Eye (or ay ya ya) on politics, robocalls and environmental assessment

The Conservative Party of Canada is denying that it knew about a scheme to misdirect voters to non-existent polling stations in the last election. Here's one of the so-called robocalls, misdirecting voters to non-existent polling stations. Dave Hudson lives in Guelph, and he received that call the morning of election day. He quickly realized that something was amiss, and recorded the call. That was back in May, but I caught up with Dave this week. I called him up at work Here's our conversation.

Well, we're in the final run up to the NDP leadership convention. As it approaches, a top concern for many delegates is this: Which leader will be most electable in Quebec ? Will Quebecois will vote for someone who is not from Quebec. In his play Blue Dragon, Robert LePage addresses a similar issue, but with an international focus – should Quebecois look beyond their borders? Columnist Thomas Ponniah saw a recent production of the play, and it got him thinking. Here's his column.

The activist toolkit is one of the newest parts of rabble.ca, and it's not just a resource and a feature within our site. Now it's a podcast called Constructing Change. In this episode, Constructing Change looks at the protests against security certificate legislation, which allows the the Canadian government to decide on extradition for Canadian residents without a public trial.

Recently, Stephen Harper and two key ministers, Peter Kent and Joe Oliver, have said the Environmental Assessment Act allows too much public input, creates uncertainty for investors, and threatens economic development. The act is being reviewed, and a report is expected within the month. Jamie Keenan is with Mining Watch Canada, and he spoke to the Redeye podcast about why the act is important and some of the ways it strives to balance environmental preservation and industrial development. Here's that interview.

If you haven't already, take a moment to donate to rabble.ca in our fundraising drive. If everyone who listens essentially bought us a coffee a month, we'd be in great shape. If you matched whatever you pay for your monthly subscription to your local paper, we'd be doing even better. If you can do it, head to rabble.ca/donate and make a donation. That's rabble.ca/donate. See you there I hope.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this program. Dave Hudson, Thomas Ponniah, Steff Pinch, Todd Ferguson and the Redeye collective. Our theme is composed by Bob Wiseman.