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Progressive Bloggers // Blogues progressistes

Author: Joel Klebanoff

May 10, 2016 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: Trumping Trump Mexican Style. (In my dreams.)

I’m Canadian. I was born in Canada and I’ve lived here all my life. As such, I probably shouldn’t comment on either American or Mexican politics. But that hasn’t stopped me in the past. It’s not going to stop me now. It do…

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April 12, 2016 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: Thomas Mulcair: Should he be interim NDP leader?

In the past couple of days I’ve read a few tweets and quotes in articles from people suggesting that it would be inappropriate for Thomas Mulcair to remain as interim leader of the NDP after his failure in the leadership review vote at the NDP co…

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March 4, 2016 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: More Prospective Dividends from a Trump Presidency

A few days ago I published a post suggesting that Donald Trump’s experience as a developer could be put to good use to improve the revenues and balance sheet of the government of the United States if he were to become President. I realize now tha…

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March 1, 2016 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: Donald Trump and the State of Fear and Loathing

Many sane, liberal-minded people in American and around the world express great fear and loathing over the possibility that Donald Trump might become president of the United States. I think their fears are totally unfounded. Rather than immediately le…

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October 20, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: Joy of Victory; Disappointment of Defeat

I’m a member, donor and supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada and I’m on the board of the local Liberal riding association. I also volunteered many hours of grunt work to the election campaign of the Toronto Centre (my home riding) Liberal candidate, Bill Morneau. I didn’t put in

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September 27, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: Playing the Security Card

The Conservatives are trying to make security a “ballot box question.” To hear Stephen Harper tell it, there’s a jihadi terrorist lurking in every shadow, ready to pounce on us when we least expect it. (Funny that they are always “jihadi” terrorists, as if the Timothy McVeighs and Ted Kaczynskis

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September 25, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: Stephen Harper Doesn’t Trust Stephen Harper

Today, Stephen Harper announced that Stephen Harper doesn’t trust Stephen Harper. OK, he didn’t quite put it that way, but that was a logical conclusion that one could draw from his announcement. At an event in Rivière-du-Loup, Québec, Harper added a “Tax Lock” law plank to the Conservative election platform.

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August 6, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: Fantasy Tax

Funny, Stephen Harper released a video telling us how much he loves Netflix and promising us that he would never tax it. Never mind that the monthly bill for my Netflix subscription shows an H.S.T. of $1.04, 40 cents of which goes to the federal government. Who at the Canada

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August 2, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: Does Hypocrisy Underlie the Long Writ Period?

It’s official. Stephen Harper went to the Governor General and initiated the official election campaign period, which will be about twice as long as the minimum the Canada Elections Act requires. That Act declares that the date of the election must be at least 36 days after the writs have

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May 14, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: The Silliest Anti-Abortion Argument

Of all the anti-abortion arguments that get thrown about, I think I saw the silliest one today. (Disclosure: I’m pro-choice.) It didn’t come from an anti-abortion activist, but rather from a pro-choice person who was relating an argument that was directed at her some years ago. It came in the

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May 12, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: A Baffling Attack

I regret to inform you that the multiple, loud bangs you heard were heads exploding. Desperately searching for something to criticize about the Liberals’ recently announced “Plan for Fairness for the Middle Class,” the Conservative are now claiming that, in their costing of the plan, the Liberals failed to take

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May 7, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: Repeated Lies are Still Lies

How do you make people believe blatant lies? It seems that, in the estimation of the Conservative Party of Canada, the answer to that question is you repeat them incessantly. After Justin Trudeau announced the Liberal Party of Canada’s “Plan for Fairness for the Middle Class,” the Conservatives—in particular, but

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May 6, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: The Alberta Election’s Federal Implications

As I look at my Twitter feed today, May 6, 2015, the day after the Alberta provincial election, I see that some federal Conservatives are saying that the results of the Alberta election don’t worry them. I’m not surprised they are saying that. After all, it is literally the politically

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April 23, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: Oliver’s Gaffe

I read on Twitter that some pundits and journalists are saying that we should ignore or, if not ignore, then now let go of Finance Minister Joe Oliver’s “gaffe” about the gaping tax hole that doubling the TFSA limit will create for future governments being something for Prime Minister Stephen

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April 22, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: Balanced. Unless.

Finance Minister Joe Oliver delivered a balanced budget. (Technically, not balanced, but rather, in fact, in a small surplus.) That much is not in dispute because a budget is what it’s author says it is. Whether the government’s books will indeed be balanced after they are closed at the end

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April 17, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: Super-Secret Slogan

An Access to Information request filed by Canadian Press was recently refused. That request asked to see the rationale behind the advertising slogan, “Strong. Proud. Free.” that the Government of Canada (long since rebranded by the Conservatives as the Harper Government™) is now using at considerable expense was refused. Why

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March 24, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: Steering for a Rocky Reef

During the 2011 election, the Conservatives took to incessantly telling us that their’s was the steady hand on the tiller that we should trust to steer us through the stormy economic waters that were lapping at our shores. Considering recent economic data, one has to wonder if that steady hand

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March 16, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: Time to Have “The Talk”

No, not that talk. At some point, we need to have a conversation about where we want to place the pivot point on the balance between rights and security. By “we,” I mean Canadians collectively, not just me and the infinitesimal number of people who read the marginally informed crap

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March 15, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: The Real Threat

The Toronto Star reported that CSIS documents it obtained through an access to information request said that, at least when it comes to “lone wolf” attacks (e.g.: the shootings on Parliament Hill last October, the attack on military personnel in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu shortly before that and the shooting rampage in Moncton

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March 14, 2015 Joel Klebanoff

Maple-Flavoured Politics: Canada’s Phantom Menaces

There are enough real threats in this world that there is no need to fabricate new ones. But that hasn’t stopped Jason Kenney, Minister of National Defence, from doing so. According to Kenney’s office, and backed up by Kenney himself, Russian fighter jets buzzed the Canadian frigate HMCS Fredericton at

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