Category Archives: politics

Hungary’s Democracy Starts Its Revival

vote sign

vote

Democracy requires ongoing maintenance and that comes in the form of civic engagement by the people within the democracy. In Hungary, the now former prime minister Viktor Orban, has lost this past weekend’s election thanks to the hard work of civil society. This all happened despite the support of other authoritarians like Putin, and even a rally lead by alt-right symbol JD Vance. For years Hungary has a beacon of hope for politicians and corporate elites that wanted to control people rather than work with them. Former Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper has praised Orban and tried to influence elections around the world in the hopes of eroding democracy.

With this context in mind, you can start to understand why it is good news that Orban lost: it gives hope to the scores of people fighting against authoritarians hope.

Turnout in the election reached a record 79.50%, according to the near-complete vote count.

Orban, who was seeking a fifth straight term, has transformed his country into a model of “illiberal democracy,” clashing with Brussels over rule-of-law issues, as well as over support for war-torn Ukraine.

Magyar burst onto the scene just two years ago, promising to fight corruption and offering better public services. He drew support against a backdrop of economic stagnation, and despite an electoral system skewed in favor of Orban’s Fidesz party.

Congratulations for Magyar poured in from around Europe, with France and Germany urging him to work together for a “strong Europe.”

Read more.

Canada Continues to Defend Sovereignty with “Elbows Up”

Peace Tower at Parliament Hill in Ottawa

America openly threatened Canadian sovereignty last year and has engaged in a planned economic destruction of the nation. The Republican Party views the entire hemisphere as theirs and is actively invading or influencing political operations in sovereign countries. Canadians do not like the stance that their ally has taken; and to make their concerns heard they have launched a boycott of the USA. It’s working. The American economy is being hurt by Canadians not buying their booze and not visiting the nation.

Where’s the good news in this? It’s working. Canadians have made it clear to the American government that we are not to be trifled with and that sovereignty is important to us. Canadians are not giving up either.

The shift has affected everything from what brands Canadians buy to where they vacation to how they vote. There are economic implications on both sides of the border that policymakers are taking into account. Polling suggests the altered behavior won’t change anytime soon.
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“We’ve always seen the U.S. as a very strong and reliable ally,” said Michael Devereux, an economics professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. “That has really been undermined in the last year.”

Canadians began moving their food purchases away from the U.S. starting in early 2025, a data analysis released last month from the Bank of Canada found. Domestic brands gained wallet share as retailers and liquor stores encouraged shoppers to instead buy Canadian

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Civic Searchlight: A Tool to Fight Disinformation

Picture of Vancouver City Hall

Canada’s National Observer as seen that journalists are feeling the years of budgets cuts and the lack of institutional supports and decided to do something about it. The National Observer has released a fantastic new tool to help Canadian journalists research and identify issues in municipalities throughout the country. The tool known as Civic Searchlight makes it easy to track issues and find what’s being discussed at the local level across Canada, and they are adding more towns and cities!

In at least one municipality — Cochrane, Alta. — reporting based on Civic Searchlighthas been instrumental in providing the council with the information it needed to stay in the net-zero program the town had been part of for more than 20 years. Canada’s National Observer’s reporting was the deciding factor in the town remaining in the program — that’s according to the group that targeted Cochrane with climate misinformation to try to convince it to leave. “We would have won in Cochrane if that hadn’t happened,” the group’s organizer said in a meeting.

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Greenhouse Gases Now Count as Maritime Pollution

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has ruled the greenhouse gas emissions can count towards damage to our oceans. Small island nations have praised the ruling because they are the most threatened by raising sea levels and the boiling of local waters. The ruling also shows how science can inform policy in a meaningful way because the court clearly understood how oceans absorb our emissions over time and lead to acidification and other problems.

This ruling is merely a step towards better protections of our common waters and it will only mean smoother sailing for future efforts.

What happened today was that the law and science met together in this tribunal, and both won,” said Cheryl Bazard, ambassador to the European Union of the Bahamas, one of nine Caribbean and Pacific island nations that sought the opinion.

Small island nations with scant economic power but acutely vulnerable to climate change have long felt neglected by successive global summits where pledges to cut carbon emissions have fallen far short of the minimum for limiting the worst effects of global warming.
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A similar potential precedent was laid down last month, when the European Court of Human Rights agreed with plaintiffs who argued that Switzerland was violating their human rights by not doing enough to combat climate warming.

Read more.

Let’s End Gas Subsidies

For some strange reason countries like Canada keep giving tax money to ultra wealthy oil and gas companies even though they keep killing all life on the planet. Let’s stop this. The team at Solar Share hosted a good information session on how we can reduce government money going to oil and gas, and of course, channeling that money to renewables. It’s worth a watch.

On February 12, over 30 participants joined us for our webinar about ending gas subsidies in Ontario, featuring Kent Elson (Elson Advocacy) and Jessica Hamilton (former political candidate and staffer).

We discussed the Ford government’s plan to overrule the Ontario Energy Board’s decision on gas subsidies, what “natural” methane gas is, and how to effectively engage with our elected representatives in Ontario.

There were some excellent questions and comments, and you can watch the recording here!