The bustling in Parliament has simmered for the summer recess 2012; it’s the perfect opportunity to reflect, reenergize and examine what steps we can take to make bigger waves in the fall.

Rio+20: How many nations will it take to change an inefficient lightbulb?

One hundred and eighty eight nations, oneuninspired text; thousands of concerned citizens attendees.

Faced with the real prospect of complete failure, negotiators who struggled for months to hammer out a more ambitious final document ended up opting for the lowest common denominator. “The Future We Want” virtually moves no futher beyond what was signed at the original 1992 Earth Summit.

Delegates, youth, and representatives from across the globe rejected the weak document during a rip-up of a mock text and were not alone in their sentiment. “We’ve sunk so low in our expectations that reaffirming what we did 20 years ago is now considered a success,” said Martin Khor, executive director of the Geneva-based South Centre and a member of the U.N. Committee on Development Policy.

Canadian Groups Respond to Canada’s Bad Faith and Blocking Role at Rio+20
Rio+20, The Unhappy Environmental Summit
CAN-International: Rio Fossil of the Day Awards
Rio+20 protesters perform ‘ritual rip-up’ of negotiated text

Budget 2012: Omnibus Bill C-38

Months of heated budgetary debate, fuelled by uncompromising Conservative government officals led to nearly 24-hours of around-the-clock voting on June 13th. To deal with the Majority government’s refusal to properly divide the omnibus budget bill, the MPs endured a marathon round of voting on 871 opposition amendments. Critics say such omnibus bills amount to a massive abuse of Parliament — an argument a young Stephen Harper once made with some conviction as a backbench Reform MP. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has already promised the second bill coming in the fall will have “quite a bit” in it and that “it will be another serious bill.”

Check out:

Omnibus II? Opposition warns they’re ready to fight another budget megabill
Tories poised to win every budget vote, but opposition claims ‘moral victory’
National Round Table On The Environment And The Economy Funding Killed Because Tories Didn’t Like Results
Close to 19,000 civil servant jobs axed in budget