Category: Brian Charlton

In these times we live in it is easy to fall into a pit of despair, of feeling overwhelmed. The goal of a society of equals living peaceably on a healthy planet seems to be drifting farther and farther out of our grasp. Thankfully there are those who see that it is not all doom and gloom. I have known George Lakey since 1998 when I took a ’Training for Change’ workshop from him in Sunshine Valley, east of Hope (it is true). He is one of my heroes, a person of heart, intelligence and vision and he has been in the struggle for over 70 years.

The Me Too movement has done tremendous work in a short time but, like a lot of movements, it has stood on the shoulders of those who came before. In most of the news stories and articles written about harassment in the workplace there is little acknowledgement of the hard practical work union women and their allies have done in their unions over the past 50 years. By ignoring that work we are also missing out on possible solutions to the problem.

The federal election has come and gone but the climate crisis continues on. Right wing politicians, closely allied with the fossil fuel industry, unhappy with the fact their boy Andrew Scheer is not the Prime Minister, are fanning the embers of Prairie resentment to build a separatist movement . This movement would include Alberta, Saskatchewan and in some permutations, Manitoba and parts of BC. It’s not really a separatist movement; it’s more of a pressure tactic to get Trudeau to kowtow even more to the goals of the Calgary Cabal of Climate Deniers and Greedy Oilmen. The Liberals buying a pipeline wasn’t enough for this group.