Needs No Introduction

Speaking as the keynote for the Left Forum at Pace University on March 17, 2012, Michael Moore, the filmmaker responsible for such documentaries as Bowling for Columbine and Capitalism: a love story, talked hopefully about fundamental changes he sees taking place in America.

The podcast was recorded by Kim Elliott.

The aboriginal law conference in Vancouver B.C. brought together Bruce Granville Miller, who has written about oral tradition in the courtroom, Sophie McCall, an associate professor of English at SFU who has written about aboriginal storytelling and Darlene Johnston, a professor of law at UBC who has been recognized by the Indigenous Bar Association.

They discussed how to go about respecting aboriginal culture in the courtroom.

Winona LaDuke, the the executive director of Honor the Earth and the White Earth Land Recovery Project, was in Winnipeg on Feb. 24, 2012 to talk at the Growing Local conference.

During her lecture she talked about the importance of sustainability, indigenous knowledge and independence.

Pat Mooney is the author and co-author of several books on the politics of biotechnology and biodiversity, and the award-winning director of the ETC Group. This week he spoke about whether we should trust the system that broke our planet to fix it.

• The 2014 Health Accord will set out the national plan for our health care system and play a key role in determining the direction for health care in Canada. The Federal government has already revealed plans to cut federal health transfers.

• On January 16-17, 2012 Premier Christy Clark hosted premiers from across the country to discuss health care and fiscal arrangements with the federal government related to the 2014 Health Accord.

• The Council of Canadians and the BC Health Coalition joined together to hold this townhall meeting. Following are the opening remarks by three researchers and advocates for health care, who say now is the time for Canadians to speak out to protect our public health care system.

• Rachel Tutte, the co-chair of the BC Health Coalition, introduced the series of three lectures:
• Mike Luff, NUPGE Director of Communications, dispells the notion that health care is not affordable or sustainable - "a triumph of economics", and outlines the principles for building a new accord.

• Diana Gibson, Parkland Institute researcher, takes on the Conservative discourse that demonizes taxes, government, and public services. She "channels" US conservative lobbyist Grover Norquist whose goals was "get government small enough to drown it in a bathtub" - and whose methods appear to be closely followed by the Harper government. Maude Barlow, chairperson of the Council of Canadians, reminds listeners of the times before public health care, pointing out that there has been no greater threat to public services than what we are in now. Quoting her favorite Occupy sigh, "If you won't let me dream, I won't let you sleep", she calls on Canadians to speak out for public health care, and what makes Canada... Canadian.

In this lecture, Columbia University professor Saskia Sassen discusses the concept of the diminishing importance of national borders and the increasing dominance of something she calls the "transversal bordered space"; a result of the increasing interaction between government and private entities.

An interview with Annemieke Farenhorst, the University of Manitoba professor who has just been named the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council Chair for Women in Science and Engineering (prairie region). Farenhorst talks about the lack of women in classrooms, faculty and the professional world, and how we can begin to address this problem.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, Liberal MP Hedy Fry and NDP MP Libby Davies take part in the Media Policies for a Democratic Future panel at Media Democracy Day 2011. Moderated by Vancouver City Councillor Andrea Reimer, the panel tackled issues such as sexism in the media, mainstream versus independent media and the value of public media.