I am still getting over the huge success of our party in this election. My first thought was that the NDP did great but if you take Quebec out we just got by. That’s wrong however. We increased our seat count and if we are to look at the big citi…
Continue readingViews from the lake - eh?: So you sent him packing….
Now he’s gone and you rejoice in your victory. You have politically destroyed a man who’s only failings seemed to be that he was a decent and intelligent person. And that scared you. A man whose credentials were undisputed and recognized globally you d…
Continue readingCathiefromCanada: Trivial
As usual, the media seem to be focusing on trivialities, like how young some of the new NDP members of parliament are:Canada’s problem for the next four years is not going to be the age of the people sitting on the opposition benches:
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Did NDP Sectarianism Screw Canada? Part 2
On Saturday, May 7, The Toronto Star, published a front-page “Exclusive” article entitled “What Really Sunk Ignatieff and the Liberals”, written by veteran reporter Linda Diebel. You can read it here: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/987422–exclusive-what-really-sunk-michael-ignatieff-and-the-liberals?bn=1 Among the reasons it cites for the Liberal’s demise was the fact that during the April 12th leaders’ debate, NDP leader Jack Layton […]
Continue readingALTAVISTAGOOGLE: Ruth Ellen, The Mona Lisa of Our Time
1 photo. How does a politician, no less a photogenic one that took InternetMarketing as part of her Marketing Diploma at Kingston’s SaintLawrence College, have a grand total of 1 picture of herself on theInternet?To date, she has granted a grand total of 1 interview. And it was byphone! Today she also made and an audio recording, in French thistime, that was auto-called to Berthier-Meskinon…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Reflection on the Election
Poring over the entrails leads me to a couple of observations. First, as is usually the case, the change in the distribution of seats which commands headlines is an imperfect reflection of the change in the distribution of votes. The NDP breakthrough in Quebec was remarkable and historically important and unprecedented, but so was the […]
Continue readingWorking against a permanent Conservative majority
This originated as a comment over at Thwap’s place, but perhaps I should expand on it a bit.Call me a hair-splitter if you must, but while certain individual Liberal activists might be open to some new electoral thinking, I wouldn’t be so sanguine abou…
Continue readingArt Threat: UC Berkeley offers subsidized new media workshop – Multimedia reporting and convergence for journalists
The Knight Digital Media Center at UC Berkeley is hosting an all expenses paid new media workshop for journalists, freelancers and educators. The Workshop runs from July 17 -22 and offers intensive training for all aspects of multimedia news production; from basic storyboarding to hands-on instruction with hardware and software for production of multimedia stories. […]
Continue readingJohn Laforet - President - Wind Concerns Ontario: It Has Been a While Since I’ve Blogged
It’s been over a month since I’ve updated my website. Sometimes I’ve entered a second week since posting something new, but never a full month. It hasn’t been from having a lack of things to say or share, in fact it is probably more the opposite. I’ve been to a number of communities, have been […]
Continue readingRalph Nader Speaks . . . .
On the Canadian election, U.S. politics, the “security perimeter” and proportional representation.All in less than 8 minutes.Concentrated, rational analysis . . . .Recommend this Post at Progressive Bloggers
Continue readingArt Threat: Courage, candour and inspiration – A review of The Interrupters
The new Steve James documentary is courageous and beautiful social cinema.
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Will the NDP become the new Liberal Party?
Almost since he was elected NDP leader in 2003, Jack Layton has mused about replacing the Liberal Party as the official opposition. He was roundly ridiculed for this fantasy and can now, if he chooses, tell us all that he told us so. But for the NDP an…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: The Assassination of bin Laden: Its Use and Abuse
The assassination of bin Laden has been celebrated as a great strategic victory by the White House, the European capitals and all the major mass media outlets throughout the world. The killing has served as a major propaganda tool to enhance the standi…
Continue readingArt Threat: Artists-in-residence @ Eyebeam Art & Technology Centre – Call for applications for Fall/Winter 2011
Eyebeam Gallery is looking for artists to come and play. The Eyebeam artist-in-residence program is inviting artists to create and teach in their labs and studios in NYC from September 2011 to January 2012. Eyebeam is one of the leading art & technology centers in the world, a place where artists and technologists mix with […]
Continue readingThe Equivocator: Some post-election thoughts.
Some articles with better insight than I can provide: The Liberal 34. Renewing the Liberal Party: Leadership. The Liberal Party: What went wrong and where to next? Election Post Mortem: The Liberals Some post-election thoughts: Despite the results, the Liberal … Continue reading →
Exponential Book: Dissecting the 2011 vote
Having reaffirmed once again my inability at making accurate predictions, I am going to offer now my very personal reading of the results of the general election held in Canada early this week. I am, of course, no pundit or political scientist, merely …
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Perils of “Strategic” Voting
Several Toronto Star and Globe and Mail columnists have suggested that the Conservative majority resulted from too little strategic voting for the Liberals. In every federal election that I can remember, the Liberals have appealed for progressive votes to stop the Conservatives (or their Reform-Alliance predecessors). A major flaw in this logic is that relatively […]
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: TFSAs and progressive savings policies
With Harper’s majority secured, it is quite likely that the popular Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSA’s) will double the allowable contributions to $10k per year by 2014. There is a considerable benefit to policies that encourage higher savings rates but…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Maude Barlow on the Election
While I have been having a bit of a difficult time recovering from the double blows of the Harper majority and the apparent apathy of 40% of my fellow Canadians in their failure to vote in last Monday’s election, I took some comfort in reading Maude Ba…
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: Reforming the Liberal Party: At the top, part one
In my last reform post I touched on reforming the Liberal Party from a leadership perspective. Today, I’d like to touch on reforms from a party structure, procedure and philosophy perspective.Merger madnessBut first, let me touch on the elephant in the…
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