On Open Sources Guelph this week, we’ll continue our ongoing coverage of the slow decline of western civilization. In the U.K., Brexit comes to a full boil, and in the U.S., the Russian investigation goes back on the front burner as the President, somehow, looks dirtier. Here in Canada there’s not much more to be proud of. Justin Trudeau shuffled his cabinet, but is he really just shuffling deck chairs on a sinking ship, even while his Reconciliation dreams become a new nightmare? Oh, the pain!
This Thursday, January 17 at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Brexiting is Hard to Do. Unable to escape her fate any longer, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May finally brought the Brexit deal to a vote on Tuesday night after one last appeal to convince even members of her own party that this is the deal, and it’s not getting any better. On the other hand, it can get a heck of a lot worse. As of this writing, all signs point to things getting worse, but how worse is worse? Are we looking at a “No-deal Brexit”? A new referendum? A new general election? May’s resignation? Jeremy Corbyn’s ascension? The possibilities are many, and there’s no certainty about what happens next. So what happens next?
The Art of the Conceal. With the U.S. Government shutdown ongoing, two bombshell reports last weekend put the spotlight back on the Russian investigation, and suspected ties between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s head super-villain Vladimir Putin. The New York Times reported that the FBI opened an investigation into Trump after he fired FBI director Jim Comey, predating the so-called “witch hunt” by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller III. The Washington Post then reported that Trump seized the notes of the American interpreter after meeting Putin in Helsinki in 2017. So what do we know now on this Trump and Russia thing?
Shuffle the Deck. With the sudden resignation from Scott Brison from cabinet, a simple vacancy became a full shuffle with new ministers in some very key portfolios. Jody Wilson-Raybould is out as minister of justice, and replaced by first-time cabinet minister David Lametti. Wilson is taking over Veterans Affairs from Seamus O’Regan, who’s now, improbably, the Minister of Indigenous Services. There are a lot of questions about why there’s this big shake-up just to replace the Treasury Board president. Meanwhile, Justin Trudeau has finally allowed for Jagmeet Singh to try and get a seat in the House, but is it too late for Singh to help his party?
Un-reconciliation. First Nations protests on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory last week showed that there’s still a long way to go in terms of achieving Truth and Reconciliation. The protests, and the RCMP reaction to the protests, got nationwide attention, and created nationwide solidarity protests as nation-to-nation relations were strained to the breaking point, even as we’re supposed to be doing better on both respecting Indigenous rights, and improving stewardship of the environment. Do the events at Wet’suwet’en set back relations with First Nations, and how to we get back to the road to Reconciliation?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.
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