Full Text Read it. It’s a bombshell that very clearly ties Harper into this whole scheme. It doesn’t make any of the parties involved look good – in fact in many respects it makes Duffy look pretty low too – which is part of the reason I suspect that he
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The Cracked Crystal Ball II: The Developer Witch Hunt Proceeds
Wow … if you are considering voting for a candidate who is being backed by the Developers in this city, ask yourself if this is the kind of backroom politics you want to support: Global News has learned there was an organized effort by some developers to track down who
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Will Fracking Be The Catalyst?
In the last couple of weeks, there has been a lot in the news regarding Canada’s First Nations. The UN Special Rapporteur finished his tour and quite correctly stated that Canada is facing a crisis with respect to its relations with its First Nations. Harper threw a couple of ambiguous
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Speech From The Throne
As expected, yesterday's Speech From The Throne was a mixed bag of feel good items and attempts to set political traps for future governments. As expected Harper starts off by trying to brag about his economic record: Last year’s deficit was less than forecast. Our Government will balance the budget
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Is YOUR Boss Telling You How To Vote?
It’s Calgary, 2013. I thought we had a fairly mature democracy. Certainly one above the kind of political shenanigans that the builders are pushing. In today’s Calgary Herald, an article appears which talks about the President and CEO of Excel Homes and Apex sending a memo to the employees of
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Pay to Go Politics in YYC
So, yesterday there was an “all candidates forum” sponsored by The Calgary Chamber of Commerce, the Urban Development Institute – Calgary and The Canadian Homebuilders Association – Calgary Region. I did not attend this forum – for several reasons. We already know that the developer community (or at least notable
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: On Living Wage, Minimum Income and Corporate Feudalism
I have ranted on this blog in the past about Corporate Feudalism and how this is resulting in larger and larger corporations which end up abusing their employees – usually in the form of trying to push wages down as low as they can, and trying to avoid paying benefits
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Consumer Friendly Throne Speech?
So, the Harper Government is promising a “consumer friendly” Throne Speech this week. Among the “goodies” being discussed are “a la carte cable” and a “passenger bill of rights”, all as part of a “grow the economy” strategy. More or less, the Conservatives are going to put forward a combination
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: When Logic Does Not Factor Into Policy
Yesterday, Canada’s Minister for the Status of Women spoke on the recent decision for Canada to restrict funding related to War Rape and Forced Marriage victims to organizations and programs that exclude abortion. As a pediatric surgeon, she said she’s confident Canada has chosen to target its aid where it
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: More On Duffy and Conservative Corruption
I must admit that while I really don’t much like Mike Duffy and the seemingly endless stream of evidence of corruption with him at the root of it is fatiguing to read about all the time, it is still an important issue. I am not going to argue about Senate
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: The Mayor’s Debate in Calgary
Last night, Calgary’s Civic Camp organization put together an all-candidates debate for the Mayoralty. The format of the forum was excellent, and the effort to crowdsource the questions to be debated produced far better results than other political debates I have seen. I must admit to being disappointed with the
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Conservatives: Punish, Punish, Punish
Canada’s Harper Government once again revealed the ugly side of its views this past week. First up, we have the Harper Government axing the pittance that inmates are paid for their labour while in prison. The government began deducting the money from prisoners’ paycheques as part of a move to recover costs under
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: What Was That About "Not Re-Opening the Abortion Debate"?
Since 2006, Harper has repeatedly “refused” to open the abortion debate in Canada … or at least so he claims. But then again, there’s the old saw about “actions speak louder than words”. Once again, the Harper Government has taken actions which very clearly articulate where they stand. On Huffington
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: The Problem Of Corporate Personhood
Over the last several years, we have seen a steady escalation of businesses asserting rights and privileges which are normally reserved for individuals. A number of years ago, that extended into the realm of freedom of speech, and other areas where corporations are gradually asserting the same rights and freedoms
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: What The US Government Shutdown Really Shows
Last night, the US Government shut down all ‘non-essential’ services. The reason? Because a group of Republicans in the House of Representatives had a hissy fit over funding health care and tried to slam riders onto the budget legislation which would defund it, and the Senate refused to pass the amended
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Calgary Sun Plays The Racist Card …
It’s never been a big secret that lurking just underneath the surface of Canada’s right wing politics is a religiously-inspired vein of racism. It reared its head back in the late 1980s when the debate over turbans in the RCMP was at full volume, and the Reform Party voted to
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Approaching Native Issues and the Language of Decolonization
For the last several years, Native American activists in Canada have been using the language of “decolonize” or “decolonialism” as a part of their rhetoric in advocating for change. I do not believe that this is a particularly useful tactic for a lot of reasons, and one which in the
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Del Mastro Charged … and … Your Point Is?
All over the news yesterday was headlines about Dean Del Mastro being charged by Elections Canada for misdeeds in the 2008 election. You’d think I’d be cheering. I’m not. Yes, I’m glad that Del Mastro will, at last, have to answer for questionable campaign practices in the 2008 election. But,
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Harper: Bringing New Levels Of Accountable Government To You
It comes as no surprise that The Harper Government has spent a great deal of time and energy doing its level best to be as unaccountable as possible to voters. So it comes as little surprise that Suzanne Legault, The Information Commissioner of Canada is less than impressed with the games
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Alberta’s Sales Tax Phobia
Ever since I was a child growing up, Alberta has made a big deal about how we don’t have a sales tax. Back in the day, when resource revenues were perhaps more predictable because the markets didn’t move as fast as they do now, perhaps that was a good thing.
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