In another very busy news week, the issues run the gambit from the superfluous to the super serious. The Supreme Court opened up the rights of Canadians further in what might be its most contentious decision since it upheld the rights of same sex couple to marry. From there the discussion turns to political betrayal, media betrayal and the latest from a forgotten war zone. Just another week on Open Sources Guelph.
This Thursday, February 12, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz McWhinnie and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
1) The Right to Die – Won. In a surprisingly unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Canada voted to open the door for terminally-ill Canadians to get the assistance of a physician to end their lives. The nine justices gave the federal and provincial governments a year to work out the legal logistics, but will the Federal government have the desire to tackle such a contentious and morally complex social issue during an election year? If you remember the development of the Federal government’s prostitution legislation, which followed in the wake of another Supreme Court decision, then you may already know the answer.
2) All About Eve. Just minutes before the Harper government was the announce a cabinet shuffle, the Liberals stole the news day by announcing that embattled Conservative MP Eve Adams was crossing the floor and going Grit. Adams was embroiled in a messy Conservative nomination fight last year, and reportedly the party told her that she would not be allowed to run for the Conservatives at all in 2015. So is this a cynical play by Adams, or is she genuinely sick of the top down control freakiness of Stephen Harper and the Tories?
3) Anchors Behaving Badly. Brian Williams was suspended for six months as the anchor and managing editor of the NBC Nightly News after a week of rumor, scandal and media navel gazing, but there are still a lot of questions about how and why he was allowed to embellish a story about being on a chopper shot down during the opening days of the Iraq War. At the same time, Leslie Roberts of Global News had to resign when it was revealed he was a co-owner of a PR firm, and CBC’s Amanda Lang’s been accused of burying a story about RBC after taking a speaking fee from them. What is it with network anchors now? Has cult of personality and celebrity overwhelmed integrity and objectivity?
4) Anarchy in the Ukraine? It looks like an emergency summit between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany has shown promise in ratcheting down the violence that flared up once again in the Eastern Ukraine this month. A ceasefire will go into effect on Saturday, but will it be enough to calm tensions in the region, especially since all important issues of autonomy for Ukraine and the separatist desire for independence are still outstanding? And can Russia be trusted to uphold any deal when they’re still not even admitting that they’re giving Russian separatists in the Ukraine military assistance? We’ll shed some light on the latest developments.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.
Open Sources Guelph 