Welcome to the Canadian National Multilingual News Group (CNMNG). This is a project made possible through funding by Canadian Heritage. CNMNG aims to gather news researched and written by a corps of Canadian-based journalists/writers from the country’s multilingual community groups. The overall goal is to inform, analyze and critique the issues of the day in a professional manner and to provide that to publishers and editors active in the ethnocultural-multilingual press and media whose experience provides them with a perspective that is sensitive to news relevant to their own language group.
TORONTO – September 13, twelve days before a national election in Italy, the New York Times broke a story about Russian plans to interfere in Western democratic governments. It referenced an Intelligence report citing an allocation of $300 million USD to buy senior politicos. The “project” (an old tried and true American CIA tactic) has apparently been in existence since 2014, covering twenty nations and four continents.
TORONTO – It is time to get serious about the reasons why we have elections. First, throw out the riffraff in office and weed out the ones that would replace them. Secondly, study the alternatives and vote for them. Third, reaffirm the principles for which institutions exist and hold to account those who erode their value for the sake of their personal pet projects.
TORONTO – In Italy, the political theatre, both in its serious and farcical moments, is dominated by careerists, “la casta”, whose almost exclusively self-serving, short term objectives obstruct national and regional goals.
TORONTO – For a while, it seemed that many local political office holders (incumbents) were going to get another free ride, that is, be uncontested. Then, like mushrooms after a rainstorm, names of candidates at the Registration desk sprouted as if from nowhere. We may not hear from them or know what they represent until election day… maybe. Local elections are notorious for the low voter turn-out. Since John Tory lulled everyone to sleep, thus eliminating any competition and attraction for “the top job”, what will incent citizens to exercise their civic duty to vote?
TORONTO – Arrogance and manipulation. Posturing and theatrics. If anyone has been following international politics, he/she would know that these are staples on the political menu. None of them are especially harmful in digestible doses but, sooner rather than later, its practitioners are punished by the public.
