Unlike Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Doge of the Most Serene Republic of Venice was prepared to receive the ambassadors of Persia. Below: Igor Gouzenko, Dr. Samuel Johnson and Winston Churchill. When Igor Gouzenko came in from the cold 67 years ago last Wednesday, Canada had an extremely serious and
Continue readingTag: Canadian Politics
Canadian Soapbox: Time to stop stressing about Québec
We Canadians love to worry, we worry about the economy, about the weather, about the direction our elected representatives are taking the country. When we’ve had Liberal governments in Ottawa, right wingers have worried about big government. When its Conservatives on parliament hill we worry about Canada becoming a playground
Continue readingwmtc: new send a (new) letter to jason kenney: let kim stay
Please read, sign, and share! Change.org|How to Start a Petition All are welcome to sign; this is not limited to Canadians.
Continue readingCanadian Soapbox: Is Canada’s left on the rise?
Discerning trends and making forecasts on limited data is not always the best recipe for making accurate forecasts, just look at pollsters. They take small snapshots of voter intentions based on some simple questions and then use the data to try and predict the results. As we’ve seen in
Continue readingCanadian Progressive: Robocalls Scandal: Elections Canada Paid Former RCMP Investigator $95,523
Elections Canada paid former RCMP investigator $95,523 for visit to only one out of 234 riding affected by robocalls during the May 2011 Federal election.
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Ontario voters wake up today to what they had yesterday, (sort of).
Forum Research, the polling company, must be feeling pretty good today. Their opinion polls released the day before the 2 by-elections held more or less accurate. The Liberals held Vaughan, and in a surprise upset, the NDP, who last held the riding of Kitchener-Waterloo back in 1943 when it was
Continue readingCanadian Progressive: Cry Wolf: A Canadian Unethical Oil Story
Cry Wolf: An Unethical Oil Story (via Desmogblog) Over the last several years, Alberta has killed more than 500 wolves using aerial sharpshooters and poisoned bait in order to conceal the impact of rapid industrial development on Canada’s iconic woodland caribou. Independent scientists say that declining caribou health stems chiefly
Continue readingControlling drug costs … one lawsuit at a time -ipolitics
Here is the link to the ipolitics .ca original article The article is reproduced below. This is an interesting perspective on how often policy makers over look the legal side of how to make drugs more affordable to Canadians and reduce cost to government. Controlling drug costs … one lawsuit
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Thanks to a murderous nut, long gun registry will be Harper’s first post-PQ test – he will likely fail
Gavrilo Princip under arrest in Sarajevo in 1914. But a speedy arrest wasn’t enough to avert a long war. Below, Quebec Premier Designate Pauline Marois. If you think about it – and you can bet on it that the Canadian gun lobby will refuse to do so – the murderous
Continue readingwmtc: headline letter in today’s star: let them stay
In today’s Toronto Star: Let U.S. war resister stay in Canada For the last few years, I have followed our government’s response to the issue of American war resisters in Canada, so I was not surprised but was still so deeply saddened to learn that Kimberly Rivera, the first female
Continue readingwmtc: wmtc 2012-09-05 09:30:00
Check back at Resisters.ca/Support the Rivera Familyfor updates on how you can help, including materials for download.
Continue readingwmtc: tonight in toronto: stand with the riveras
Tonight in Toronto, supporters of US war resisters and the Parkdale community will gather at United Church of Parkdale to support war resister Kimberly Rivera and her family. The Harper Government has ordered the Riveras to leave Canada by September 20. At the meeting, we will take several actions calling
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Quebec – good, bad and very ugly.
We had all 3 in last night’s Quebec provincial election. The bad news if you’re a Canadian federalist is the PQ won, and that Liberal Premier Jean Charest lost his seat. The good news is the PQ only won a slim minority (54-50-19-2 as of this AM), and the Liberals
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Post-Confederate Albertans in Ottawa, the PQ in Quebec: Can Canada afford a national leader with no national vision?
Prime Minister Stephen Harper takes note of Quebec’s aspirations. Alberta politicians may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Mr. Harper exhibiting the post-Confederation Alberta zeitgeist (Calgary Herald photo); PQ Leader Pauline Marois. With the PQ back in power in Quebec City, no matter how tenuously, one prays Stephen Harper can
Continue readingCanadian Progressive: RCMP Grounds Aircraft Carrying Anti-Harper Labour Protest Message
If your progressive message is truthful but critical of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, it automatically qualifies for a “threat” and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) won’t allow it to fly over Ottawa. Let me put it another way: Ottawa is no place for legitimate political dissent. That’s the message our-scandal-ridden
Continue readingAlberta Diary: ‘Crowdsourcing our confidence’? Don’t bet on 1CalgaryCentre, whoever’s behind it, having much impact
A crowd: They have wine and balloons, and they’re all dressed in white. Does this make them progressives? Have they been crowdsourced? Alberta Diary is not certain and you shouldn’t be either. Below: Calgary pollster Brian Singh, Calgary Centre Conservative candidate Joan Crockatt. “Crowdsourcing our confidence” will get a progressive
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Quebection Projection
Apparently I haven’t learned my lesson since predicting a Peggy Nash victory in this year’s NDP leadership race. I may not have the statistical wherewithal or ear-to-the-ground perspicacity of an Eric Grenier, but I cannot resist the peculiar temptation — that siren song that has marked the downfall of politicos
Continue reading350 or bust: It’s Labour Day – Hug A Union
This long holiday weekend has been brought to you by the blood sweat and tears of the Labor Movement; enjoy your holiday Monday, but don’t take it for granted. It is very easy to forget how many workers and organizers lost their lives and jobs, were thrown in jail or were
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Ontario Provincial Byelection stuff – Kitchener Waterloo Liberal stuff I dislike
For the record: I’m a card carrying federal Liberal (and remain so, despite the trouble the party is facing right now). I have BEEN an Ontario provincial card-carrying Liberal until recently, when I let it lapse because I wasn’t impressed with their tactics regarding the budget omnibus bill and the
Continue readingCanadian Progressive: New Democrats And Conservatives Tied at 34% each: Poll
The poll by Toronto-based Forum Research Inc is bad news for Tom Mulcair and the NDP. Real bad news for Canadian democracy. According to the National Post: With these voting intentions, an election today would see the Tories take 140 seats for a minority in Parliament while the NDP would grab 114 seats. Just last
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