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It’s not over, but Round One of last weekend’s intergovernmental noise by-law fracas – which channelling the late Dr. Seuss, we might call a bitter Twitter window-rattle battle – goes to Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas. To reprise, for still murky reasons, a posse of federal and provincial Conservative politicians followed by a swarm of online con-bots decided to insert themselves into a fairly typical municipal policy disagreement over Calgary’s revised noise bylaw.

Drug toxicity is one of the leading causes of deaths in prisons in Canada, with overdose deaths rising significantly over the past decade due to  toxic drug supply. More than 50 per cent of people in prison are estimated to be affected by problematic substance use — yet prison authorities across the country are increasingly restricting access to a key, evidence-based treatment option, resulting in a dramatic drop in people receiving this care.

Policy Analyst and lawyer at the HIV Legal Network.

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The World’s Biggest Oligarchies The United States As we all have seen, the US Oligarchs operate right out in the open. Elon Musk, as CEO of multiple strategic companies including Tesla, SpaceX, and Starlink, has direct contracts with the US Department of War, NASA, and the intelligence community. He has personally communicated with military officials regarding Starlink deployment in Ukraine and has met with US presidents from both parties.

Parliament has risen in Ottawa and will not reconvene until September 21. That is par for the course for the federal government. In Ontario, by contrast, Premier Doug Ford is setting an ignominious record. The legislature in Ontario rose for its break on June 2, but will not return until October 27. That will give it a 21-week break. It will result in the smallest number of days sitting for the legislature in 50 years (barring provincial election years).

Over the weekend, prominent conservative political figures including Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, many of the other usual suspects on the right, and eventually what appeared to be flocks of right-wing online bots took to social media to attack Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas. If this sounds familiar to you, it should.

Mark Carney’s Liberals set records, in the final days of Parliament before the summer break, for number bills passed with minimal consideration or debate. One of the most significant of those allows Cabinet to bypass existing law in order to permit the use of toxic, banned pesticides. The government, through the voice of House Leader Steven McKinnon, says Cabinet would only use this new power with extreme care and in rare circumstances.

Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi called yesterday on Ottawa to step in and use the Canada Health Act to force Alberta’s government to drop its plan to allow surgeons to practice in the public health care system while at the same time billing patients to jump to the front of the line for surgeries.

Death, dying, and ageing, aren’t exactly at the top of most people’s minds, especially not during Pride. But it is the reality everyone has to prepare for. Queer death workers, those working in the funeral industry, want it to be something 2SLGBTQIA+ Canadians consider sooner, rather than later. According to Stats Canada, as of 2021, there are approximately 1.3 million queer people in Canada. 6.2 per cent of that number, or 62,000 people, are 45 years and older.