Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday July 5, 2017

Welcome back for the summer session! Open Sources Guelph rolls on this week, adequately rested after a long weekend to talk about the latest political stuffs. For instance, did you know that the Liberal government in B.C. fell last week? The NDP/Green coalition is now put to the test as their relationship has to go from theoretical to practical, and we’ll talk about threading that needle. Also hoping for a rise in Green power in Ontario, is our guest this week Mike Schreiner, and we’ll have lots to talk about with him. And in our outrage of the week, a group calling themselves the “Proud Boys” don’t give us a lot of reasons to be proud.

This Thursday, July 5, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

1) Horgan’s Heroes. Tried as she might to delay the inevitable, Christy Clark had to cede that the time had come for the B.C. Liberals to call it a day and let the NDP/Green coalition give governance a whirl. Presently, John Horgan is putting together his team, and there should be a cabinet announcement soon, but what are the implications going forward? The NDP made a lot of promises to the Green Party, and that will have some serious implications on relations with the federal government and neighbouring NDP-governed Alberta when it comes to pipelines. Will the coalition work out for the long haul? And what of the Liberals, what does the future hold for them after their cynical attempt to hold on to power?

2) Not So Proud, Boys. Accompanying celebrations of Canada’s 150th birthday this past weekend, were protests by Canada’s First Nations people, some of whom saw the anniversary as a commemoration of how they had their land and culture stolen. One such protest in Halifax near a statue of Edward Cornwallis was interrupted by a bunch of white guys that didn’t like the oppressed stepping on their patriarchy (or something). These were the Proud Boys, a “fraternal organization of Western Chauvinists who will no longer apologize for creating the modern world,” and while these organizations have been growing in strength and visibility, it’s not everyday that six active service members of the Canadian navy are caught amongst their ranks. We’ll shed some light on this controversy.

3) Everything’s Schreiner. In a nice compliment to our first topic (it’s nice when things work out weeks in advanced), we welcome back to the show the Green Party of Ontario leader and prospective Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner. At the end of the month, Guelph Greens will decide whether to endorse Schreiner’s nomination to run for the riding, a decision that will likely come back in the affirmative, but Scheiner’s got his eyes on the bigger game. We’ll talk to the GPO leader about whether or not the Greens have a shot at tipping the balance of power in Ontario, and we’ll discuss the last year at Queen’s Park, recent environmental concerns and why Schreiner recently came out to city council to talk about “woornerfs” (and what is a woonerf?).