warning may not be suitable for travelphobes and Harper fans
Tonight I was watching a Pilot Guide travel show. Ian Wright was travelling in Chile. It was cool - I watched him get pissed on pisco, drink cocoa leaf tea and do the usually funny I'm-a-self-effacing-amiable-brit traveller routine. At the end of each commercial break OLN played a small disclaimer saying something like, "Warning this show may not be suitable for all viewers."
What?
As in traveling can be offensive and beware of the sometimes revealed, wee white Brit-man chest? I can't think of a less offensive t.v. program. I don't understand. Maybe the network doesn't understand its demographic? I can see Fox running that warning because of their audience: acrophobic, right wing, neo-cons. But the OLN?
Speaking of offensive. The Harper government just cut a bunch of Department of Foreign Affairs and International trade programs. About $64m worth. So what you say? Less fancy consular cars in places like Zambia and Malaysia? Not quite. One program in particular was less free parking and more employment experience while repping Canada overseas.
For the under-30 set out there the cuts mean bye bye Young Professionals International, a post-university program that send new grads overseas to work and ply their new skills while learning how to work in another country, adapt to other cultures and give Canada the good name it mostly deserves. I know more than a handful of really inspring people who've benefited from this program. The rallying cries are rippling through our community. Listen for my yelp, I'm pissed.
The photo accompanying today's blog is of me and Mandla Mentoor. During my YPI internship I visited his project, SOMOHO. It was a initiative that turned an old dump site into organic gardens and a community greenspace complete with community programs like bike recycling and imbizo (or discussion circles).
posted by Miranda @ Wednesday, September 27, 2006
1 Comments:
also say bye bye to the court challenges program (why should our laws need to respect the charter anyway!) and the law commission of canada (why advance research on how our laws can be reformed to better reflect canadian society?). the law commission of canada is also where i worked this summer. so i feel your personal pain of losing that space that allowed you room to grow and i feel the national outrage that the conservatives are cutting those programs that make canada the just and socially responsible country we aim to be.
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