In 2003, Stephen Harper, then the leader of the Canadian Alliance, and Peter MacKay, the Progressive Conservatives’ leader, shook hands to celebrate the merger of their two right-leaning parties. That handshake, political commentator Chantal Hébert argues, changed the Canadian political landscape more than any other event of the decade.
Author: Theo Meyer
McGill student group organizes to raise funding for Wikipedia
Students Supporting Wikipedia, a new McGill club, officially received its interim club status on January 21. The group aims to raise money for the Wikipedia Foundation, and offer contributions to the popular web-based encyclopaedia. The young club currently consists of five executives and eight official members.
U of T prof discusses AIDS
Despite the heavy snowfall outside, students and professors showed up last Friday to hear Antoinette Handley discuss how the AIDS epidemic has shaped the moral and political economy in South Africa. Handley, a political scientist at the University of Toronto, is well-known for her research on the subject.
As more students opt out, campus groups face budget shortfalls
Last Thursday concluded the Winter 2010 student fee opt-out period, which had begun two weeks earlier on January 14, and the current academic year has seen the highest level of opt-outs ever. Each semester McGill gives students a two-week window during which they can, through the online Minerva service, opt out of several fees that support Students’ Society and faculty association groups and funds, as well as a pair of independent student groups: the McGill chapter of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) and Radio CKUT.
Toilet seats causing irritation
Research led by the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center confirms that diagnoses of “poop” dermatitis, formally known as allergic/irritant contact dermatitis, has recently made a comeback in pediatricians’ offices worldwide. This skin condition is characterized by skin irritations found on the buttocks and upper-thigh regions and is caused by substances found within the toilet seat.
Post-Graduate Students’ Society holds second-annual Green Month
The Post-Graduate Students’ Society recently wrapped up its second-annual Green Month. The PGSS environmental committee spearheaded the series of events, which were held throughout the month of January. “Green Month is a month that is dedicated to everything that is sustainable and focussed on environmental issues,” said Cynthia Nei, environment commissioner for the PGSS.
PIÑATA DIPLOMACY: Middle-class guilt
Social organization, for all its clumsiness and evil, has accomplished far more and embodies more good than I do, for at least it sometimes gives justice. I am a mess, and talk about justice. I owe the powers that created me a human life. And where is it! Where is that human life which is my only excuse for surviving! – Saul Bellow, Herzog I live in the Global North.
OFF THE BOARD: Trouble down under
Viewers of x-rated films should be able to appreciate the pornographic prowess of men and women of all shapes and sizes as they please, free from fear of censorship. It seems, to me at least, that this is the objective of porn. But members of the Australian Classification Board, however, disagree.
McGill Model United Nations conference celebrates twenty years
This past week, McGill hosted the 20th annual McGill Model United Nations conference, a series of simulations where delegates debate and draft proposals to deal with past, present, and future international issues. The four-day event opened with Canadian Member of Parliament and McGill alumnus Justin Trudeau’s keynote address, in which he encouraged students to be politically involved.
Follow the butterflies: A monarch migration under threat
Monarch butterflies are currently at their lowest population on record, according to recent data from the World Wildlife Fund Mexico. The current colony size is 1.92 hectares, down from the previous low of 2.19 hectares in 2004 and far down from the recorded high of 21.
