In his latest abuse of the legislative processes, Harper has slide a particularly slimy bit into the 2015 budget implementation bill: The Harper government moved to retroactively rewrite Canada’s access to information law in order to prevent possible criminal charges against the RCMP, The Canadian Press has learned. An
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Accidental Deliberations: On first steps
Dru Oja Jay, David Bush and Doug Nesbitt, Graham Steele and Karl Nerenberg have already offered their suggestions on the first steps for Rachel Notley’s Alberta NDP government (and the progressives hoping for it to produce positive change). But I’ll offer my own take based on one overriding principle: having
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Harper History, Part 5A – Information witheld , Omnibus Budget
Mar 2010 – June 2010 If the period before the second prorogation of Parliament was deemed “dysfunctional” the period from when parliament returned in March and the following 12 months till the 2011 election should be classed as totally without any redeeming features. It includes an ongoing and never-ending series
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Another little thing that stood out #nlpoli
From Tuesday’s throne speech, here’s another little passage buried away, that could prove to be one of the most significant parts of any throne speech in a long time: Our government is developing Newfoundland and Labrador’s first Open Government Action Plan, reflecting the best ‘open government’ practices in the world.
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: “Strong, Proud, Free”
The above is apparently the ‘branding’ that the Conservatives are now going to be inundating us with for the foreseeable future, it remains to be seen if we finally see the end of the “Economic Action Plan” Ads that have plagued us for years in attempting to persuade us that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Dean Baker reminds us that we shouldn’t let ourselves get distracted from the serious problems with inequality when defenders of the status quo try to change the subject to mobility: (M)any of the policies that would most obviously promote equality also promote growth.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On structures of convenience
The Progress Summit panel on accountability and transparency has covered the issued of power being consolidated in the hands of the executive, as well as the fact that Stephen Harper’s actions in that respect only reflect a wider pattern. But it’s worth reminding ourselves how that trend is best explained
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: A Study in Tyranny (Part 1)
“Message Control and Vetting” A guest post by Pamela Mac NeilCanadians for the first time in our history must confront the menacing truth, that our Prime Minister is a dictator and the Conservative Government for the most part are enabling him in turning Canada into a dictatorship, incremental or otherwise.There
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: In Government We Trust?
As I review the actions of the Harper Regime since coming to power for my Harper History Series, an undertaking that one must take in very small bites if one is to retain one composure and sanity, I have been thinking a great deal about the choices before us and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – PressProgress notes that the Cons’ economic track record is one of eliminating well-paying jobs in favour of lower-wage, more-precarious work. And Jim Stanford follows up on why we shouldn’t believe the Cons’ spin about deficits: I think that a more fruitful and principled
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: 2015 Budget Prorogued.
We all know that when backed into a corner Harper will do almost anything to avoid any negative information about his regime from emerging from his$65 million plus a year PMO spin machine and that this is particularly true of bad economic news. We know in the past he prorogued
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – David Foot and Daniel Stoffman discuss Thomas Piketty’s role in highlighting the need to work toward greater equality, while pointing out a few options to increase public revenues from people who can afford to pay them. And Ezra Klein interviews Paul Krugman about
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Mark Bittman discusses the connection between economic and social ills in the U.S., and offers a message which applies equally to Canada: I have spent a great deal of time talking about the food movement and its potential, because to truly change the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Lynn Parramore interviews Joseph Stiglitz about the spread of inequality, along with the need for a strengthened labour movement to reverse the trend: LP: In your paper, you indicate that the power of the 1 percent to exploit the rest seems to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Ryan Meili examines why Craig Alexander of the TD Bank is calling for a move toward greater income equality in Canada: The OECD reports that income inequality is at the highest level in 30 years, and that economic growth has been slowed by
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Carter Price offers another look at how inequality damages economic development. And the Broadbent Institute examines the wealth gap in Canada – which is already recognized as a serious problem, but also far larger than most people realize: – Paul Buchheit discusses
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Aditya Chakrabortty contrasts the myth of the free market against the reality that massive amounts of public money and other privileges are shoveled toward the corporate sector: Few conceits are more cherished by our political classes than the notion that this is a
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Your Information is in the Mail
I see a Con MP is proposing to increase the $5 fee for an Access to Information Request which given what Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault saysmay at first seem like a reasonable idea. “We need more investigators, and it is not my office that is in a crisis, it is the fact that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Polly Toynbee writes about the unfortunate agreement among the UK’s major parties not to talk about the real effects of gratuitous cuts for fear that the public won’t abide honesty in politics. And George Monbiot discusses how the UK’s tax system favours rents
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Tony Clement’s Orwellian "Open Government" Plan
I suppose we should have known that anything Tony Clement proposes would be hideously flawed, so rotten is his record.And his so-called "Open Government" plan" is no different.The Conservative government has rejected calls to reform the Access to Information Act as part of a new openness plan. The final version
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