THIS WEEK ON OPEN SOURCES GUELPH… Sorry, this week on Open Sources Guelph, we’re going to walk softly and carry a sarcastic tone. Yes, we need to talk about Trump’s foreign policy, such as it is. We’re also going to talk about how it’s going with Doug Ford and Justin Trudeau on a pair of tricky portfolios. (Hint: It’s not going well.) And to wrap it up, we’re going to not get on the bus. Because in certain places in the country, there are no more buses.
This Thursday, July 26, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
“BE CAUTIOUS.” Not even a week after a “summit” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after which no substance of the conversation has was released, President Donald Trump thought it would be a great idea to issue an all-caps treat/tirade against Iran. Granted, he was responding to a poke from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, but it’s been Trump and the United States that have been taking aggressive actions against Iran by, in part, cancelling the nuclear deal. Of course, this outrage might have something to do with the fact that his “tremendous” North Korea deal has gone to putt. So what is the “Trump Doctrine” on foreign policy now?
Sex Ed Drive. We’re nearing the end of the first month of the Doug Ford era in Ontario, and it’s been a heck of a ride so far. The latest developments have seen the minister of community safety and correctional services, Michael Tibollo, get accused of being a racist, along with a series of fumbles and walk backs about the revised sex education section of the new health curriculum. In fact, the latest article from the Toronto Star notes that it’s six weeks before the start of school now, and teachers are still not sure what they’re teaching, and now hundreds are taking to the streets to protest the government’s reactionism. So where do we go on sex ed next?
Kinder-Barter. A deadline has come and gone, and there are no new buyers for the $4.5 billion Trans Mountain pipeline that the Federal government picked up from Kinder Morgan. That leaves the government on the hook for the full cost of developing a pipeline that they say is so vital to the national interest, but for which they can’t find an investor, and they’re getting serious backlash on it from their own supporters too. Meanwhile, protestors in Burnaby could be rousted any time now after defying an eviction order. So where do we go from here, and can the Liberals even convince themselves that this project can move ahead?
Bus-ted. Greyhound’s announcement that they are cancelling several routes through rural areas in Western Canada has been met with surprise and outrage. There’s wide spread concern for Indigenous women, who are themselves already a particular prey for predators along Canada’s byways. There’s also concern for victims of domestic violence, for whom a bus ticket is the quickest, cheapest form of escape. And there’s concern for the poor, for students, for seniors, and anyone else that relies on public transportation. Is there anything though that the governments of Canada, provincially and federally, can do?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.
Open Sources Guelph 