Category Archives: CBC

Pipeline Days of Action – Day One

Posted on by
Reply

Today is the first day of actions against the Keystone XL Pipeline (which would transport oil from Alberta to Texas). It’s expected that 1,500-2,000 will gather at the White House over the next weeks (August 20 – September 3); they’re asking that President Obama refuse to approve the deal. (Read more about what they’re asking for at 24 Hours From Jail by Bill McKibbon.)

Yes, it’s a long shot. (I can’t believe I’m still protesting this stuff.) Yes, it impacts me. (I live, work and breathe in Alberta.) Yes, we need to develop better alternatives to oil and be willing to use them. (Not all of us want to be martyrs for the cause.) es, I think that standing up and saying “not in my name” is one of the most empowering things a person can do. (How else does change happen?)

There’s a lot of great information about the pipeline and its impact – try Yes! Magazine’s continuing coverage, for example, or this article from TruthOut – and pictures from the protests are being posted at the flickr stream. Also, you can vote in today’s CBC’s poll – Are you in favour of the oilsands pipeline?.

(Political and Transportational) Choices

Posted on by
Reply

I’ll admit it – I have a political crush on NDPer Megan Leslie (who’s running for re-election in Halifax). Why? 

  • She was voted “Rookie MP of the Year” in 2009.
  • When she spoke on Bill C-449 (giving seniors free access to transit in off-peak hours) she talked about the impact of free transit (“Free transit would greatly increase the quality of life by removing the terrible choice between rent, food, or heat and bus tickets.”) and called for the development of a National Transit Strategy for Canada.
  • She’s had some great clips recently on CBC because of her role as NDP spokesperson on health.

But, most of all, she’s running a carbon-neutral campaign that includes transit, cycling and carsharing. It’s nice to see someone who actually gets it – how we do the work matters as much as the work we’re doing. I look forward to the day when this is the norm, not the exception. Until then, I’ll work on convincing people that I’m not a saint just because I use Calgary Transit to get to work-related events, ok? (I’ll point out the other reasons instead, hehe.)


**Bonus points for her reference of climate-change discussions in this election campaign as an “issue of inter-generational equity” because, really, isn’t it?

(Cross-posted at Zero-Fare Canada who kindly invited me to post with them. Go check them out!)

CBC News Investigates: Your Charity Dollars (and mine)

Posted on by
Reply

I  just finished reading “Charities paid $762M to private fundraisers” (A CBC News Investigates piece) and I have to say, I’m incredibly disappointed. Why?

1. Numbers, numbers, numbers. We’re talking about a small number of charities: 651 of 85,0000. That’s 0.008% – less than 1% – of the charities in Canada. We’re talking about a small amount of money: $762 million out of $8.2 billion. That’s 9.29% – less than 10% – of the money raised by charities.That’s not what comes across; instead, the reaction in the comments is “Well, I’ll never donate to charity again.” There’s a lot of great charities who are going to have an even harder time fundraising now.
 
2. “The beatings will continue until morale improves.” Those of us working in charities – both paid and unpaid (and yes, I do both) – put our hearts into this work. We get there early or stay late (or both). We work evenings, weekends and holidays. We spend our time advocating and educating about social change. Sensational reporting doesn’t help get the job done, it makes the job harder.

3. They completely missed the big question: Why are charities having to focus so much on donations? Could it be because governments are downloading service expectations onto charities and then cutting the funding? What about the role that private foundations play in helping wealthy donors avoid paying taxes, which leads to those funding cuts? What about grants that don’t allow for admin costs, which means the staff have to be paid from other sources, or grants that are only open to “new” projects? How did the change from program to project based funding impact these factors? All of these impact far more than the 0.008% of charities using professional fundraisers.

I’m not going to stop donating to charities (obviously). I do my research and know which ones do good work (and which don’t).. I wish the CBC had thought about the long-term impacts before doing such a hatchet job on the charitable sector in Canada, because the work is only going to get harder from here.