Picking up the pieces

I have a new story up on the national page of Xtra.ca which looks at this week's Liberal caucus retreat and the direction the party is moving in the post-Layton landscape. Of particular note in my mind were the resurgence of the word "prosperity" in the political rhetoric, and the new Liberal mantra of evidence-based policy over ideology. No doubt this is just the first of many pieces to come on the Liberal Party's rebuilding effort.

NDP queer caucus remembers Jack Layton

I have a new feature story on the national page of Xtra.ca, which is about the reactions of the queer MPs in the NDP caucus to the passing of Jack Layton. I didn't get to talk to Dany Morin or the co-chair of the NDP's LGBT commission, but I still had a story that was full of some pretty great recollections.

Chronicling our past

I have a feature story up on the main page of Xtra.ca today which looks at the progress of the Canadian Human Rights Museum, and how it plans to address the issues of the history of queer rights in this country. I had a few good conversations in writing the piece, and got a bit of an insight into the planning process, and some of their thinking around ways to ensure that it won't simply be the "saddest place on earth."

Getting In On the Ground Floor + Thoughts From the Hill - July/August Edition

The July/August edition of Outlooks Magazine is now out, which has two piece in from me. The first is an editorial geared toward queer Liberals in terms of encouraging them to get involved in their party's rebuilding process, while the second is the monthly Thoughts panel, this time on the issue of catastrophic drug coverage (which sparked me to write a more substantial piece for Xtra on the topic).

These were also my last political pieces for Outlooks for the foreseeable future. The new direction the magazine is taking under the new owners is more lifestyle oriented, and for the time being, nearly all editorial pieces are out, as are my Thoughts panels. I hope to write some politically-themed features in the coming months, but Canadian politics won't have the same prominent place in the magazine that it has in the past few years.

The editorial is on page 46, and the Thoughts panel on page 47.

Scaffolding on Wellington remains for several years

I have a story up on OpenFile Ottawa site today, which looks at all of the scaffolding on Wellington Street as part of the ongoing Parliamentary precinct construction and renovation. While this is a story that someone seems to cover every few months, I decided to take the angle of speaking to Ottawa Tourism about it, which was a different take that I think suit the OpenFile audience quite well. And hey, I managed to take a couple of decent photos to include with it, so that was a nice bonus.