I’ve previously offered my take on why all opposition parties – including the Libs – should and will ultimately vote the Harper Cons out of power when given the chance. But I’ll note that Don Lenihan’s argument toward the same conclusion actually offers a reminder why there’s reason for concern.
Continue readingTag: canada 2015
Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Paul Krugman theorizes that our recent pattern of economic instability can be traced to a glut of accumulated wealth chasing too few viable investments: On the surface, we seem to have had a remarkable run of bad luck. First there was the housing
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On weak attempts
Following up on these earlier posts, here’s a quick look at the last of the messages Bob Hepburn thinks the NDP may face from the Cons in particular as the election campaign progresses. 2) Tax-and-spend image: NDP loyalists consider this issue as “trite,” but already Harper is hammering away at
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On separation anxieties
Following up on this post, let’s take a look at the first of Bob Hepburn’s theorized lines of attack against the NDP – which gets its own separate post since it needs to be analyzed in radically different ways depending on the party who launches it: Worse, the Conservatives are
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On messaging tests
Following up on yesterday’s post, I’ll make clear that nobody should hold any illusions that the NDP’s opponents will abandon their own efforts to pursue seats simply because the NDP holds a strong position for the moment. And on that front, Bob Hepburn floats a few trial balloons as to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Laurie Penny argues that Jeremy Corbyn’s remarkable run to lead the Labour Party represents an important challenge to the theory that left-wing parties should avoid talking about principles in the name of winning power – particularly since the result hasn’t been much
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Juxtaposition
Stephen Harper plays chess: Sources say Conservative planners did factor in testimony by Wright and Harper’s former legal counsel Perrin. Once the testimony was over, they calculated, the sting would fade, and those voters who were inclined to believe Harper’s version would continue to do so. Those who never believed
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On guiding influences
Adam Radwanski points out in his latest column that several weeks into the election campaign, it’s hard to see what message might be used against Tom Mulcair and the NDP to any meaningful effect. But let’s note that the factors working in the NDP’s favour – and the challenges for
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On twisted outcomes
At the moment, plenty of Canadians are looking forward to waking up on October 20 and finding that Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have lost the election, to be replaced by a government determined by the MPs elected by voters. And we should certainly be hoping for, and working toward, that outcome.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Ian Welsh rightly points out how our lives are shaped by social facts far beyond individual’s control: If you are homeless in America, know that there are five times as many empty homes as there are homeless people. If you are homeless in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Alex Munter discusses the connection between public health and economic development, along with the need to take a far longer-term view of both. And PressProgress points out Matthew Stanbrook’s message (PDF) that the Cons are undermining Canada’s medical system through malign neglect.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Philip Berger and Lisa Simon discuss the health and social benefits of a guaranteed annual income: At the community level, poverty also has deep and lasting impacts — some visible, some not. We’ve seen these visible impacts in Simcoe County Ontario, where one
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On trust issues
Susan Delacourt’s take on what we should expect to see happen if there’s a minority Parliament following this fall’s election covers most of the bases. But it’s worth expanding on one point: It’s true that Harper, by constitutional convention, would have first shot at forming a government if the Conservatives
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On campaign divisions
If it wasn’t obvious already, the last decade of resource politics in Canada should offer us a reminder that the immediate development of resources without meaningful consideration of externalities and risks is all too often a default position. But if there’s anything that can shatter the consensus of developing resources
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Martha Friendly examines what a “national child care program” actually means. And Jim Stanford makes a compelling economic case as to why Canada needs one: In the case of early childhood education, however, this standard claim of government “poverty” is exactly backwards. Because
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Scott Clark and Peter De Vries discuss the need for a Canadian economic plan which involves investment in the long term rather than politically-oriented payoffs only within a single election cycle. And Joseph Stiglitz points out the obvious need for a global
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On veto points
I’ll follow up on this post by once again discussing another area where individuals’ past comments are being treated as a basis for general exclusion. And the subject is particularly sensitive the midst of an election campaign – particularly in light of the issue where it’s surfacing. As in the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Stephen Marche discusses the Cons’ ongoing efforts to make Canada a more closed and ignorant country: Mr. Harper’s campaign for re-election has so far been utterly consistent with the personality trait that has defined his tenure as prime minister: his peculiar hatred for
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On points of agreement
Let’s see if we can turn Stephen Harper’s otherwise laughable spin on his PMO’s widespread cover-up into a couple of points we can all agree on. First, the ultimate responsibility for lies and cover-ups lies with superiors rather than subordinates – in Harper’s own words: Second, exactly one person fits
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Althia Raj, Karl Nerenberg, Tim Harper, Jennifer Ditchburn and Kristy Kirkup, Lee Berthiaume and Jason Fekete, PressProgress and CTV News all point out some of the more noteworthy aspects of Nigel Wright’s testimony in Mike Duffy’s trial (along with the large amount of
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