Conservative crime agenda moves forward

I have a new story on the national page of Xtra.ca today, which is actually something I wrote a couple of weeks ago, but wasn't slated to go up until today. It's an issue I've been following for a while, and I was happy to get a chance to talk to Senator Cowan for this piece. And no doubt I'll be following the developments once the House comes back.

Canada steps up for gay people at UN

I have a new piece up on the national page of Xtra.ca today, which is the latest development in the ongoing story of the votes at the UN on the resolution around summary, extrajudicial and arbitrary executions. This was largely a reaction piece from the Canadian perspective, and I was glad to be able to put Senator Nancy Ruth's statement in the Senate into wider circulation, but what didn't make it into the final version were Bob Rae's comments in reaction to the vote, so I'll include those below:

Great news. This is an important step in the growing movement around the world to provide for full equality and real security for the LGBTQ community. It's a campaign that will take time and persistence, but it will prevail.

How Parliament Failed CAMR + Thoughts From the Hill - December/January Edition

The December/January issue of Outlooks magazine is now out, and I have two pieces in it. The first is an editorial based on my experience following the two bills and various debates on trying to reform the Canada's Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) legislation, and some of the frustrating aspects of watching the drama play out and everything that could go wrong with it happening, while MPs of all stripes were content to accuse one another of sabotaging things. I can't say that I'm happy with one of the captions, which seemed to belittle a group despite a point I was trying to make, but this is the way it goes sometimes. The second piece was, of course, my monthly panel, and it was an interesting question to ask, and as per usual, I got some pretty interesting responses.

The CAMR editorial is on page 19, while the panel is on page 22.

Siksay to retire from federal politics

I have a new story up on the national page of Xtra.ca, which was my sit-down interview with NDP MP Bill Siksay on his decision not to run again in the next election. We had a lengthy conversation, and a couple of things didn't make it into the final piece, which were largely around his peace activism and what this decision means for his personal life, given that he'll actually be home with his partner rather than on the road five or six days a week. And while the formal interview was fifteen minutes, we had a good hour-long conversation in the end. Siksay has been a great MP to cover, and I'll miss him when he does leave after the next election (whenever that may be).

Toronto AIDS drug protest gets attention in Ottawa

I have a new story up on the national page of Xtra.ca today, which is the Ottawa response to a Toronto event that happened earlier in the day. It was a pretty last-minute affair, but it does build on the series of stories I've been doing about the attempts to reform CAMR, and this is one more piece for the bigger picture. It was also nice to get a bit of an Ottawa angle to an otherwise Toronto story (and to see that it wasn't simply tacked onto a Toronto story but treated separately).

C-389 passes but faces further delays

I have a new piece up on the national page of Xtra.ca, which covers the latest development in Bill C-389, which I've been covering for its entire lifespan. While there was a lot of celebration among the interviewees after the vote itself, I made sure to put in in the context of the bigger picture, that this vote was a delay that could end up killing the bill in the event of a spring election. My experience covering the life of the bill also meant that I had the memory of who changed their votes on it, so I think that helped give my story a little more than others will have.

A couple of things didn't make it into the story, which was mostly Marlene Jennings saying that there was only one MP from her party that came to her with concerns about the bill, which she talked out with him. The other was James Moore telling reporters that when he voted for it, it was a "free vote," but not explaining further.

Party politics skews G20 hearings

I have a new piece up on the national page of Xtra.ca, which is our take on the Commons hearings about the G20 in Toronto last summer. It was a bit tricky to write, seeing as the one interviewee is now an employee at Xtra. I was careful to make the point that he wasn't at the time of the G20 in the original version, but that was edited out. In fact, a fair bit got edited out - the quotes by NDP public safety critic Don Davies included, but the main points - including Alexandra Mendes' rather powerful ending quote - were kept in. (And yes, I got another photo in this piece. My new iPhone 4 is turning out to be quite a great work-related investment).

Should Canada have demanded more from UN execution proscription?

I have a new piece up on the national page of Xtra.ca today, which was the final piece I filed from last week. This was a follow-up to my previous story on the UN resolution vote, where it turned out there were some added complications in terms of a final vote, and then some confusion on the part of one of the MPs I was interviewing in order to ensure that he got his position correct. Suffice to say, it all worked out, and here we are.

Will Bill C-389 leave sex behind?

I have a new piece up on the national page of Xtra.ca which looks at a potential unintended consequence of Bill C-389, and a discussion on women's rights versus trans rights. The timing of the issue of including sex in Section 318(4) of the Charter is particularly relevant considering that we're coming up on the anniversary of the December 6th Montreal Massacre (though the line mentioning that was cut from the final version), but that actually hadn't been in mind when I started this story.

The other piece that was chopped from the end was where Senator Nancy Ruth expressed some optimism with the outcome of the bill, which I'll include here:

“Those cabinet minister that I’ve spoken with – the women cabinet minsters at least – are saying ‘what? How can this be? Extraordinary! We have to do something about this!’” she says.

“It may help, if his bill passes, make the government make the decision to put sex in as a category.”

MPs react to stay in prostitution ruling

My second story up on the national page of Xtra.ca today is a reaction piece on the latest development of a story I've been covering for a while, being the Ontario court challenges to the country's prostitution laws. And I would like to give a shout out to Liberal justice critic Marlene Jennings for getting back to me by email before she headed off to Montreal today, seeing as she wouldn't have been able to come out to the Foyer after Question Period. It's greatly appreciated.

Liberals against human smuggling bill

The first of my new pieces on the national page of Xtra.ca today was the story I wrote yesterday about the Liberals coming out to oppose Bill C-49. It was a lot of running around and getting quotes from the "caucus outs" (which I don't normally attend but was suggested that I show up to this one), from the Foyer after Question Period, and calls made to Vancouver. And sadly, the quote from the Rainbow Refugee Committee in Vancouver didn't make it into the final version, but I'll include it here:

Sharalyn Jordan of the Rainbow Refugee Committee is happy that the opposition has committed to killing C-49.

“We’re delighted that MPs from all of the opposition parties have seen the injustice of punishing refugees and come down on the side of upholding Canada’s commitment to refugee protection,” Jordan says.

“It’s important for queer refugees in particular, because it’s often unsafe for queer asylum seekers to seek protection in neighbouring countries, and so they have to come to Canada to seek protection. For that reason, it’s critical that queer Canadians can use their voice to protect the right to asylum and the right to refugee protection here in Canada.”

Is Canada reneging on its international AIDS commitment?

I have a new piece up on the national page of Xtra.ca, which was the first of two pieces that I filed today (the second going online tomorrow). For this one, my process was a little backward from what it usually is, and it was also a done in a rush considering how busy of a day it was all told. Because of the busy day, I ended up in a coffee shop to grab some lunch between press conferences and Question Period, where I tapped out half of the piece on my iPhone in an email to myself, where I could plug in the quotes when I got home and could transcribe them. It all worked, I filed both stories, and I think I presented an interesting narrative in this piece.