Owen Gray – Page 152 – Progressive Bloggers // Blogues progressistes

February 12, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: Caught In His Own Web

http://pixgood.com/ The plan was to ensnare the opposition in an economic web from which they could not escape. Instead, Stephen Harper finds that

February 11, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: The Triumph Of Naked Ambition

http://davinci41.deviantart.com/ Eve Adams’ floor crossing was the latest example of what has become a plague. Politicians used to claim they believed in public service. Now all pretense has

February 10, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: The News Is Not Good

http://www.journaldemontreal.com/ Yesterday, I wrote that Stephen Harper had devalued the coin of the realm — trust. And I suggested that the distrust Canadians now felt for him might result

February 9, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: Devaluing The Coin Of The Realm

http://beforeitsnews.com/ The CBC has been battered by the antics of Jian Ghomeshi, Peter Mansbridge and Amanda Lang. South of the border, NBC is dealing with the fallout of Brian Williams’ fictionalized accounts of what he did in Iraq. And the Globe and Mail has given space to Stephen Harper

February 8, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: The Lessons Of 2006 and 2008

http://www.counterweights.ca/ It’s hard to predict the outcome of an election. But this time around, if the Harperites receive a plurality of votes, Nelson Wiseman writes that 2006 and 2008 should have taught the opposition parties a few lessons: If the 2015 election produces another Conservative minority, the first lesson

February 7, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: Not In His Vocabulary

http://criticallegalthinking.com/ The financial world is waiting for the other shoe to drop in Greece. It’s a sure bet that Greece’s creditors are biting their fingernails.

February 6, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: Let’s Not Forget

http://www.macleans.ca/ Diplomacy was is full bloom when John Baird announced his retirement this week. That was strange, Michael Harris writes, given Baird’s record as Minister of

February 5, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: Stephen Houdini

http://www.biography.com/ Like Harry Houdini, Stephen Harper has built his career on illusion. His chief accomplishment has been to convince a significant number of Canadians that he is someone he is not. Along the way, he has sold a number of other illusions. Most important among them

February 4, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: The Sins Of The Fathers

For Neo-Liberals, a deficit is more than a negative number. It is a moral failure — a sin. That conviction drives Stephen Harper’s economic policy. And that conviction, Scott Clark and Peter DeVries write, is a perversion of economics. Until recently, Canadian governments have understood that fixation on deficits is

February 3, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: It’s Not The Deficit. There Are More Serious Miscalculations

https://www.pinterest.com/ Much has been written about the Harper government’s deficit projections. Jim Stanford writes that, on paper, the budget will be balanced. There are all kinds of accounting tricks that can make that happen. The government is vulnerable, he writes because it has grossly mismanaged the economy: The October

February 2, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: No Great Man

Stephen Harper is a champion of disaster democracy. Michael Harris writes: Disaster democracy needs just three things; an atrocious event, a political leader sufficiently cynical not to let any catastrophe go to waste, and a public mindset willing to exchange liberties for the illusion of safety. The great benefit of

February 1, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: Country Over Party

Gerry Caplan writes that the Liberals and the New Democrats are going to have to do what is unthinkable — work together. It’s possible that either party might win a majority. But, if that doesn’t happen: Some kind of long-term rapprochement between the NDP and Liberals must be pursued. Don’t

January 31, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: Canada’s Elmer Gantry

http://djardine.blogspot.ca/ There was a time in this country when those charged with enforcing the law broke it in the name of national security. Tom Walkom reminds his

January 30, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: The First Casualty

https://bcblue.wordpress.com/ Truth is always the first casualty of war. And no one should be surprised that it is the first casualty of Stephen Harper’s War. Michael Harris

January 29, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: An Unmitigated Disaster

http://keef.tv/blog/ Jim Stanford writes that the sound a fury about a balanced budget is about politics, not economics: Running spending cuts since 2011 now total

January 28, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: When They Cower In Abject Fear

http://www.mirror.co.uk/ Tomorrow, we’re told, the Harper government will introduce its new anti-terror legislation. Recent events have proved to be the undoing of the Harperian economy. So a diversion is in order. If they won’t vote on your economic record, perhaps they’ll vote for you out of fear. And if

January 27, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: When He’s Naked, He Looks Ridiculous

http://cupe3902.org/ Yesterday, the opposition parties hammered the Harper government on what was supposed to be its signature issue going into the upcoming election. The

January 26, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: Democracy? What Democracy?

http://gagordernetwork.com/ Last week the Harper government awarded a ship building contract to the Irving family. Like the F-35 contract, it was awarded — by a “bureaucrat”

January 25, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: Neo-Liberalism: The Undying Monster

http://www.horror-movies.ca/ Neo-Liberalism came to Canada long before Stephen Harper came to Ottawa. It was ushered into public policy by Brian Mulroney, who privatised crown corporations like Air Canada and Petro Canada. Jean Chretien and Paul Martin contributed to its juggernaut by signing NAFTA and by introducing fiscal restraint. But

January 24, 2015 Owen Gray

Northern Reflections: That Grievance Mentality

http://mckennasmagic.weebly.com/ Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address this week. Here are a few highlights: We still need laws that strengthen rather than weaken unions.” “We still need … a higher minimum wage.” “Free community college is possible.” “Let’s set our sights higher than a single oil