Canada’s last three elections are proof positive that we have a flawed electoral system. Does it make any sense that recently it’s been impossible to get a government that reflects the views of the majority of our population? How is it that a little more than a third of the
Continue readingTag: Canadian Politics, Economy and Foreign Policy
Canadian Dimension Feed: The NDP, poised for power but to what effect?
Fifty years after its founding, the New Democratic Party swept to Official Opposition status in Ottawa on May 2, 2011, propelled by the “Orange wave” in Québec where it captured an astounding 43% of the popular vote. Canada-wide, the NDP share of the vote increased from 18% in the previous
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: What the Fraser Institute Report Really Says About Public Sector Compensation
The Fraser Institute, in late January 2013, released a study comparing public and private sector compensation (wages and non-wage benefits) in Alberta. Release of the report is clearly meant to influence public debate about the province’s deficit leading up to the March budget. Much of the media, lacking time and
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: 2013: The year of the democracy coalition
When historians write the chapter on the current period of social democracy in Canada they might well conclude that the worst thing that happened to it was the 2011 election when the NDP got 103 seats it hadn’t really earned. It was such an unexpected event that the NDP could
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Time for an Adult Conversation on Taxes
The suggestion that we need to raise taxes in this country has become so taboo in the nation’s politics that even talking about it is seen as tantamount to political suicide. The right and its benefactors, the wealthy and large corporations, have had the field to themselves for a long
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Forging the chains that chaffe
The Harper government’s foreign policy amounts to dissing the UN, slavishly supporting Israel right or wrong, scolding the EU (while promoting a banking policy they opposed in opposition), and signing economic agreements with anyone with a pulse. John Baird managed to accomplish the first two at one blow last week
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: A Flip of the Finger for this FIPA
I am a veteran of the free trade battles of the 1980s and I’ve got the political scars to prove it. NAFTA’s been in effect for some 18 years now, but I still don’t know whether it’s a good deal. I do know that of the 16 trade disputes we
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: How big ideas become government policy
Thirty-five years ago the policies that now define democratic governance — or rather anti-democratic — in Canada were literally unthinkable. Voluntarily giving up, through reckless tax cuts, hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue needed for running the country (and provinces); the fire sale disposal of some of the countries
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Justin Trudeau and political amnesia
You would think that federal Liberals would by now have immunized themselves against the affliction that almost did them in: the kind of delusional giddiness at the prospect of a political saviour. It is so embarrassing watching Liberals talk about Trudeau 2.0 – as if beating a Conservative Senator in
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: CETA: Can Harper’s Trojan horse be stopped?
Stephen Harper’s no-longer-secret agenda to implement a revolution from the right and dismantle Canada has one major impediment that must really stick in his craw. He is constrained in what he can do by the constitutional division of powers which gives the provinces so much political authority. The really big
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Chicago Teachers Prepare to Strike on Friday
Public schools across Chicago opened Tuesday for the school year, but they may have to shutter their doors if the school board fails to come to an agreement with the teacher’s union. The Chicago Teacher’s Union (CTU) made national headlines after submitting a 10-day strike notice last Wednesday after months
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Harper’s Canada and NATO
Harper’s Conservatives are enamored with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Canada played a central role in last year’s NATO-led bombing of Libya and nearly 1000 Canadian military “trainers” continue to participate in a war the organization is waging in Afghanistan. Last year Defense Minister Peter MacKay justified a plan to
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Sick People or Sick Societies?
The words “health care” and “crisis” have become inseparable in any discussion about health policy in Canada. Stories about long waiting lists for surgery, interminable delays to see specialists, spiralling costs and the spectre of a two-tier system flood our media. With baby boomers reaching their senior years, things are
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Pipeline to Perdition
The photo ops of the Canadian prime minister petting panda bears and cuddling kittens have all been calculated to humanize Stephen Harper and project an image of someone who gives a damn about the environment and the well-being of other species. But no amount of spin can conceal his escalating
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Rogues Like These
It has the makings of a B-grade political thriller: a mysterious “Pierre Poutine” uses a disposable “burner” cell phone and an anonymous prepaid credit card to buy a series of automated outbound phone calls designed to harass voters in key ridings and mislead them about where they should vote in
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Overshadowing the Cartagena Summit: the militarization of Central America
Stephen Harper and Barack Obama will be attending the Sixth Summit of the Americas this weekend in Cartagena, Colombia. Expected to attend will be 33 heads of government representing all the members of the Organization of American States (OAS) except Ecuador, whose President Rafael Correa is courageously abstaining primarily on
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Leading questions
As the NDP chooses a new leader , more than a decade after Seattle, a new era of global protest has dawned, from the Arab spring to anti-austerity protests in Europe, and the global Occupy movement, which has put the issue of growing economic inequality squarely on the table. Years
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Does Anyone in Government Really Care About Canadian Jobs?
The Harper government has recently stated it wants to “diversify Canada’s markets.” Hence, its support of the Northern Gateway pipeline and the prime minister’s upcoming trip to China. On the surface, pronouncements about finding new markets appear no different than what Canadian governments have said for years. In the late
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: The Global Economic Crisis—Part 2
The 2007-08 financial crisis marked a major turning point in the world economy. From your perspective, why was the recovery so weak and why did economic stagnation continue to characterize the core capitalist countries? The economic recovery was not sustained because the underlying problems are not being addressed either by
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: The Global Economic Crisis—Part 1
The 2007-08 financial crisis marked a major turning point in the world economy. From your perspective, why was the recovery so weak and why did economic stagnation continue to characterize the core capitalist countries? Back in July 2009, just ten months after the Lehman Brothers collapse, Bank of Canada Governor
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