A Pattern I generated using Photoshop

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Conservatives interfering in Campus Affairs

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TORONTO, July 6 /CNW/ - Emails secured through a recent Freedom of

Information request revealed that Conservative MP Peter Kent, MPP Peter

Shurman, and senior York University administrators were interfering in this

year's general elections of the York Federation of Students (YFS). During the

elections, Robert Tiffin, York University's Vice-President Students, warned

the students' union not to disqualify candidates who were caught violating the

elections rules because the University and members of Parliament "were

watching the election closely." MP Peter Kent was later found to have assigned

a key staff member to intervene in the election on behalf of a team of

candidates. Both politicians appeared to ask if York would throw out the

results, despite no evidence of wrongdoing or any authority to do so.

    "The student elections were run in a fair and democratic manner and in

accordance with our bylaws," said Krisna Saravanamuttu, President of the York

Federation of Students. "The York Administration and members of the

Conservative Party have no right or authority to interfere in the elections of

the students' union simply because they disagree with student criticisms of

their policies."

    Campus students' unions, like the York Federation of Students, are

autonomous non-profit corporations that are run by and for students and which

are independent of their campus administrations. Students' unions exist to

provide services for students and a voice for students to lobby

decision-makers on issues that affect them.

    "The York Federation of Students is accountable only to the 44,000

undergraduate students at York University and the Ontario courts," said

Saravanamuttu. "University administrators and Conservative politicians

interfering in student elections is like an employer attempting to select

union representatives. Their objective in silencing opposition is quite

obvious here."

    The emails uncovered through an access to information request revealed

persistent inquires from key political staff on behalf of Conservative MPP

Shurman and MP Kent about the results of the York student elections and are

part of a growing body of evidence that the federal and provincial

Conservative Parties are attempting to undermine democratic student

decision-making. Earlier this year, Conservative MP Peter Braid was secretly

recorded addressing students in Waterloo as part of a day-long workshop

designed to counsel Conservative students on how to set up front groups on

campuses to siphon away money intended for student activities in order to

advance the Party's agenda under false pretenses.

    "Students have the democratic right to choose their own representatives

without the university administration and the Conservative Party

interference," says Saravanamuttu. "I think tax-payers would be pretty shocked

to learn that their money is being used in this way."

I have copy and pasted this news release from an email I received directly from YFS.

Life is Bigger than I

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At the masquerade, it was all the rage,
the challenger shuttle blew up, the why
why why?
scuttle butts tussled the mettle of onlookers
tempermental gusts
of wind, when trust in science leads
us astray, that's my word,
as an ethos rather than a practice
butted out in the neighbour's ashtray
and that's why he's always
asking you to come over to his house
because no one on this
godforsaken lot
would have that
over a shaken
popcorn bag at midnight
over a holiday, hold the mustard
gas avenue blistered
by the might of the sun, try as he might
just to break the sound barrier
vaporized at 26 thousand feet
it's not such a bad way to go
actually painless and instant
but what has this poet to say of the matter?

let's move beyond the solipse
where the we displaces the he/she
but a lapse of judgement
that would be such a trap of inducement
do the cement case drop
eclipse the they that thought the loose polenta
out of its sheath the medicaments
of destiny
no longer overloaded
weird sisters intone their magnetic
lode-stone talk into
wisps of smoke
human bone-carved needles,
murder evidence
wisps of hope
a magenta highway
above the jetstream
no cloud is touchin' me

let's move past the solipse
do class to death or at least
until the hole rips
an old ship with holes
has more chance to skip
across this ocean
of words, a tsunami above you
and they are all
about to crush you to a pulp

in the wishing well of lost tears
the penny metal is sharp
and it tears into flesh
memories of enforced narration
tarp letting leak streams of water
shards of copper lodged in skin deep
and miles away from a hospital
win lose or draw the sheeps wool
into the loom, wu-wei damages assessed
all these rules addressed,
questioned and put to rest
but no one can wait to push the reset
lest the loss of info irretrievable
data replace emotion, unbelievable
mess. it leased stress rather than leads
to stress, stress on the chest
oppressive weight,

crush us to a pulp.
it could happen anytime.
life is bigger than me, man.
life is better than just me, man.

Thank You!

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Thank you to my readers: the best readers on the internet! It's been a while since I've done this, so let me remind you to click the google ads occasionally. It only takes a few seconds, and gives me a few pennies to compensate me for the work I put into this blog. I would like to salute my readers in Toronto in particular: it is a welcome change that most of my readers are now from the city where I live!

Daffodil

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The Close Call

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So there were two people on the hill. A man and a woman. The man looked about ready to grab the woman's arm in a gesture of desire. But the navy blue dress she wore spilled out on the floor like a bloody puddle, and it was the same colour that backgrounded the blue-eyed interrogation room. A dove crashed into the double-sided glass. But the hill was burnt, see. It was burnt to a crisp. It hid all entities in its worm-holes, evacuated. There were people flying acrobatic kites and drawing geometry in the sky. I figure there was already geometry in the sky, but you know, I didn't think about it 'til I seen them kites there. But settle down, I'm tryin' a tell you a story. And all the memories of the people on the hill, they all butted proverbial heads, and all kinds of interference patterns emerged into their shared web of experience. Waves cancel out waves and such.

The desiring man walked down the hill, and if I was there, I might have heard him say to her, and trust, this is what I imagine is consistent with his character, and not what he said, because I wasn't there, after all. He might have said "there's a tree I know in this park; I've seen it once about four years ago when I was here" water splashes out of statuary turtles, into fountains, grace "and this tree is hollow" wind picks up vinyl kite in acceleration followed by upswings in voice volume, flapping "It was eaten out by a fungus, which symbiotically helped it deal better with wind in storms."

Indeed, its leaves were green, but you could crawl right in it. He set out down the bike path snaking down the back of the hill. Twenty minutes later, we smoked a cigarette inside this self-same tree. Almost burned it right down.

Ontario's Toxin Reduction Act and Blue Green Canada

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The United Steelworkers have partnered with the organization Environmental Defence to help initiate Ontario's Toxin Reduction Act, the first of its kind in Canada. The act provides incentives for municipalities looking to reduce their ecological footprints, specifically with regards to sewage, as well as providing lists of safer alternatives to companies that handle toxic chemicals.

As well, the Act requires that businesses employing at least ten people and handling at least 10, 000 kg of specified substances implement stringent measures to track the movement of these substances through the production, and distribution cycle. Companies are asked to come up with pollution prevention programs.

The two organizations have banded together in an initiative called Blue Green Canada, a combination of the previous "blue-collar" jobs with the new "green-collar" sector of the economy. The initiative seeks to create jobs, and both organizations argue that this Act will create green jobs to implement its various measures. They also laud the Act as a good protective measure of human health in the workplace.

While some of the measures instituted by the Act are voluntary, it follows on the heels of similar legislation passed in Massachusetts, which has reported successful results. There is also the potential here for partnerships between Blue Green and the post-secondary sector in order to place recent BSc graduates who might have sufficient expertise in neutralizing the threats of certain toxins or skirting the use of toxic substances altogether. The government could provide further incentives to reduce people's exposure to toxins and mitigate pollution by earmarking research funds for projects that specifically aim to develop non-toxic alternatives to the use of toxins, specifically with regards to chemistry and biology.

This novel initiative shows that unions are heeding the rapid changes in the economy and taking steps not only to protect current workers but to proactively create work, rather than clinging to older models of production.