us know if the Shreddies we’re buying contain carcinogens, in pops the governor of said state.
Arnold Schwarzenegger reminds us that it may be easier for a Republican bodybuilder to be green than a Liberal premier. Despite the fact that Bill 164, the Community Right To Know Act, has passed second reading and an all-party committee, don’t assume it’s passage is a slam dunk.
Spearheaded by NDP enviro critic Peter Tabuns, the bill would force companies to list cancer-causing agents on product labels. It would also create a comprehensive and user-friendly online pollution inventory so Ontarians can find out which toxins are emitted in their communities and what risks are associated with them.
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Posted in All Blog Posts, Environment, Now Magazine, Ontario, Politics | No Comments »
May 17th, 2007 Andrew Cash
Shabazz shemozzle
Uproar over New Black Panther leader looks bad on everybody
By Andrew Cash
Toronto the surreal. A radical black youth group asks a white Jewish lawyer to help them get a permit for a Queen’s Park rally at which the keynote speaker will be a purported anti-Semite.
As speeches pierce the humid midday haze on May 15 with zingers like “Multiculturalism is genocide” and references to the Ontario government as a “white supremist racist government,”a couple of white guys hand out flyers promoting a rally in support of jailed Amercian black activist Mumia Abu-Jamal, an event endorsed by, among others, a group called the Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians.
God, I love this city. And yet I leave the Black Youth Taking Action’s Education Not Incarceration rally, which goes ahead at Queens Park with portable mics despite losing its permit, feeling ill at ease.
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Posted in All Blog Posts, Now Magazine, Politics, Race Relations, Youth Issues | No Comments »
May 3rd, 2007 Andrew Cash
Seeing red over ribbon
Should our public vehicles flaunt Support Our Troops stickers?
By Andrew Cash
The Harper government may be running for cover from the storm of controversy, but most of our troops in Afghanistan don’t have a duck-and-hide option.
The fact is, the Afghan mission is a mess, and Joe and Jane Soldier are bearing the brunt. Who among us isn’t deeply saddened by the news of ever increasing numbers of uniformed Canadians killed or seriously injured in the war.
But having said that, what does a Support Our Troops bumper sticker actually mean?
It’s a question that arises courtesy of Toronto’s fire and emergency services, which have decided to put yellow-ribbon Support Our Troops stickers on every ambulance, emergency service vehicle and fire truck in the city. On one level, there’s always been an affinity between between emergency workers and Canadian Forces.
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Posted in All Blog Posts, Now Magazine, Politics, Toronto, War in Afghanistan | No Comments »
April 26th, 2007 Andrew Cash
A smog alert on Earth Day?
By Andrew Cash
When Earth Day meets smog, does anybody hear? Apparently not.
Even as I order my first pint of the patio season and celebrate a glorious day, I try to ignore the evidence: itchy eyes, sore throat.
Winter is finally over, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let minor health concerns ruin the party. But the Danforth’s perpetual weekend bumper-to-bumper car rally is giving me and my two-year-old the season’s first dose of sun-baked exhaust.
So when a friend e-mails me later to let me know that at the exact hour I was one with my urban environment, smog readings in T.O. were bad enough to issue an air advisory, it makes sense. What doesn’t is that the province’s air quality watchdog took a pass on letting citizens know.
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Posted in All Blog Posts, Environment, Now Magazine, Ontario, Politics, Toronto | No Comments »
April 19th, 2007 Andrew Cash
Real dirt on the tar sands
Tories are pumping a fivefold increase in production while we worry ourselves sick about leaf blowers
By Andrew Cash
It’s no wonder Stephen Harper can’t say “Kyoto” without choking. After all, thanks to the huge oil sands deposit in his Alberta backyard, we’ve got the second-largest oil reserves in the entire world, next to Saudi Arabia.
You probably already know that the sticky goo in northeastern Alberta is the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country. But while we’re all worrying ourselves sick about leaf blowers and incandescent bulbs, few realize the extent of the oil sands expansion being plotted. Do voters get that the Conservatives are expecting, and indeed pumping, a massive fivefold increase?
Welcome to the difference between official Harperspeak about going green and Tory tar sands machinations. And the politics are especially thick and sticky when Washington is factored in, since no matter who we elect, stopping any further development of our bituminous riches, or even slowing it down, is going to take a heroic rewiring of the Canada/U.S. power dynamic.
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Posted in All Blog Posts, Canadian, Environment, Now Magazine, Politics | No Comments »
October 12th, 2006 Andrew Cash
The future is music-friendly
Industry gabfest unveils cyber tune-swap solution that could well mend the hole in artists’ pockets
By ANDREW CASH
Montreal — I like wearing hats, and at the Future of Music Coalition (FMC) conference running October 5 to 7, I’m wearing two.
My plan at this gabfest on the music biz everything from cyber issues to arts funding is to be a panellist and then spend the rest of the time gathering info for the article you’re reading.
But things get strange right off the bat and then stranger still as a spectacular plan is unveiled that could finally solve the puzzle of how musicians can make money out of those digital 0s and 1s.
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Posted in All Blog Posts, Music and Digital Culture, Now Magazine | No Comments »
