FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Nov 14

Recent Layoffs Among White-Collar Workers and CEOs Can’t Stop Saying Sorry

by bcurry

Last August a survey was released by consultant PwC which polled more than 700 U.S. executives and board members across a range of industries.  It found that half of respondents said they’re reducing headcount or plan to, and 52 percent had implemented hiring freezes.  The projected layoffs were seen to especially hit the high tech and financial sectors, primarily among middle- and lower-management.  Since rising interest rates in March resulted in home sales slowing to a crawl, there have also been widespread cuts for realtors, mortgage brokers and appraisers.  Unlike blue-collar workers where there is a current shortage of labour, most analysts would agree that this particular round of layoffs will have its greatest impact among white-collar workers.

As of today, forecasted layoffs in significant numbers are happening across the U.S. and Canada.  Many are occurring among some of our largest employers, including for example: Meta Platform Inc., Netflix Inc., Shopify, Wayfair Inc., Oracle Corp, and Apple Inc.  Walmart Inc., Ford Motor Co., Gap Inc., Zillow Group Inc. and Stanley Black & Decker Inc. also announced they plan to cut jobs at their head offices.  Of course, Elon Musk, following his purchase of the company, leads the way with his recent announcement that half of Twitter’s workforce is being dismissed.  These are all companies that did well during the pandemic, notably because of the growth in on-line sales and business.  However, now that the pandemic is coming to an end and interest rates are rising and stock price valuations are in decline, the boom appears to be over.  Thousands upon thousands are being laid off, largely because of massive hiring during the pandemic itself and management’s misreading of the markets.

The layoffs couldn’t have come at a worst time for white-collar workers given that the labour market today is extremely tight, with about 1.9 available jobs for every unemployed person.  What is interesting, many CEOs are openly expressing regret by stating that the situation is largely their fault.  They obviously recognize that they’ll probably need to hire back some of the talented and skilled people they laid off, and could be positioning themselves to recruit again when the recovery comes.  This is being done out of self-interest and to maintain a good product name.  At the same time, about two-thirds of firms surveyed are boosting pay or expanding mental-health benefits, largely to retain the remaining workers.  The most common move is making remote work permanent for more people.  For this reason, many CEOs are trying to appear to initiate the layoffs in as humane way as possible.

Otherwise, just saying you’re sorry is not enough!  There will obviously be a need to keep doors open once the economy recovers.  One question will be the nature of employment and the workplace down the road.  While replacing blue-collar workers with robotics for example is increasingly a concern, the advent of the greater use of artificial intelligence will be an issue for white-collar workers.  For example, Deutsche Bank’s CEO John Cryan hinted in 2017 that half its workers could be replaced by machines.  According to a survey in the same year by Greenwich Associates, around 75% of financial firms were intending to either explore or implement artificial intelligence technologies.  Among Canada’s five big banks, there are artificial intelligence-powered chatbots that now interact with customers through a bank’s digital channels — online, mobile and social media, and programmable software bots perform administrative tasks such as processing mortgage applications.  These virtual machines are already being tasked with some heavy lifting.

Otherwise, no one’s job is guaranteed to be safe now or in the future, including many of today’s white-collar jobs.  There is little doubt that, as more permanent cost cutting measures occur, companies will be looking to enhance their productivity and lower labour costs through the use of new technologies.  There is no profession or field of employment that is safe anymore.  The fact that CEOs are currently letting go so many white-collar workers, may also offer them an opportune time to look at new replacement strategies.  I wonder if CEOS like Elon Musk will continue to say ‘sorry’?

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Nov 9

Where Is America’s Democracy Heading?

by bcurry

Now that the mid-term elections are more or less over, there are a lot of questions about where America’s democratic processes are heading?  This is particularly true given the following issues that surfaced during the voting processes.

  • Several states instituted new restrictions on how people could vote, some moving to in-person voting as a requirement.  This particularly had a negative impact on seniors and persons with mobility disabilities.  In some cases, it also affected marginalized groups.  For example, Florida had new elections legislation affecting voting in the State, which voter advocates argued disproportionately affected Black voters — making it harder for many to vote — and created an environment of confusion and fear.
  • Various voting station monitoring processes were introduced, some of which definitely intimidated certain voters.  In a couple of instances, authorities had to remove armed monitors — reminiscent of Russian elections — from polling stations.
  • Several states had candidates, all Republican, whose platforms included the open but false belief that the 2020 Presidential election was not legitimate.  Some of these candidates were running for positions of Senator, Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State.  If elected, all could have a serious impact on how future elections are run.
  • Right-wing roadshows, such as the ReAwaken America Tour, promoted Christian nationalism before the mid-terms.  According to Samuel Perry, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Oklahoma and the co-author of the book ‘The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy’, a growing number of Republicans are embracing the ideology of Christian nationalism.  Such groups advocate the fusion of American civic life with a particular kind of white, conservative Christianity, a contrary notion to the separation of church and state.
  • As Republican candidates across the country continue to amplify former President Donald Trump’s false claims of corrupted elections, officials were ready for disruptions after the polls closed.  Already declared, activists and lawyers are prepared to challenge ballots and dispute counting procedures, and losing candidates who cast doubt on the integrity of the process may file lawsuits.
  • Not long ago, the fight against disinformation focused on the major social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter. When pressed, they often removed troubling content, including misinformation and intentional disinformation about issues. Today, however, there are dozens of new platforms, including some that pride themselves on not moderating — censoring, as they put it — untrue statements in the name of free speech.

These are only a few of the anomalies that were witnessed during yesterday’s mid-term elections.  The continuing polarization of American politics was clearly on display.  There appears to be no real chance for compromise in Congress which will leave President Joe Biden with few legislative options during the remainder of his term in office.  It can only be expected that the same election issues will surface in the next presidential election, if not more so.

Even the U.S. Supreme Court has increasingly demonstrated in recent decisions that political ideology plays an important role, especially when judges are appointed by Republican or Democratic administrations.  Clearly, there now has surfaced a serious negative impact on the courts as neutral bodies governed by the laws of the land and the will of the peoples’ elected representatives.  So much for checks and balances related to the three branches of governance!

Other democracies are closely watching what is happening in the America and some are very concerned about the situation.  Studies have even shown that young people in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. are increasingly cynical about the ability of democracies to effectively govern, leading today’s youth away from representative government.  Some young people appear ready to abandon democracy, expressing concerns for their futures and the belief that the current system has failed them.  In the past, foreigners have looked to American democracy as a model to replicate in their countries.  Sadly, this may no longer be the case.

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Nov 3

Attack on Nancy Pelosi’s Husband was not due to a Mental Illness of Accused Attacker

by bcurry

Let’s first start with a new study out of Columbia University and recently published in Journal of Forensic Sciences which concludes that mental illness is not the cause of the vast majority of mass shootings.  When a domestic terrorist incident occurs involving a mass shooting or an attack on a high-profile person, the first reflective reaction is not to want to completely dismiss mental illness, like psychosis, as the primary cause.  The authors note that this immediate reflex assumption exacerbates “the already widespread stigma surrounding severe mental illness”.  The extensive study concluded that for perpetrators who used firearms, just over 80 percent did not have a mental illness.  Sixty-eight percent of those who used other means for murder, like stabbing, did not have a mental illness, either.  One of the study’s authors, Dr. Ragy R. Girgis, who is the director at the Center of Prevention and Evaluation specializing in studying and treating teens and young adults at high risk for psychoses, like schizophrenia, preferred to focus on the cultural and social drivers behind these types of killings — such as the romanticization of guns and gun violence — rather than on individual predictors.

In the gruesome attack on October 25th on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, this was carried out by what one refers to as a ‘lone wolf’.  He has to date no clear indication that he was a direct instrument of any extremist group.  In the past years that I’ve been studying ‘radicalization’ of individuals in both the U.S. and Canada, I have found some common traits and factors for lone wolves.  For one, all were male and primarily Caucasian.  These individuals had undergone serious problems with their ‘socialization’ when they were young, often demonstrating loner qualities within somewhat dysfunctional family life and having few real close friends.  These individuals may be particularly vulnerable to extremist messaging and recruitment strategies.  Their social and economic situations tend to lead them to blaming others, tending to be swayed by conspiracy theories, often easily accessed through social media and Web sites run by extremist groups, such as the message board 4chan — a site notorious for extremist discussion.  In the case of Paul Pelosi’s attacker, David DePape, he appears to be a near perfect candidate for extremism and radicalization.  For over two decades, he has been estranged from members of his family in Powell River, British Columbia, including a twin sister.  His stepmother noted that, in his youth, DePape didn’t socialize much at all.  He was also lately estranged from his wife and children.  According to an initial investigation by the Associated Press, it is reported that he is alleged to have published a series of conspiracy rants online.  In recent months, DePape reportedly published hundreds of blog posts sharing memes in support of fringe commentators and far-right personalities.  Many of the posts were filled with screeds against Jews, Black people, Democrats, the media and transgender people.  In addition, DePape may have had suicidal thoughts in carrying out his attack, something pointed out by the Columbia University in the case of mass school shootings where almost half (45.6%) ended with the perpetrator’s suicide.

There have been numerous studies in both countries trying to get into the minds of such predators and killers, and how they can become radicalized.   A criminal investigative psychologist with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Matthew Logan, asserted in 2015 that many radicalized individuals are misfits of society who cling obsessively to “overvalued ideas” as a way to elevate their sense of self.  Jocelyn Bélanger, a professor of psychology at the Université du Québec à Montréal, concluded that when someone feels alienated from society, it is painful.  In turn, one of the quickest ways to assuage that pain is to turn to violence and incite fear.  She also notes that, while there is a dearth of hard evidence linking mental illness and radicalization, ideology often does play an important role in what drives people to radicalize.  Both researchers argue that, while such individuals are usually intolerant of ideas that contradict their own, treatment isn’t out of the question.  Providing individuals with vocational training, stable employment, fair treatment and supportive community connections can steer them onto a more productive track.

Given his history, it will be very difficult to argue that David DePape suffered from a serious mental condition causing his vile actions.  He apparently had clear motive for the attack and had planned and carried out the attack in a systematic way, fully recognizing the Secret Service security afforded to the Pelosi residence.  As in other lone wolf attacks, he proceeded in a deliberate and targeted ego-driven manner in order to achieve the ultimate goal, which, for many, is a “quest for personal significance.”

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Oct 27

Women Still Cannot Break Corporate Glass Ceilings

by bcurry

Yes it takes time for more women to reach leadership positions in companies, even though more and more qualified women are entering business management fields.  One human resource expert in 2011 referred to the so-called infamous glass ceiling as being more of a brick ceiling.  Yes, there are more women in senior management than ever before.  However, proportionately, they still are under-represented as to their numbers in businesses in general.  Back in 2020, Bloomberg News reported that women held more than a quarter of the board seats at S&P 500 companies for the first time, a significant gain.  It was also reported at the time that, according to Catalyst which follows labour market trends, there now were 32 women leading S&P 500 companies.  Increasingly although at a snail’s pace, more women are now holding the top finance jobs (e.g. Chief Financial Officers) at large U.S. companies, despite the fact that companies continue to have fewer women in operational roles.

What is disheartening in 2022, Bloomberg News reports that women are leaving the top ranks of companies at higher rates than ever before — as female employees remain less likely to get promoted into leadership roles in the first place.  According to a new McKinsey & Co. and LeanIn.org report, for every woman at the director level who gets promoted, two female directors are choosing to leave their company.  Bloomberg notes that while women have long been at a disadvantage in the workplace, many of problems have been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.  For example, a lack of affordable childcare has contributed to more women leaving the workforce than men in recent years.  A gender pay gap, which had been narrowing, also stalled during the pandemic.  Furthermore, those in the highest ranks of their organizations are re-evaluating — because of a lack of advancement opportunities, flexibility or unequal treatment or a combination of these and other factors.  Many of the factors were once again particularly true for women representing visible minority groups, such as women of colour.  Women of colour continue to represent far fewer women promoted to a manager role from entry-level when compared to women in general.  This is further complicated by the fact that there are still simply fewer women in upper management at most companies to be promoted.

McKinsey and LeanIn reported also that the pandemic affected women in other ways, in particular those related to remote work and work-life balance, especially where children are involved.  They found that only one in ten female employees want to work from the office most of the time.  The summary of their report said “many” women call hybrid work schedules a key reason for joining or sticking with an employer.  LeanIn CEO Rachel Thomas points out that: “Women are not breaking up with work, they are breaking up with companies who are not delivering the work culture and the opportunity and the flexibility that’s so critically important to them”.

Women have made some strides to break the glass ceiling in recent years.  According to a 2014 report by Reuters, for the first time more than half of 4,000 corporations worldwide reported boards with 10 percent or more female members.  However, it is noted that for all the progress that’s been made, male CEOs and board members still vastly outnumber women. 

All in all, it appears that the pandemic has stalled the steady progression which promoted more and more qualified women to senior management and corporate board positions.  Most governments in the U.S. and Canada have made it clear that the current situation is still unacceptable.  At all levels of government, most have promoted women to leadership and judicial positions, cabinet portfolios, and have attempted to encourage more women to run for political office.  On the other hand, as one author noted, the inability to recruit and retain women in the corporate arena could be disastrous for businesses.  This is not hyperbole, especially when women now make up the majority of university grads and most plan to enter the labour force upon graduation.  Yes, frustration has set in and rightly so.  Paying lip service and tokenism are no longer an option!  At this time, what one has is only a crack in the glass ceiling!

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Oct 20

Elder Poverty Is Growing In Both The U.S. And Canada

by bcurry

Employer pensions are not what they used to be.  An analysis done back in 2016  found that just 99, or about 20%, of Fortune 500 companies offered a “defined benefit plan” to new salaried employees in 2015.  This was down from 104 companies, or nearly 21% in 2014, and a dramatic fall from a decade earlier in 2005, when 248, or just over 48% of Fortune 500 firms had such plans.  Defined benefit plans provided pensioners with specific annual amounts of funds from a company pension following their retirement.  Instead, most companies began to offer “defined contribution plans”, leaving it up to employees to invest for their retirement through various financial institutions.  In 2022, the U.S. Labor Department reported that while 72% of civilian workers had access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, only about 56% took part in one.  Many other Americans without company pension plans have been forced to invest in a 401(k) (today’s No. 1 retirement vehicle in the U.S.) or other kinds of retirement savings.  The problem is that less than half of working Americans have access to a 401(k) plan.  Many who have a 401(k) at work opt not to participate, and many who do contribute often don’t save enough.  On top of which, many seniors with 401(k) accounts were negatively hit by the Great Recession.  A whopping 36 percent of Americans have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.  As a result, Americans hitting retirement today frequently depend on Social Security as their only source of income, which wasn’t the program’s original intention as a supplemental plan.

In its annual retirement survey in 2007, the Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. revealed that many middle-aged and older adults have serious concerns about their financial security in retirement and are doing almost nothing to shore up their finances.  As a result, the survey indicated that many people plan to “continue working in some capacity while retired,” including one of every two workers in the U.S.  The number of elderly Americans living in poverty is on the increase, particularly following the impact on employment during the pandemic.  Those 65 or older usually weren’t eligible for as much pandemic relief as families with children, thus eating further into their savings.  By 2020, the figure for elderly Americans living in poverty had fallen to 9.5%.  However, in 2021, even as the poverty rate sank for everyone else, it rose among seniors to 10.7%.

In 2009, it was estimated that only about one-third of working Canadian adults have pensions, the majority of which are administered by funds that have taken substantial financial hits with large, unfunded liabilities.  As in the U.S., Canadian companies are relying more heavily on defined contribution plans to lower their human resource costs.  Many elder Canadians have come to rely on government programs such as the Canada Pension Plan (into which they have to pay premiums while working), along with Old Age Security and Income Supplement payments for lower income older individuals.  Although partially indexed to inflation rates, payments under such plans have fallen behind recent cost of living increases.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), although today’s share of elderly people officially below the poverty line in the U.S. is low by historical standards, it remains among the highest in the developed world, including Canada.  Furthermore, today’s hyperinflation is further cutting into the incomes of seniors in both countries.  In addition, with fewer workers accessing company retirement plans, there is an increasing concern that younger workers may not be saving enough for their future retirements.  Experience has shown that they cannot rely solely on social security payments to live comfortable and active retirement lives, without having to remain in or re-enter the labour force.  Both countries have a growing aging population, led by more and more boomers leaving employment to enter into retirement.  Given that elder poverty is on the increase, one has to question what will be their quality of life after retirement.  What we need today are longer-term solutions, and not small short-term “band-aid” increases in government pension schemes or random handouts.  What we don’t need are governments willing to reduce current high levels of fiscal debt on the backs of seniors.  Companies as well need to attract and retain workers with better funded retirement benefits. 

Moreover, how we treat the elderly is a societal issue!  It’s obvious that as a society, we are indeed at a crossroads when it comes to this important issue.  Given the financial circumstances of most millennials and generations Y and Z, one cannot expect that they will be in a meaningful position to help their parents financially.  Given the projected growth in the proportion of seniors falling on or below the poverty level, there is an immediate serious need for governments, communities and individuals to come to grips with the problem.

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Oct 14

When Compared to Americans, Canadians are still Naive about Extremist Groups

by bcurry

Finally, something very interesting is coming out of the House select committee investigating the January 6th 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol.  Ten days before the attack, a Secret Service field office relayed one tip sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warning that members of the far-right nationalist gang the Proud Boys planned to march, armed, into Washington DC.  For years, federal law enforcement agencies have sounded the alarm about rising threats of far-right violence in congressional testimony, in-depth reports and internal memos.  Months before 2020 presidential election, the FBI issued an intelligence report warning that far-right groups and white supremacists pose a “violent extremist threat” to the U.S. and the 2021 presidential inauguration, which could serve as a “potential flashpoint” for violence.  Even with all this available intelligence, largely because of Donald Trump’s continued provocation and resulting inaction, we know what tragically happened on that day.

Here in Canada, there is similar awareness among government agencies such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) who are at the forefront of Canada’s national security system.  For years, they have been aware of the activities of foreign and domestic extremist elements operating in Canada.  To be sure, there are linkages and interactions among several far-right groups and white supremacists between Canada and the U.S.  The Internet has simply made the constant communication among such groups all that easier.  This includes platforms and messaging apps like QAnon-hosting 8Kun, Parler, Gab and Telegram; and even such mainstream platforms like Facebook groups and on Instagram stories, Reddit, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.

Despite the evident surveillance of extremists by the RCMP and CSIS in Canada and constant communication with foreign security agencies, including the FBI and Secret Service, most Canadians continue to be unaware of their activities in the country.  The Trucker Convoy, which occupied Canada’s capital last winter for three weeks and set up blockades at U.S.-Canada borders, had several extremist elements behind its planning and illegal operations.  Taken somewhat by surprise, this forced the federal government to take the unprecedented action of invoking the Emergencies Act in order to help end the Trucker Convoy’s activities.  Authorities appeared to have been taken by surprise by the extent to which small groups could carry out such protests in a threatening way and even call for the overthrow and replacement of the current legitimate federal government.

Like in the U.S., Canada has seen a significant polarization of the political spectrum.  Right-wing extreme groups have latched onto Canada’s angry populism, especially during the COVID pandemic and the imposition of vaccine mandates and other restrictions by governments across the country.  In Canada, at the very least, consensus politics is becoming a thing of the past.  For some time, politicians have been blind to the new emerging reality while the liberal mainstream press remains arrogant and complacent.  Indeed, some politicians have even gone as far as to show their vocal support for so-called freedom movements, although they represent a tiny fraction of the overall population.  Governments have had to once again declare that the right to be heard does not include the breaking of laws and any promotion of violence.

For some time now, I have been highlighting the extent to which there have been radicalization movements in both countries.  For example, The Role of Conspiracy Theories in Radicalizing North American White Folk, Potential of Insurgency Grows Everyday in U.S. and Canada, Canada also has its own Right-wing Extremist Groups, Right-wing Extremism is a Growing Concern in North American Communities, and White Extremism in North America is very Worrisome and Dangerous.  As indicated in FBI and Secret Service documents and gathered intelligence prior to the January 6th Capitol assault, there are mounds of evidence regarding the continuing activities of extremist groups in the U.S.  One would hope that Canadian agencies and mainstream media are paying attention so that Canadians won’t be as naïve as they were prior to the Trucker Convoy last winter.

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Oct 9

Is National Legalization of Cannabis on the Horizon in the U.S.?

by bcurry

This past week, President Joe Biden pardoned thousands of Americans convicted of simple possession of marijuana.  What’s more interesting, Biden announced that he has instructed Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra and Attorney General Merrick Garland to begin reviewing how marijuana is classified under federal drug laws.  Marijuana, also referred to as pot or weed, is currently a Schedule 1 substance under federal drug sentencing guidelines, the same as heroin and LSD.

The President’s move could be a first step in moving toward the federal government’s legalization of marijuana use for recreational and other purposes.  The issue leads us back to the legalization of marijuana by the Canada’s federal government in October 2018.  At the time, the new law made Canada the second country in the world after Uruguay to legalize cannabis.  In addition, on the day cannabis became legal, the Canadian government announced that it would introduce new legislation allowing people charged in the past with “simple possession” to apply for a pardon with no fee or waiting period.  By 2018, recreational cannabis was also legal for adults in nine U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and 30 states had government-sanctioned medical cannabis programs.  Today,19 states have passed recreational cannabis laws.

In both countries, there have been far too many persons who have ended up in prison for the simple possession of pot.  According to one study, as many as 500,000 Canadians may possess a criminal record for cannabis possession.  Their convictions hamper their ability to travel (most notably to the U.S), apply for jobs and volunteer with charities.  By some reported estimates in the U.S., there are nearly 5,000 laws on the books which bar people with past convictions from most of the necessities of life like housing, loans, work, and access to government services.  In both countries, arrests for cannabis possession particularly affected marginalized groups, disproportionately impacting people of color and low-income communities. 

Measuring whether the legalization of pot increased its consumption in Canada is difficult to ascertain.  Prior to 2018, most recreational pot users would not have declared their illegal possession and use, except in cases of medical cannabis use.  However, a Statistics Canada study based on data from the National Cannabis Survey showed that the prevalence of cannabis use has been increasing since its legalization in October 2018.  In fact, cannabis use in the year before the survey increased among Canadians aged 15 and older, from 15% in 2017 to 21% in 2019, for both men (from 19% to 23%) and women (from 11% to 19%).  It is believed that increased social acceptance of cannabis, and the increased number of outlets and range of products available were among the factors thought to have led to increased consumption.  In addition, cannabis can now be added to foods and drinks.  There is also some speculation that the COVID pandemic may have contributed to increased cannabis consumption due to the associated social and economic upheavals it caused over the past two years.

With the legalization of cannabis, Canada also introduced numerous regulations concerning its sale, production and distribution.  The Cannabis Act created new criminal offences for the sale of cannabis to youth — with penalties of up to 14 years in prison.  It also prohibits “illicit” cannabis of unlicensed producers, sellers and distributors.  Much like tobacco and alcohol, government regulations for growing and selling cannabis include standards for labelling and packaging.  Every package must be plain, without additional imagery besides brand name and logo.  Packages must also include a standardized cannabis symbol, a health warning and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration levels.  The government also established the tax rate for cannabis, to be split by the federal and provincial governments.  Of course, the government wanted a cut of the lucrative legalized cannabis action.  So far, the regulated cannabis industry appears to be working well, ensuring the control, quality and safety of the product sold.

It may be useful for the U.S. to examine the impact of Canada’s legalization of cannabis as part of its planned review of marijuana’s classification under federal drug laws.  The federal government may also want to get into alignment with legalization actions already taken by 19 of its states.

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Sep 28

Prohibited ‘Assault-Style’ Weapons Have No Place in Canadian Society

by bcurry

On December 6, 1989, a man entered a mechanical engineering classroom at Montreal’s École Polytechnique armed with a semi-automatic weapon.  After separating the women from the men, he opened fire on the women while screaming, “You are all feminists.”  Fourteen young women were murdered, and 13 other people were seriously wounded.  The shooter then turned the gun on himself.  After the events of that tragic December, the Coalition for Gun Control was formed in Canada.  Their efforts contributed to the 1995 adoption of Bill C-68, the federal firearm control legislation.  Its stipulations included mandatory registration of all firearms and licensing for firearm owners; a national registry for all weapons; background checks; and verification processes and controls on ammunition sales.

On April 18–19, 2020, a gunman committed multiple shootings in the province of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people and injuring three others before he was shot and killed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).  Two assault-style weapons were used in shootings, although it appears that they were not legally acquired and the gunman was known to police.  Subsequently and effective immediately in May 2020, the federal government introduced legislation to ban a total of 1,500 assault-style firearms for use, sale, import or transport in Canada.  It includes a two-year amnesty period for current owners.  Eventually, there will also be a buyback program, but those details were still being worked out.

This September, in an obvious political move, the provincial government of Alberta announced steps to oppose federal firearms prohibition legislation and the potential seizure of thousands of assault-style weapons.  It intends to ask the RCMP not to take part in the confiscation of these weapons.  Alberta’s chief firearms officer proclaimed: “The planned confiscations represent a fatal approach to reducing violence in Canadian society and are unwarranted and unacceptable infringements on the property rights and personal freedoms of Albertans.”

A survey, conducted in May 2020 exclusively for Global News, found that 52 percent of Canadians polled, living in nine major centres, agree that all types of guns should be made illegal.  The polling was completed between March 24 and April 2, before the above noted mass shooting happened in Nova Scotia.  The poll by the Angus-Reid Institute showed about 80 percent of Canadians also support a ban on “assault weapons.”  Canada is not the only country to ban assault-style weapons.  In March 2019, New Zealand banned all military-style semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles after a deadly shooting killed more than 50 people. 

Interestingly, there is no constitutional right to bear arms as in the U.S.  Indeed, one can Make a case that it is a weak argument in Canada that the banning of such weapons is an infringement on someone’s rights and personal freedoms.  I would argue that, just as owning and driving a motor vehicle, owning a gun is a privilege requiring training in its use, registration and other prescribed requirements for licensed users as regulated by law.  Just as there are restrictions on the ownership and use of a motor vehicle and one’s driving license, so must there be restrictions on acquiring certain types of guns as a matter of public safety.  No one should be surprised that after the Nova Scotia shootings some sort of inevitable government gun control action would occur, especially as the vast majority of Canadians appear to be in support of such initiatives.  During the 2019 federal election campaign Prime Minister Justin Trudeau noted that: “These weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time”.

Although I do not own a gun, like many Canadians I believe strongly that the possession of either handguns or military-style semi-automatic weapons is not a fundamental right.  The fewer these weapons are around and accessible, the better off and safer we will all be.  One only has to look at the American tragic situation involving an increasing number of mass shootings using assault-style weapons every year, including those in schools, malls and workplaces.  Canada should do everything possible to avoid going down the same road!

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Sep 19

We Need to Adjust to Climate Change Now, Not Later

by bcurry

There are very few areas that aren’t affected by the consequences of climate change.  There are the number of extreme weather events that cause immediate damage and casualties, ranging from tornados and hurricanes to extreme heat and drought conditions.  Whether we can adjust to dealing with their consequences is a major question on many people’s minds, including mine.  Trying to slow up climate change appears to be a long-term goal.  This includes the introduction of new technologies to reduce the use of fossil fuels to heat and cool our homes, produce our electricity and transport people and goods.  Some refer to the increased interest in electric vehicles and renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and thermodynamics — all long-term in nature.  While this is all good and dandy, there appears to be a greater need for conservation and adjustment efforts on the part of all of us, especially in the short-term.

Increasingly, governments are being faced today with emerging issues resulting from the direct and indirect impacts on their citizens.  For example, it has been pointed out that Congress has helped cover Americans’ winter heating costs for decades.  But sweltering summers have made Americans’ energy bills soar, straining this key national safety net.  Under recent extreme heat events, Americans have died.  California has even recently introduced a new alert system designed to warn Californians of extreme heat forecasts.  In addition, these events place a great strain of the electricity infrastructure, forcing authorities to place embargos on the use of electricity, including that for air conditioning, during certain periods.  A significant proportion of the population, including the homeless, need to have access to cooling areas so as to avoid negative health impacts.  These health impacts in turn place a further burden on already strained health care facilities and emergency services.

The recent flooding of the Pearl River resulted in a temporary decrease in water production across the city of Jackson, the capital city of Mississippi.  According to state and local officials, the water system is failing.  Boil water alerts have become common place and can last for weeks.  Infrastructure from roads to water treatment is greatly in need of repair and many cases replacement.  During extreme heat events, roadways have even been known to buckle.  Bridges have been compromised and damaged due to flooding of local tributaries as a result of extreme rain events.  This in turn can cut communities off from emergency and support services, including access routes for supplies and people.  People are losing their homes.  Serious consideration must be given now to where homes are being constructed in known flood plains.

Of course, major droughts can lead to wildfires in many regions of the country, threatening towns, homes and agricultural lands.  Wildfires are unplanned and uncontrolled fires in natural areas, like forests and grasslands.  For example, the province of British Columbia (B.C.) has always experienced wildfires, but none as bad in recent years.  Evacuations of affected towns have become increasingly required.  One can’t forget the “out of control” wildfire that destroyed much of Lytton, B.C. during the summer of 2021.  Longer, hotter summers lead to more droughts and a longer wildfire season.  It is hoped that funding partnerships and community-led work, such as Firesmart, will reduce wildfire risks in B.C.  B.C. is also using climate information to set goals for resource management and to increase the resiliency of its forests.  Serious consideration must be given as to where homes are located in areas dominated by forests in particular, especially where access fire roads are few and far between.

In the area of conservation, there are a number of things that individuals and families can do.  For example, air conditioners (AC) and electric fans now account for about 10 % of electrical energy consumption all over the world.  Air conditioning can account for a whopping 60 to 70 percent of electrical power demand during peak hours.  Currently, there are companies that are in the process of developing new air conditioning technologies, thereby reducing the use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, which are greenhouse gases.  Hopefully, these ACs will become affordable and available in the near future.  Apparently, they could be two to three times more productive than the most common ACs on the current market.  In the meantime, people should now use their ACs in a restrained and sensible manner.

Cimate Change Climate Change Climate Change US

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Sep 16

Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis – Treating People Like Garbage

by bcurry

It’s an old phenomenon, municipalities with full landfills end up transporting their garbage — although always under contract — to other jurisdictions.  Such was the case years ago when Toronto decided to truck its garbage all the way to Michigan state.  After all, locally no one wanted a landfill in their backyard.  In very recent years, there have been examples of provinces or states doing the same thing, but this time with human beings.

In Canada, this happened when former Alberta premier Ralph Klein cut welfare rates in the 1990s and offered one-way bus tickets to welfare recipients to travel to sunny British Columbia (B.C.).  A similar incident occurred in 2016 in Saskatchewan when two young homeless First Nations men were each given one-way bus tickets by Social Services from North Battleford, Saskatchewan, to Vancouver and Victoria, B.C.  Needless-to-say, the B.C. provincial and municipal governments were not too happy about any other jurisdictions’ policies to simply dump people when their own support services were already under severe stress.

Now we have Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, whose administration flew, on Florida taxpayers dime, two planes of Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.  Apparently, they were not flown out of Florida but the flights actually originated in Texas.  Massachusetts of course is currently a Democratic-run state.  DeSantis said that Florida — not a sanctuary state — was sending migrants to Democrat-led states in response to their previous “virtue signaling” by declaring themselves sanctuary jurisdictions during former President Donald Trump’s years in office.  Around the same time, roughly 100 migrants aboard two buses sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, were dropped off in Washington, D.C. 

However, what about the impact on those migrants?  No one expected to land in Martha’s Vineyard, having reportedly been told they were going to Boston.  There is even some suggestion that, if the migrants were lured on to the plane under false pretences then it could have been illegal to do so.  Imagine, landing on a small offshore island with a population of about 20,000 people, an island accessible only by air and sea.  Obviously, the local authorities had few resources to care for these migrants.  As a result, Massachusetts authorities had to move the migrants voluntarily from Martha’s Vineyard to a military base in Cape Cod so they could find shelter and chart their next steps.  President Joe Biden responded, and rightly so, that the administration has a process in place to accommodate migrants at the border and Republicans shouldn’t interfere with such obvious “political stunts.”  The President further stated that “Republicans are playing politics with human beings, using them as props. What they’re doing is simply wrong.”

As in Canada, any influx of migrants is covered under federal laws and the federal jurisdiction should be responsible for enforcing those laws.  Canadian federal authorities are expected to coordinate settlement programs with the provinces, often funded by the federal government, that are designed to accommodate the arrival of and application by migrants or refugees as part of the process used to facilitate their landed status.  This process was used to deal with a significant number of migrants who entered Canada from the U.S. during the Trump administration, fearing their deportation in the U.S. back to their countries of origin at the time.

But what of the extreme confusion, disorientation and trepidation that such migrants must feel when they are suddenly transported to other jurisdictions without due process under the law or a clear awareness of the circumstances.  In the case of those Venezuelan migrants who had endured harsh and dangerous conditions to arrive in the U.S., one can only imagine how the Congressional Hispanic Caucus reacted.  Just as past inappropriate interjurisdictional policies were condemned in Canada, so must Americans condemn these inhumane policies which leave localities scrambling to secure resources in support of the normal needs of human beings.  I must say that I’m not surprised that Governors Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott stooped so low as to implement such inhumane policies in order to gain some sort of political brownie points.  After all, we’re not dealing with garbage here!

Canada Immigration Immigration Policies Refugee Policies Republican Party U.S. Canada Border US

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