Public servants celebrating the enrolment of 5 million citizens in the Ontario Hospital Insurance Plan (1959, Archives of Ontario) Notes for talk at Public Policy Forum Dinner, April 11, 2013 I am delighted to be here with family, friends and colleagues this evening – an evening that can only be
Continue readingTag: accountability
Paul S. Graham: Whose Winnipeg is it, anyway?
March 14, 2013: The Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, in partnership with OURS Winnipeg, For the Love of Winnipeg and Planners’ Network Manitoba, held a well attended public forum at the Millennium Library to discuss how decisions about land use are made in Winnipeg. In a wide ranging discussion, Winnipeg’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: #mtlqc13 Priority Resolution – Governance
One of the most obvious sources of cynicism in politics – which the NDP should be seeking to combat at every turn – is the presence of issues where opposition promises turn into government inaction or even abuse. And the Cons have sadly offered a case in point when it
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – While there’s room to question whether we should accept spending as self-definition in the first place, Zoe Williams is right to make the point that arbitrary restrictions on benefits serve to put yet more barriers to full social participation in front of the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Edward Greenspon discusses the importance of a public service whose focus extends beyond the narrow interests of the government of the day: The hundreds of thousands of Canadians who work for governments, particularly those employed – in the evolving argot of recent
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: TransCanada Pipelines Whistleblower Receives National Award
By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive A former TransCanada Corporation employee who blew the whistle on the rising pipeline incidents and rule-breaking by Big Oil has been chosen as the recipient of the 2013 Golden Whistle Blower Award. Evan Vokes, a former professional materials engineer at TransCanada Pipelines (TCPL), received the award in Ottawa on Monday.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Bea Vongdouangchanh reports on Kevin Page’s concerns that the Cons are set to effectively destroy the PBO. And the Star’s editorial board slams Stephen Harper’s war against transparency and accountability in general: Stonewalling, foot-dragging and contempt for Parliament pay. At least that’s what
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Fukushima’s victims show why Harper must update nuclear liability law
By Greenpeace Canada (Press Release) | Feb. 19, 2013: TORONTO – Hundreds of thousands of victims of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan are still denied fair compensation from a governmental regulatory system that allows the nuclear industry to evade its responsibilities and forces the public to pay for its
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Jim Stanford points out that any “bitumen bubble” will only get worse if the Cons and their provincial cousins get their way in shifting the Canadian economy even further toward immediate tar sands extraction: (I)f the problem exists because we’re pumping out
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Aagh, Harper Conservatives Nuked Democratic NDP Motion On Role Of PBO
By Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive, Feb. 14, 2013: Showing their burgeoning disdain for accountability, transparency, financial oversight and the independence of federal watchdogs, the Harper Conservatives earlier this week nuked a progressive NDP motion on the role of the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO). The motion, tabled by the Official Opposition’s Finance critic, Peggy
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Is Christy Clark Lying to Us About the LNG Tax Windfall?
I don’t know. Do you? No. And, it seems, we won’t be permitted to determine if the BC Liberal government is lying to us about their future vision of rolling in billions in fresh new LNG tax money because the supporting reports won’t be released. So much for accountability and open
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on the difference between genuine accountability and the rather more barbaric version on offer from the Cons and the Sask Party. While there are too many examples of the latter to list, I’ll point out a few of the most recent ones – including the federal Cons’ false denials
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: An Unwavering Commitment to Inaction, Indecision, and Extra Pork #nlpoli
In 2010, the provincial government appointed Captain Mark Turner to look at the “province’s offshore oil spill prevention and response capabilities.” He produced the 273 page report and the provincial government dutifully released it along with a lovely news release. Then-natural resources minister Shawn Skinner committed that the provincial government
Continue readingNorthern Insight: P3 primer for British Columbia
Since the beginning of time, the public built facilities in partnerships with private industry. Typically, government determined needs according to its priorities, hired consultants for design and tendering, awarded work to the lowest bidder and financed with its usual sources, typically the lowest cost borrowing available. As long as all
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: MiningWatch Canada: Rape Victims Must Sign Away Rights to Get Remedy From Barrick Gold
by Mining Watch Canada | Jan. 30, 2013 Ottawa – Washington, D.C. – Oxford – Following years of denial, Barrick Gold is implementing a remedy program for victims of rape by employees of its Porgera Joint Venture (PJV) mine in Papua New Guinea (PNG). In order to receive a remedy
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Time To Rein In CVRD Director’s Spending On Grants In Aid!
The Cowichan News Leader regularly runs an editorial segment – Seeing Both Sides: The case for The provincial government has spent the past decade cutting back on the funding it had previously made available for community groups. Because of that, the funding provided by the CVRD through its grants budget can often
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Who’s Running BC?
It has been a month of amateurish politics starting with the government posting the auditor-general’s job. Then this week the government backed down several steps to keep from ejecting the well-respected A-G John Doyle from his chair with an attempt at saving face by changing the legislation surrounding his appointment.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Question and answer
Sixth Estate and impolitical have both followed up on the Cons’ attempts to attack Canada’s opposition parties for having the nerve to ask questions of their government by noting that in contrast to the Cons’ spin, the UK offers answers to MPs’ questions at a hundredth of the cost. But
Continue readingNorthern Insight: The reason Liberals hide BC Rail files
While British Columbia’s government hides BC Rail documents from the Auditor General, consider this current news story. It demonstrates one more example of why full disclosure and transparency is needed for all public and quasi-public financials transactions: York University sues former executive for “vast” fraud, Toronto Star, Dec. 23/12 “A
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jim Stanford is the latest to point out that the Cons see accountability and transparency solely as punishments to be inflicted on their perceived enemies, not as values to be applied to their own decision-making: Following Mr. Hiebert’s logic, any organization in society
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