When it comes to reviewing Bill C-23, as much as I enjoy exploring the labyrinthine language of legalese, I am also interested in what the current head of Elections Canada has to say – after all he’s spent the better part of the last decade in that space. Pierre Poilievre,
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The Cracked Crystal Ball II: … It Gets Darker
A break from analyzing Bill C-23 today, but not a break from covering the darkness that is Harper’s shadow. Today’s instalment comes in the form of the obviously politically motivated witch-hunt that the CRA is engaging in with environmental organizations in this country. This isn’t particularly new, the Conservatives have
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Bill C-23: The Theft Of Democracy Part III
I continue my analysis of Bill C-23 in depth, largely out of the same horror and curiosity that goes with looking at a traffic accident. Except in this case, it more to shed light upon the various little poison pills and land mines that The Harper Government is slipping into
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Bill C-23: The Theft Of Canada’s Democracy Part II
I have not by any means finished my analysis of this bill and what it is setting up. However, a lot of other smart writers have been going over the bill too, and they have much to say which bears summarizing and considering. First, over at the Toronto Star, Chantal
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Bill C-23 "The Fair Elections" Act – Part I
Bill C-23 is enormous – the pre-tabling draft posted on Maclean’s website is a whopping 247 pages in length. It’s going to take a while to sift through it all and digest it. This is a massive reworking of Canada’s elections system, and I think it prudent to review the
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: On Mass Surveillance
The revelation this week that CSEC has the capability to monitor the movements of Canadians simply by gathering some metadata from the traffic that goes by on public networks raises a lot of interesting questions that are worth discussing. In an e-mail conversation on the matter, the following question was
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Harper Now Has His Own Secret Police
A feature of totalitarian states around the world is a “secret” police force that is engaged in spying on a nation’s citizens and keeping them in line with implicit threats of “legal action”. Most notorious among these would be East Germany’s Stasi, but there are many examples. In Canada, it
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Harper’s Short Sighted PMO
Canada is a diverse nation. Our population is made up of peoples from all around the world, and until recently, we were well on the road to respecting all of our diverse cultures. Then Harper took over. While Harper’s supporters have proudly proclaimed the “wisdom” of Harper’s uncritical view of
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Interesting Move
Justin Trudeau has just kicked all of the Liberal Senators out of the Liberal Caucus. I heard this just as I was rolling out of bed this morning, and my initial reaction was that effectively Trudeau had just taken the wind out of the sails of the Conservatives who routinely
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: A Personal Boycott Of The Sochi Games
With the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games about to start in a few weeks, I think it’s high time that I put forward my reasons for why I refuse to support the games – I will not be spending money with the sponsors, watching the games or otherwise granting them
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: It’s About Recognizing The Realities
Over at Huffington Post, one of their columnists, JJ McCullough, is pontificating on Harper’s trip to Israel. In the comments, we find HP blogger Mitch Wolfe making the following daft statement: This article is an excellent summary of Harper’s pro Israeli policies. It also provides an excellent summary of the
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Harper Doesn’t Get It
Several times on the news today, I’ve heard Harper protest to reporters that when he was in the West Bank that nobody asked him to single out the Palestinian Authority on matters of policy, but they are trying to do so on Israel. Contrary to what Harper is insinuating with
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: More LowLights From Harper’s Speech
As more of Harper’s speech to Israel’s Knesset comes to light, the degree of dysfunction and narrow-mindedness of it becomes all the more clear. The prime minister said he refused to single out Israel for criticism, saying it is easy to follow the international crowd and focus only on one
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Rob Anders … Wants To Resurrect What?
Apparently, Rob Anders thinks that we need to resurrect the old “Rape” laws. He wants anyone convicted of rape to serve a mandatory minimum of eight years in prison for a first offence and 10 years for each subsequent conviction. “I ideally would have liked to have seen rapists get
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Harper’s New Anti-Semitism
Few things make me angrier than the propensity of the far right to twist things. In today’s speech to Israel’s Knesset, we find this lovely little gem: “A state, based on freedom, democracy and the rule of law, that was founded so Jews can flourish as Jews, and seek shelter
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Dear Leader Is In Israel
So, Harper is running around Israel blathering on about how Canada will blindly support Israel no matter what happens. Frankly, Harper is acting like a little boy in short pants on the foreign affairs file … but I have already discussed that in detail before. Today’s speech does nothing to
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Robocalls Revived
With Michael Sona’s trial expected later this year, the RoboCalls scandal has once again booted up, reminding Canadian voters of the corruption in the 2011 election. The most recent thing to fall out of the back of that horse? Apparently one of Sona’s co-conspirators has just been granted immunity from
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Cal Wenzel Hasn’t Got A Leg To Stand On
I didn’t think much of Wenzel’s allegations when he filed his lawsuit. After reading the statement of defence filed by Naheed Nenshi today, I don’t think Wenzel has much to work with. Perhaps the most damaging to Wenzel’s case is a series of tweets by Wenzel’s supporters referring to him
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: About That Sound Economy, Stephen
In light of Kim Jong Harper’s launch of a propaganda channel, perhaps he’d like to explain how it is that Canada’s economy is “doing well” when it is shedding jobs across the board? Why would unemployment be on the rise? Isn’t Alberta booming? Oh waitasec … it isn’t. The oil
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Kim Sung Harper
Wow … just wow. I never would have believed it if I hadn’t seen it. I still can’t quite believe that it’s being done in Canada, to Canadians … at our expense. It seems that Harper has found a use for the money that he is “saving” by shutting down
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