Briarpatch articles from February 1999

Briarpatch archives from February 1999

Revolution on two wheels (bicycles used for alternative delivery service).
February 1, 1999... Bicycle cargo delivery. "Powered by digestion, not combustion." That, quips cycling ad vocate Steve Balyi, is the concept behind BikeCartAge, a green delivery service he recently unveiled in Victoria, B.C. Inspired by the 1997 Kyoto...

Big rip-off: Paul Martin plunders the UI coffers.
February 1, 1999... A recent report in the Blobe and Mail suggests Finance Minister Paul Martin is hurt by the growing public perception that the Chretien government has been stealing money from the unemployment insurance fund. Had Canadians known the Minister...

Civic poltics in Winnipeg: Glen Murray's sexual orientation was a minor debate in the race for mayor.
February 1, 1999... If you are reading this within Winnipeg, you will know the city bucked a 50-year trend of conservative mayors on October 28, and elected a three-term city councillor with a track record of community support and achievement as its new mayor. ...

Alexa's retreat: the federal NDP bows down before the enemy it used to plege itself to replace or at least to resist.
February 1, 1999... Why have so many social democrats and former socialists been so eager to declare themselves unable to stand up to "market forces" and a supposedly irresistible global economy? Instead they tell us that capitalism, because of its overwhelming...

Green politics: an interview with Joan Russow, leader of the Green Party of Canada.
February 1, 1999... Briarpatch: What are the beginnings of Green political parties in various parts of the world and how and why did Green politics emerge? Joan Russow: Green Parties emerged very directly out of the activist movements in the sixties and...

Labour deserves break today ... at McDonald's.
February 1, 1999... Squamish is a strong union town. Nestled in the snow-capped mountains of the coastal chain, it has long been the home of lumbermen, mill, and railroad employees, veterans of the early struggles to form unions in British Columbia. Squamish may...

Factory of the future: GM's Delphi sell-off is just the latest battle in the war to restructure the auto industry.
February 1, 1999... GM's decision to sell off its vast Delphi Automotive Systems unit by the middle of this year poses a serious and imminent threat to more than 50,000 UAW members employed by Delphi. GM's decision also sets the stage for an especially difficult...

MAI inquiry: mobilizing communities to talk about the impact of and alternatives to the MAI.
February 1, 1999... One of the most important people's victories of 1998 was the derailing of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). This came about because of a massive organizing drive by the citizen's movement across Canada, linked to similar social...

Undeclared war: an interview with James Laxer.
February 1, 1999... Once upon a time, there existed a thing called class conflict. Today, the concept of "class" has become the equivalent of a four-letter word, something to be avoided. "It is easier to talk about kinky sex in North America than it is to...

Patterns in the past: viewing history from the Hawaii Hilton, overlooking Normandy Beach.
February 1, 1999... Last year's Remembrance Day (the irony of the name will shortly become apparent) was dominated by distraught pundits reacting to the shocking fact that a survey (that staple of public discourse) had just exposed Canadians' abysmal ignorance of...

Taking up the challenge: Europe's new movement for worktime reduction.
February 1, 1999... It sometimes feels like there's a choice between having a job and having a life. Staggering levels of unemployment and under-employment persist in Canada. Yet in the first four months of 1997 almost two million workers put in overtime hours and...

New Brigadistas: from street kids to international cultural ambassadors.
February 1, 1999... The Lights of the Future strut on stage one by one in their cream-coloured jeans, chocolate-coloured shirts and fancy running shoes - nine boys and one girl. They might have been a bit more nervous had it not been their 30th gig in five weeks....

Pepper spray can be lethal.
February 1, 1999... Now that Prime Minister Chretien has intimated that pepper spray is a safe way of dealing with crowd control, let's look at the facts. Pepper spray is oleoresin capsicum. It is an irritant based on extracts from chile peppers. As a plant...