Recently, I had a blog forming in my head, but Damien Gillis beat me to it. Rats, I thought at first, but then found myself pleased that somebody else did the work, and better than I could have.

The topic was Justin Trudeau's capture by the kind of...

I've been researching and writing about powerful new forms of organizing in the social change sector. My own experience has been in the Canadian environmental community, but many of the exciting lessons today are coming out a variety of sectors in the U.S., and particularly from those that...

Why do political handlers confuse contrarianism with "substance"?

The Justin Trudeau campaign, keen to put to bed allegations of its candidate being a lightweight, just put out an opinion piece embracing the takeover of Nexen by China's state owned CNOOC.

Unexpected, eh? It must therefore...

In his new book Fight the Right, Warren Kinsella gets some big things correct while leaving some big things out.

First, he deserves credit for writing this book, period. There are lots of kitchen table and bar-room conversations underway about how progressives can rebuild and undo much of...

Mr. Krushchev said we will bury you
I don't subscribe to this point of view
It would be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians love their children too

Sting wrote these lyrics regarding the threat of nuclear war from the Soviet Union, but they seem...

B.C. Premier Christy Clark really has no choice at this point but to salvage some pride and stand up for B.C. by opposing Enbridge's Northern Gateway project. This after essentially getting slapped in the face -- politely but publicly -- by Alberta Premier Alison Redford -- who rejected...

Elizabeth May has rightly earned kudos for her performance in the recent federal legislative session against the "Trojan Horse" budget bill.

But, in addition to Parliamentary smarts, in an electoral context she has the power to change the game entirely. As the leader of Canada's fourth party --...

There's an old joke that goes: How do you get 20 Canadians out of a swimming pool? You shout, "Hey you Canadians, get out of the swimming pool."

We're generally an obedient lot, except while on skates, so what gives with the plan of a group of Canadians to

So many questions about Canada today. So few answers.

What are the Conservatives scared of, indirectly gutting environmental laws via the budget, rather than standing proud in the House to vote for the more appropriately named "Big Oil Now RunsThe Country Act"?

Why does the Harper...

This is the third and final piece in a series that began here and continued on the Huffington Post.

B.C. is a puzzle to the rest of Canada. It swings right and left like a pendulum in terms of governments in Victoria, with colourful political scandals...

This is part two of a three part series that began here.

The insult would only work on Ontario.

When Conservative MP Peter Van Loan accused Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty of being the "small man of confederation" for demanding that Ontario get more seats in the...

Paul Wells' recent Maclean's cover story about "How Ottawa Runs on Oil" should be required reading for anyone seeking to understand where Canada is heading under the Harper government. He not only puts into context the tactical attacks on environmentalists, but also explains how there is...

Polls show that more Canadians now feel our country is heading in the wrong direction. According to a study that appeared on ekospolitks.ca in March, 44.7 per cent of Canadian's think this country is going in the wrong direction. So, continue to shout at your television, or get...

The Harper Conservatives have fallen 16 points in B.C., hopefully in part because of their bully campaign on behalf of Enbridge's tar sands pipeline. But they show no sign of letting up, with an oil-soaked budget expected on March 29.

Former Conservative Fisheries...

First she came for our beavers, and now she's coming for our charities.

Conservative Senator Nicole Eaton is swinging into action again -- not that action is generally associated with the Senate, other when there are democratically-enacted climate laws to kill.

Now she's...

Fossil fuel Premiers Alison Redford and Brad Wall launched broadsides against Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty after the latter dared to stand up for Ontario's interests against the damage that Canada's petro-dollar is doing to the manufacturing sector.

Redford's reply was that McGuinty was being "simplistic."

Wall...

First, props to HuffPost for getting Peter Kent into its office to answer some questions. Goodness knows Canadians need better answers from an Environment Minister whose reputation is that of acting on behalf of the tar sands industry rather than the environment.

But, given his awful record, the

British Columbians are getting bullied by the Harper government in Ottawa. It's time our Premier stood up for us.

It's an unprecedented attack on Canadians who care about the future of their kids and the health of the natural environment that makes B.C. so special. No longer content to just...

There's a new sickness sweeping across Canada that medical experts have diagnosed as Selective Parochialism Disease. It afflicts mostly the ideological, and in particular those who think that cooking the planet for our children is a good idea.

Even the Prime Minister has caught it. In China, when he wasn't...

There's nothing that the Chinese government likes more than Western leaders dropping all that human rights stuff and instead coming around to kowtow before them, as Steven Harper will do with President Hu Jintao this week. The Chinese government is so pleased, it will even give him the