This and that for your Sunday reading. – Doug Saunders observes that Syriza’s strong election victory may signal a sea change as to whether austerity is inevitable, while Adnan Al-Daini notes that the financial sector can no longer take for granted that its profits will be placed above the interests
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Accidental 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 readingMontreal Simon: The Totally Unbelievable Transformation of Stephen Harper
Even by the standards of the monstrous Stephen Harper, whose many images reflect the many warring voices in his head, it's an amazing transformation. Or mutation.For nine years he was the Oily Messiah, the maniacal missionary who once told an audience in Britain that developing the oil sands was akin to building the
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Why Is Canada Selling LAVs to Saudi Arabia?
This shocking news story came up about a year ago, but it’s back in the news because oil crashed, and Alberta tarsand hillbillies freaked out about Saudi Arabia (finally). The Light Armored Vehicles will be used against civilians protesting injustice in a theocratic, and authoritarian country.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Larry Elliott writes that at least some business leaders are paying lip service to the idea that inequality needs to be reined in. But Alec Hogg points out that at least some of the privileged few are using their obscene wealth to remove
Continue readingMY MLA? OL’ WHAZHIZFACE?
I have a question for you, dear reader. What factor was the biggest factor that drove your voting decision in the 2012 Alberta election? Did you base your vote on a platform, a leader, a party, a local candidate or was it a combination of two or more factors? The 2011 Canadian Election Study asked … Continue reading MY MLA? OL’ WHAZHIZFACE? →
Continue readingMy MLA? Ol’ Whazhizface?
I have a question for you, dear reader. What factor was the biggest factor that drove your voting decision in the 2012 Alberta election? Did you base your vote on a platform, a leader, a party, a local candidate or was it a combination of two or more factors? The
Continue readingFlat Tax Math Yields a T-Bird
Here’s some interesting math for you. Between 2011 and 2014, Alberta Premier Jim Prentice was a Vice-President for CIBC, with a salary “reportedly over $2 million.” In Ontario, his 2013 provincial income taxes would have been calculated using a progressively increasing tax rate that topped out at 13.16% on income over $509,000. The
Continue readingFLAT TAX MATH YIELDS A T-BIRD
Here’s some interesting math for you. Between 2011 and 2014, Alberta Premier Jim Prentice was a Vice-President for CIBC, with a salary “reportedly over $2 million.” In Ontario, his 2013 provincial income taxes would have been calculated using a progressively increasing tax rate that topped out at 13.16% on income over $509,000. The provincial tax deducted from his … Continue reading FLAT TAX MATH YIELDS A T-BIRD →
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – The Economist argues that lower oil prices offer an ideal opportunity to rethink our energy policy (with a focus on cleaner sources). And Mitchell Anderson offers a eulogy for Alberta’s most recent oil bender: For now the latest Alberta bender is over,
Continue readingLeft Over: Should the CBC Walk the Proverbial Plank?
http://montrealsimon.blogspot.ca/2015/01/what-needs-to-be-said-about-cbc-scandals.html The only valid argument for saving the CBC is that it has a MANDATE, coast to coast to coast, to be there for all the people of this country, to disseminate information (however flawed that process might be these days..) and news for the entire country, especially those
Continue readingA sales tax for Alberta?
Alberta Premier Jim Prentice recently committed heresy. Faced with plummeting oil prices and the possibility of a $500-million deficit, the premier actually encouraged discussion about adopting a sales tax. “I don’t think Albertans generally advocate a sales tax,” he said, “but I’m prepared to be educated and to hear from
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Evening Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Oliver Milman reports on research showing how humanity is destroying its own environmental life support systems. And our appetite for exploitation is proving a failure even from the standpoint of the pursuit of shortsighted greed, as David Dayen considers how the recent drop
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: A Gram of Prevention is Worth a Kiloliter of Benzine
If you don’t know how to fix things, stop breaking them. Stewart, however, said it could take months for the steam to cool and the pressure to drop. He said that means any leaks from the well could continue for months. He also expressed doubts that a cleanup is possible
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: The International Game Of Chicken
The current low oil prices have been characterized as a high stakes game of “chicken” between OPEC countries and “non-conventional” producing countries like Canada and more recently the US. I don’t pretend to know the state of the books for OPEC’s countries, but I imagine they have a significant chunk
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: What’s a Single Issue Prime Minister to Do?
These are not good times for Canada’s petro-prime minister. Harper’s Holy Grail, Canadian energy superpowerdom, has sprung a leak. Even The Globe & Mail, says bitumen no longer makes any economic sense. If $40 a barrel still seems a ways off, consider that the benchmark price for oil sands crude
Continue readingEclectic Lip: …on the Entrepreneurial State
With the next Canadian federal election less than a year away – and undesirables like Wayne Gretzky soon to be purged from the voter lists – I’ve been getting a lot more fundraising emails lately. As of mid-December I’d received nineteen in eighteen days. It was like a Christmas advent
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: A Little Heresy – Alberta Style
So, according to Premier Prentice, the downturn in oil prices is going to create an $11 Billion hole in provincial revenues, and is now talking about putting the brakes on all kinds of infrastructure spending, including a new cancer hospital in Calgary. Okay, that’s a significant chunk of change. Let’s
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: On The WRP Collapse
Much has been made of the WRP’s collapse in Alberta this past week. Everything from speculation about the role of various people, to Ms. Smith more or less admitting that she was being undermined by the Social Conservative rump of the party. Back when the WRP was just getting
Continue readingLeft Over: Reflections on Defections….
ANALYSIS MP Glenn Thibeault’s defection leaves the NDP feeling ‘hurt’ Sudbury MP’s decision to join provincial Liberals leaves former party searching for answers By Rosemary Barton, CBC News Posted: Dec 18, 2014 11:00 AM ET Last Updated: Dec 18, 2014 11:00 AM ET 9 Wildrose MLAs, including Danielle Smith, cross
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