On this week’s episode of Open Sources Guelph, we have concerns. Can the House of Commons be reformed into something a little bit more functional? Have race relations in the United States reached a breaking point? Will a corporation be held responsible for its own short-sightedness? Will Greece survive (financially)? And is there a new threat by money to our democracy, one that will be very familiar by fans of The Colbert Report? Those are the questions, but will we have any good answers? The answer is ‘Yes.’ At least there’s a good chance….
This Thursday, June 25, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
1) I Love that Word, REFORM! Just under the wire before they rose for the summer, the senate passed the Reform Act, a bill that was the brain child of Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong to make party caucuses more democratic and transparent. Despite the lofty ambitions of the Reform Act, it was not a smooth course from private members bill to law, including an attempt by the senate itself to kill if before letting it come to a vote. Michael Chong will join us by phone to talk about his experience getting the bill passed, and what good he hopes will come of it.
2) Flags of our Falters. The rampage of Dylann Roof and the shooting of 10 people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. has re-opened the debate about the prevalence of the Confederate flag. Might this tragedy finally be the catalyst for the American South to abandon this 150 year-old symbol of intolerance and slavery? And how will President Barack Obama’s prominent use of the N-word affect the impact the discussion on race relations in America?
3) Charges for Tragedy in Lac-Mégantic. Nearly two years after the devastating train accident in Lac-Mégantic, PQ, charges have finally been laid against six people from Montreal Maine & Atlantic Canada Co. and Montreal Maine & Atlantic Canada Railway Ltd. alleging negligence in the cause of the inferno that killed 47 people in the small Quebec town. The government indicates that this may not be the end of the charges, but have companies like MM&A learned their lesson?
4) Grexit Through the Gift Shop. Days away from running out of money, Greece desperately needs the next influx of bailout cash from the other Eurozone countries, but negotiations with those other countries who are part of the EU have stalled, and now Greece teeters on the of expulsion from the union, which is also known as “Grexit.” Is there hope that Greece may be saved fiscally, or is the country doomed to sink under the weight of its impossible debt load?
5) PAC-Man. A political action committee called Harper PAC enter the conversation this week. Credited as “a group of concerned Canadians looking to fight back against the flood of big union money that has been earmarked to take down the Harper government,” it seems like the dirty politics of big money that’s poisoning the process south of the border has now made its way to Canada. How concerned should we be about PACs shaping our politics in this coming election?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.
Open Sources Guelph 