It came out in the news yesterday that Shane Homes’ president Cal Wenzel has decided to sue Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi over statements made during this year’s election campaign. At first, I found myself scratching my head over this lawsuit. Why bother? It was one sentence in one interview in
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The Cracked Crystal Ball II: Shorter Coyne On Senate Reform: Give All The Power To The PMO
In the wake of this week’s Supreme Court Hearings on the Senate Reform consultation questions that the Harper Government posed last spring, the National Post’s Andrew Coyne has postulated that the provinces shouldn’t be part of the amending formula. The government’s lawyers have gamely maintained that much of tis short-term
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Rob Ford Wants To Sue?
Apparently, Rob Ford has caught the conservative bug for suing everyone in sight. First of all, while it may be possible to sue over statements that several people gave to police during the course of investigation, I’m thinking that Mr. Ford is going to have a small credibility problem with
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: LSN Lies About PEI Sexual Development Guide
Apparently PEI has published a guidebook for parents as to what is normal sexual development for children, and the folks over at LifeSite News don’t like it very much. Link to the actual guidebook: http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/CSA_Healthy.pdf According to LifeSite: A new guide from the government of P.E.I. is telling parents that
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Flaherty’s (mis)Adventures In Balanced Budget Land
Flaherty is expected to deliver an “optimistic” fiscal update report today, which will show the government tracking to achieve a “balanced budget” by 2015. Unlike last year’s update which went down like a spoonful of cod-liver oil β tastes awful, but good for you β Flaherty has signalled he
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: An Interesting Analysis Of The Recent Scandals
In reading the following article from Global Research: The “Scandalization” of Canadian Politics: The Hard Truths of Neoliberal Conservatism, I found myself agreeing with the author on some points, but substantially disagreeing with the extrapolations being drawn from the basic evidence. If I were to distill this entire article down
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Dear CBE: Trustees Are Accountable To The Public
On CBC this morning, I heard that the Calgary Board of Education had demanded that the new board of trustees sign what amounts to a “gag order” preventing them from talking to the press: The new chair of the Calgary public school board says she regrets signing an agreement that
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Rob Ford: Please Get The Help You Need
After watching today’s video recording of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, and in particular the Press Conference footage, I am saddened to see this unfolding. The man is so obviously in way over his head. It appears that he doesn’t even remember the events in that video. Sadly, I don’t think
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: As Predicted
Mike Duffy is releasing the next bits of information linking this whole steaming mess back to Harper’s doorstep (or his desk). Senator Mike Duffy’s lawyer has begun turning over hundreds of emails to the RCMP following a request by the Mounties last Friday to hand over documentation that may prove
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: That Was A Tactical Error
Last night, Canada’s Senate voted to suspend three of its members. Senators were allowed to vote separately with these results: On the motion to suspend Brazeau without pay, 50 yeas, 29 nays, 13 abstentions. On the motion to suspend Duffy without pay, 52 yeas, 28 nays, 11 abstentions. On the
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: On Senate Reform
The notion of a referendum on Senate abolition has been percolating around more publicly again. This isn’t necessarily a bad idea in itself. As I pointed out back here, it really doesn’t matter if such a measure were passed in a public referendum. Harper still ends up obliged to work
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Harper: "I’m Not Responsible"
Stephen “I’m All About Everybody Else’s Accountability” Harper is trying to deflect responsibility for the actions of his PMO staff in the Senate Scandal. βThe Senate should do the right thing now and suspend those senators without pay!β Harper told a crowd of 3,000, according to estimates from Conservative party
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: The Wingnut Base Is Still Firmly In Control
According to CBC, the CPC has passed a swath of policy motions which are clearly designed for the ultra-conservative (theocon) base. Conservative Party members have passed motions at their biannual convention in Calgary, pledging not to support euthanasia or assisted suicide, and to scale back public sector pension plans. The
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Why Harper Will Never Reform The Senate
Protestations aside, Harper will never reform Canada’s Senate. Harper’s 45-minute remarks included only a brief reference to the main political headache that has shaken his party since May, the Senate expense scandal. He did not acknowledge the coverup allegation that has kept the controversy in the headlines. The party leader
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Rob Ford and the Mysterious Reappearing Video
So, the mysterious video that Rob Ford claimed “didn’t exist” has resurfaced. Frankly, the fact that Rob Ford appears to have smoked some crack, and by his own admission a considerable amount of pot, really doesn’t bother me. At least not the deeds themselves. Quite frankly, the whole idea of
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: CPC Policy Convention Resolutions …
Although back room conversations at this weekend’s CPC convention will no doubt be dominated by discussions of how badly Harper has been handling the Senate Scandal, and the latest revelations of the Rob Ford smoking crack video story, there are a number of topics on the floor that Canadians should
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Harper Is Revising History For His Political Gain
I’ve said in this space before that Harper will lie through his teeth if he thinks that it is to his political gain. Yesterday, Harper threw form Chief of Staff Nigel Wright under the bus in a fit of historical revisionism that would make a holocaust denier ashamed. Yahoo News
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Harper’s Eyes Wide Shut Moment
As the Senate Expenses Scandal unfolds, Canadians are seeing the consequences of the culture that Harper has fostered in the CPC in his drive to gain power. When Harper set his sights on power, specifically on making the CPC “Canada’s Natural Governing Party” for the coming decades, he decided
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: There Is No Honour Among Thieves
Make no mistake about it, I have little sympathy for Mike Duffy. When I caught wind of his political aspirations several years before he became a Senator, he ceased to be among the journalists that I had much respect for. That said, Duffy’s last couple of speeches in the
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: On Russell Brand’s Interview
I heard Brand’s interview late last week, and I’ve been stewing on it ever since. On a lot of topics, I have to say that I agree with Brand’s frustration. The existing power structures are not healthy – in fact I would argue that they have been subverted by
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