My husband and I were talking tonight and he asked “Exactly what is ‘Woke’ anyway?” Hmm, good question. Coincidentally, I have been reading some stuff just today about it, and here it is. First, a few cartoons I found about how crazy the anti-woke MAGA is getting: But defining Woke
Continue readingTag: Bob Rae
Accidental Deliberations: Friday Evening Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Stephen Mihm writes that among other positive outcomes, wealth taxes and other progressive tax options reliably produce a boost in life satisfaction for a large number of people (while having little impact on the positional interests of the ultra-rich against each other). And
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: From Rae Days to Ford Years.
It does seem odd to think of current conservative premier of Ontario Doug Ford and former NDP premier Bob Rae at the same time. The other day Bob Hepburn of the Toronto Star tried to compare the two in an opinion piece. He failed. The reasons that Bob Rae failed
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Guest Post: Why Alberta’s NDP will be living dangerously for the next four years
John Ashton is the co-author with former Alberta NDP leader Ray Martin of Made in Alberta: The Ray Martin Story. He has served as staff on 26 NDP campaigns. In this guest post, Mr. Ashton argues Alberta’s NDP may not be the first provincial branch of the New Democratic Party
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Former Alberta immigration minister asks federal immigration minister for investigation of UCP candidate’s alleged immigration practices
Former Alberta employment and immigration minister Thomas Lukaszuk has written federal immigration minister Ahmed Hussein urging him to open a formal investigation into serious allegations a temporary foreign worker was improperly treated by a business person who is now a United Conservative Party candidate in Calgary. Mr. Lukaszuk, who was
Continue readingTattered Sleeve: Every Canadian should read Bob Rae’s column in the Walrus
It is all about Canada-USA relations, and in particular, this uncomforting reality: “It’s time we understood just how far apart our two countries are and act accordingly” The whole text is here. Interestingly, it comes just hours after the publication of this warning for the EU from the Guardian:EU must
Continue readingAlberta Politics: 28 years and counting, Conservatives in Alberta and Ontario continue to misrepresent Bob Rae’s record
Now that he’s sworn to be nice to Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Opposition Leader Jason Kenney is running against Bob Rae. Ralph Klein was a high school dropout & TV reporter before becoming Mayor. Bob Rae was a Rhodes scholar & accomplished MP before becoming Premier. Who do you think
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta then and now: Marking the third anniversary of the unexpected victory of Rachel Notley and the NDP
CALGARY Three years ago today, Albertans did the unexpected in the province’s 29th general election and elected a majority New Democratic Party government. In truth, despite Albertans having been instructed for generations by those who are supposed to know better that they lived in the most conservative province in Canada,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Embarrassing honorary degree stories: ‘Did no one warn them?’
You have to ask why universities bother handing out honorary degrees like bonbons when you think about all the trouble it can cause them. Consider the embarrassing 2012 case of the Israeli university that came up with a scheme to give an honorary degree to an unsavoury right-wing foreign politician
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Finance Minister Joe Ceci’s call for no wage hikes for public-sector unions a risky strategy for New Democrats
PHOTOS: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci at yesterday’s news conference in Edmonton (Photo: Government of Alberta). Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, her former chief of Staff, Brian Topp, and former NDP premiers Dave Barrett (Photo: The Tyee), Roy Romanow, and Bob Rae (Photo: Wikimedia Commons). Alberta’s NDP Government can’t say
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: On Being An Asshole in Politics, Part 1.1037
This was indeed somewhat assholish. Not very, because Bob Rae couldn’t have known (though he should have suspected) that the cameras would have been on him. And I get the sentiment. If it had been me up there I would have talked about…
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: On Being An Asshole in Politics, Part 1.1037
This was indeed somewhat assholish. Not very, because Bob Rae couldn’t have known (though he should have suspected) that the cameras would have been on him. And I get the sentiment. If it had been me up there I would have talked about…
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: On Being An Asshole in Politics, Part 1.1037
This was indeed somewhat assholish. Not very, because Bob Rae couldn’t have known (though he should have suspected) that the cameras would have been on him. And I get the sentiment. If it had been me up there I would have talked about how Evil had fled the land after
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Second verse, same as the first! Notley Government decrees no change to Alberta’s royalty regime
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, surrounded by Calgary New Democrat MLAs in this screen shot of yesterday morning’s news conference in Calgary, announces her new government’s new royalty policy, which is pretty much the same as the old govern…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Eight months of the NDP in review: Main themes pretty much as predicted on Day 2
PHOTOS: Premier Rachel Notley gives her victory speech on the historic evening of May 5, 2015, moments after the Alberta NDP’s victory was declared. Below: Former British Columbia NDP premier Dave Barrett, former Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae, later a …
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Day Well-Spent
There is something both restorative and energizing about spending time among people who are politically engaged, and that is probably the best way to describe those in attendance at both the Toronto Star Tent and the Amazon.ca Bestsellers Stage yesterday at Toronto’s Word On The Street. As much as I
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On leadership failures
Among the many responses to the Cons’ latest Senate shenanigans, one (from someone who’s not exactly known for his recent NDP ties) stands out as being worthy of mention: In his 10 years in office how many meetings with the prov premiers did PMSH hold to discuss Senate reform or
Continue readingAlberta Politics: $15 is too low, and three years is too long to wait, for a higher Alberta minimum wage
PHOTOS: Greetings from Halifax, where a minimum wage almost as low as Alberta’s isn’t half of what a two-earner family needs to live a decent life. Can it be much different in Calgary or Edmonton? Below: Enthusiastic Tweeter Dan Kelly’s Twitter thumbnail; Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci. HALIFAX, N.S. The
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Parson’ Manning, in the pulpit, preaches a formula of failure to Alberta’s New Democrats
PHOTOS: Preston Manning, Godfather of the Canadian right. Below: Alberta Premier Designate Rachel Notley, Liberal prime minister Wilfrid Laurier, Social Credit premier E.C. Manning and United Farmers of Alberta leader Henry Wise Wood. Preaching from the highest pulpit in the land, the opinion pages of the mighty Globe and Mail,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: And now for the hard part … getting businesses and right-wing commentators to curb their hysteria
PHOTOS: Alberta NDP premier-elect Rachel Notley at the centre of media attention. Below: NDP premiers Dave Barrett of British Columbia and Bob Rae of Ontario, back in the day; columnist and NDP activist Gerald Caplan. And now, the hard part … If you thought overcoming the supposed Progressive Conservative juggernaut
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