An open letter to:

Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration

Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety

Gentlemen,

Canadians watch aghast as intolerance, misogyny and xenophobia sweep the United States, and creep into Canada. 

Six innocent men were murdered, many others grievously wounded and families harmed in Québec City on January 29. This atrocity occurred at a place of worship during prayer.

It is not a coincidence that a similar crime was committed in a African American Church in Charleston, South Carolina less than two years ago. Extreme right wing groups fomenting violence are now in Canada with connections to larger American counterparts. 

Dear Mr. Trudeau,

Your father once observed that Canada's relationship with the United States was like that of a mouse sleeping with an elephant.  Since the election of Donald Trump, that relationship is even more fraught with peril. We are now sleeping with a rabid elephant, which has a very thin skin and poor impulse control.

So how will your government deal with this terrible state of affairs? 

I applaud your determination to keep to the high road and remain polite. However, push will come to shove at some point. How do we protect ourselves while remaining on speaking terms with a powerful government led by rabid elephants?

Have you looked to Lester Pearson for inspiration? 

On Monday, September 26, the Special Committee on Electoral Reform was in Whitehorse seeking opinions from Yukoners.  Questions centered on which electoral models could, or could not, serve the North and Yukon. The ensuing discussions revealed just how difficult it will be to come up with an electoral system that serves all Canadians well. Electoral reform is a daunting project.  

Most Conservatives will tell you that we should keep the First Past the Post electoral system because it works perfectly well. And it does...for the Conservative Party of Canada. (Beware of conservatives disguised as defenders of democracy.)

Like this blog? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.

Open Letter to Rona Ambrose,

Interim Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada 

Dear Ms. Ambrose,

Like this article? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.

The Conservative Party, on behalf of Yukon MP Ryan Leef, has mailed out campaign flyers depicting Liberal Larry Bagnell as a nefarious scoundrel, painted scary red, who "BROKE HIS PROMISE" and will bring back the long-gun registry!

Chip in to keep stories like these coming.

Open Letter to Ryan Leef, MP for Yukon

Dear Ryan,

Chip in to keep stories like these coming.

Open Letter to Ryan Leef, MP for Yukon

Dear Ryan,

Voter suppression can help the unscrupulous win elections. 

Negative politicking in the form of vicious smear campaigns and fear/hate mongering are straight from the playbooks of the cynical strategists who have been advising Republicans for decades and Stephen Harper more recently.

Open Letter to Ryan Leef, Member of Parliament for Yukon

Dear Ryan,

Recently, a German dinner guest boasted about the superiority of the German electoral system.

So I did some research to see just how superior Germany's system was to other systems, including Canada's First Past the Post, (FPTP), electoral system.

Ryan Leef, Member of Parliament for Yukon

Dear Ryan,

When the Canadian Access to Information Act came into force under Prime Minister Trudeau in 1983, it was considered the most progressive model for freedom of information legislation in the world. The Protection of Privacy Act, companion legislation, ensures that individuals' rights to privacy are not compromised by public access to information. The two Acts are, together, referred to as ATIP.

Under ATIP, the public is guaranteed timely access to information relating to all government business.

Ryan Leef, Member of Parliament for Yukon

Dear Ryan,

Internet trolls are people who use distortions, false dichotomies, insults, threats and other inflammatory statements to disrupt online debate.  Comments from trolls are cries for attention from furious outcasts and are best ignored.

However, troll-speak is common in certain professions.  Professionals who use troll-speak are coldly calculating manipulators of public opinion.  Some of them troll-speak because their held ideologies are indefensible in reasoned debate.  Others behave like trolls because that is where their talents lie and because they are well paid to do it.