Jacinda Ardern was called an enemy of landlords and a threat to tenants after a series of changes to New Zealand’s rental law. Justin Giovannetti contrasts the law for renters here with that of his native Canada. “Our national sport is real estate.” I’ve heard some version of that phrase over a dozen times since … Read more
It’s a nice hot day in the summer and you reach for a … polar pie? New Zealand companies are removing the word Eskimo from their products. Recently arrived Canadian Justin Giovannetti explains that the move to banish the harmful and derogatory slang is overdue. The word Eskimo is about to disappear from New Zealand’s … Read more
When we appointed Justin Giovannetti as our first press gallery journalist, it meant an adventure from Canada to New Zealand. When Covid-19 ripped around the world, the trip took on an altogether different dimension. Justin picks up the story from his temporary home in mandatory isolation in Auckland. The world as I knew it came … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: In today’s edition: Serious ramifications likely from SkyCity fire, dozens of partnership visas being denied, and yet another police pursuit death. The fire at the SkyCity Convention Centre construction site has continued to burn overnight. Fire crews were forced to abandon the roof, in an attempt to … Read more
After an unusually nasty campaign for their country, Canada has gone to the polls. They’ve decided that Justin Trudeau will continue as prime minister, but just like in New Zealand, he’ll have to work with coalition politics. What’s happened? After a brutal and at times humiliating campaign, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has won another term. … Read more
Five experts, all from countries with varying levels of cannabis legality, came to Auckland funded by Massey University to speak on the benefits and costs of the drug before New Zealand’s cannabis referendum in 2020. Alice Webb-Liddall reports. While New Zealanders wait for the cannabis referendum in 2020, the government is working hard to draft … Read more
A small Canadian town has the weirdest answer to its pest problem – a museum of stuffed and costumed animal dioramas that has become a cult tourist attraction. Possums, stoats and rats are giving our native birds grief, and the New Zealand government has outlined an ambitious plan to get rid of them. All of … Read more
Writer and cannabis legalisation expert Russell Brown watched episode two of Patrick Gower on Weed, and found it highly entertaining but dangerously light on facts. Patrick Gower is good value when he’s high. In the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you’d expect in a modern weed documentary and … Read more
New Zealander Gregory Burke is due to start as Auckland Art Gallery director next month. The new director of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is under investigation for alleged workplace harassment in Saskatchewan, Canada. The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission is investigating a complaint filed by a co-worker against Gregory Burke, according to a report by … Read more
It started as a fictional country on Reddit, and remains a fictional country on Reddit. But New Zanada has some really committed fans. The nicest country in the world is planning a renaissance. It’s not New Zealand. It’s also not Canada (sorry). Welcome to the Dominion of New Zanada: a fictional country borne of Reddit, sprouting from … Read more
Indigenous peoples throughout English-speaking countries have had their children taken away by the state for generations. Most countries have faced up to this legacy but New Zealand has been in denial about its own Stolen Generation – a group now known as Ngā Mōrehu (The Survivors). The new Labour government has agreed to set up … Read more
Hope and rhetoric are a great tonic but it’s time to act, writes columnist Graham Cameron. At the United Nations in late September, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave an impassioned speech about the historical abuses of Canada’s First Nations, stating that “for Indigenous peoples in Canada, the experience was mostly one of humiliation, neglect … Read more
In July 2018 Canada will become the second country in the world to universally legalise cannabis (Uruguay took the plunge earlier this year). Former Canadian deputy prime minister Anne McLellan, who led the task force advising the government on what a regulated marijuana market should look like, was in Wellington earlier this month to talk … Read more
David Seymour has thrown his member’s bill into the parliamentary hat. But the legislation currently being debated in Canada differs in some important ways, writes Andrew Geddis. The case of Lecretia Seales last year brought to prominence the issue of doctor assisted suicide/aid in dying (it’s a telling sign of how divided views are that … Read more