By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive:

Oh, crap! The looming NDP-Liberal battle to replace Stephen Harper and the Conservatives in 2015 is only a family feud. Soon-to-be Liberal leader, Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair, the leader of the New Democrats, are distant cousins, according to Ancestry.ca.

Their connection goes back 400 years to Mathieu Amiot and Marie Miville, their shared eighth great-grandparents.

By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive:

According to a list recently obtained by the Alberta Federation of Labour, the Royal Bank of Canada, (RBC) is one the thousands of Canadian employers fingered in the unraveling Temporary Foreign Worker scandal.  The document shows that scandals at RBC and other high-profile employers are “just the tip of the iceberg.:

In the following “open letter to Canadians“, the RBC’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Gord Nixon, plays victim, apologizes, tells us his bank was/is “compliant with the regulations”.

Then he wants you all to know that “The question for many people is not about doing only what the rules require – it’s about doing what employees, clients, shareholders and Canadians expect of RBC. And that’s something we take very much to heart.”

By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive:

Canada ranks 17th out of 29 wealthy countries when it comes to tackling child poverty, obesity and related well-being issues, says a new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN children’s agency.  The Innocenti Report Card 11 by UNICEF’s Research Office also reveals that the Canada performance hasn’t improved over the last decade.

The Netherlands is ranked first, followed by Norway and Iceland.

By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: 

A new national coalition against TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline launched in the U.S. on Monday with a cutting-edge TV ad. The All Risk, No Reward Coalition seeks to debunk Big Oil’s propaganda about jobs and related benefits. The coalition argues that “the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is all risk, and no reward”, and urges President Barack Obama to reject it.

As I’ve blogged before, Canada’s tar sands cannot enhance U.S. energy security. There will be a lot more costly pipeline ruptures and oil spills if Keystone XL is allowed to proceed. The pipeline – and  Alberta tar sands - would nuke America’s new energy economy. In fact, the Keystone pipeline would create no more than 35 permanent jobs.

By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: 

Last week, the Associated Press ditched the demeaning and exclusionary term “illegal immigrant”. Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who outed himself as an undocumented immigrant in 2011, responded with: “It was inevitable. It was just a matter of time.”

The New York Times called the AP decision “bold” and announced that it, too, is now reconsidering the term. That’s according to Margaret Sullivan, the Times’ public editor.

Surely this progressive step by the AP should enlighten Canada’s mainstream media, the Canadian Border Services Agency and immigrant-bashing Conservative politicians such as Jason Kenney. It should make them “see” that recent non-European immigrants are as human as European immigrants and their immigrant ancestors?

By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: 

Photo: Favianna Rodriguez

The Associated Press has – declared that all human beings are equal by ditching the demeaning term “illegal immigrant” from its famed Stylebook for journalistic style and grammar. Stories by the organization will no longer refer to people living in a country without proper documentation as  ”illegal immigrants.” AP journalists will now refer to them as people who “entered a country without permission” or “living in a country illegally”.

By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: 

Apparently, Isabelle Lapointe no longer works for her lover, Harper-appointed Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu. Man, that was lightning fast. Brutal too, I suppose. Exactly eight days since various media reported the office romance around March 5.

By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: 

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Monday imposed a no-fly zone over the site of the ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline disaster in Mayflower, Arkansas. ExxonMobil’s Pegasus tar sands oil pipeline ruptured last Friday and spilled more than 318,000 litres of tar sands oil into a local neighborhood, drainage system and lake.

22 homes had to be evacuated.

The restriction will remain in place “until further notice”, according to this FAA website posting.

By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: 

Yet another warning of the disasters Canadians and Americans would be forced to endure regularly if President Obama approves TransCanada Corp’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: 

A new study from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Wilderness Committee calls for a radical rethink of British Columbia’s waste management policies. It argues that recycling can’t solve the province’s pollution problems and calls for a postconsumerist model of zero waste.