Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page’s quest to force the Harper GovernmentTM to release details of its budget cuts escalated over the weekend, when Page said that the government’s secrecy could lay the groundwork for a future economic crisis. Page, of course, has laid the groundwork for a court battle that
Continue readingTag: Canadian Politics
350 or bust: Enbridge’s Slick New Ad Campaign Flounders
I spent last week taking an intensive course in citizen advocacy at the Canadian School of Peacebuilding in Winnipeg. It was a great week – I learned a lot and met some wonderful people. I’m home now, but brought home a souvenir that I’d rather do without – a very
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Time to wax philosophical about Ralph Klein and the Order of Canada
Former Alberta premier Ralph Klein, back in the day. Below: Former Quebec premier Jacques Parizeau, also back in the day. Now that the campaign to give the Order of Canada to Ralph Klein has all but met its goal, one wonders when the effort to hang the same gong on
Continue readingImportant speeches of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during her tour in Europe
Thanks to Tin at CFOB for putting this together,sharing this for your convenience , a collection of speeches by Daw Suu Kyi during her current tour of Europe. Will update it as we go. DASSK’s speech at Westminster Hall on June 21, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo1MHK1FBic&feature=share DASSK’s speech @ Oxford on June
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: New poll shows the challenge for the new Liberal leader
The National Post released an Ipsos-Reid poll yesterday, and it shows that a lot of the anti-Harper vote has and continues to coalesce around the NDP: According to the poll, which asked Canadians who they would vote for if an election occurred today, the NDP under Thomas Mulcair would receive
Continue readingCalgaryLiberal: No, Nenshi isn’t running for the Liberals
No, Liberals and progressives alike, Nenshi isn’t throwing his hat into the provincial or federal arenas as either an MP or a leadership candidate. He’s happiest where he is right now. Twenty years of schooling, networking, and focus has brought him to the mayoralty of Calgary. His efforts at the
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Timid Squeek of Democracy
Let us sent out a big thanks to the Ontario Swing Voters that brought us this monstrosity known as the Harper Majority Government. The Omnibus bill is the latest poke at the mouldering corpse that is Canadian Politics. Debate? Defence of ideas? Compromise? Not happening in our House of Commons.
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Alberta oil-spills karma
The frequency of oil-spills in Alberta in the past month and a bit is some karma; bad karma for Alberta and the federal Conservative government in Ottawa, that is: The latest spill occurred earlier this week in northeastern Alberta near the town of Elk Point, where Enbridge confirmed a spill
Continue readingOntario Budget passes despite heavy Tory opposition
As if having to contend with a minority government short of one seat from a majority wasn’t enough, we liberals also have to deal with the underhanded methods of the Tory and NDP opposition, both within a position to dictate what can and cannot go into a budget. Whenever
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Provincial Ontario Liberals very disappointing on the environment.
This post might annoy a few people I know at Queen’s Park, but I’m a tad annoyed with the Mcguinty government, so it will even out. Mcguinty’s Liberals are pulling the same Omnibus stunt (Bill C-55 I believe it’s called) that Stephen Harper’s Conservatives were getting roundly criticized for over
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Spin
Not long ago, my provincial government decided to do away with a program that created hundreds, if not thousands of jobs in the province, and which brought with it millions of dollars in revenue for the province. On the face … Continue reading →
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Hypocrisy on Free Speech and “Protecting Freedom.”
On June 6th (the same night that the trans human rights Bill C-279 advanced to committee) Conservative MP for Westlock – St. Paul, Brian Storseth’s Private Member’s Bill C-304, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act (protecting freedom), passed Third Reading in the House of Commons, and advanced
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Don’t take it personally, Deputy Minister
I’m sure Minister Kenney thinks the same foul-mouth thoughts – even if he doesn’t accidentally proclaim it in email – about all his political opponents who oppose his and the Conservative government’s agenda. The only thing surprising is that it’s an Alberta Progressive Conservative Deputy Minister who’s the object of
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Does the House of Commons have air conditioning?
If not, I suspect the tempers in Parliament – already frayed over the all-nighter the government forced on Bill C-38, and other recent events like Dean Del Maestro being in big trouble with Elections Canada – will be at the boiling point, literally, when temperatures in Southern Ontario and Quebec
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Assisted Suicide, Discrimination, and the Constitution
Suicide is a difficult case. I do not believe that people, under most circumstances, have a moral right to unilaterally kill themselves. An individual’s life is not the sole property of the individual; it belongs also to her or his loved ones, to all who are deeply affected by such
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Omnibus Bill C-38 gets rammed through..
..but not without a good fight. Bravo to all the opposition parties and Green Party leader Elizabeth May for making a good point about the ridiculousness of grouping everything from auditing charities to gutting Environmental laws and claiming it was all essential to pass in one big monstrosity of a
Continue readingTubwerx.com -fraud spa service
I was looking for someone to fix my leaky hot tub and found this company Tubwerx and regret it all together now. So this guy Jim Gramatikopoulos (also goes by alias Jimmy, Dimitri) comes and puts a sales pitch on how the tub has to be removed and will cost
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Thanks Mr. Rae
Bob Rae probably surprised 99% of the political world by today declaring he was not going to run as permanent Liberal leader. As with others online, on blogs and on Twitter, I concur that it’s the right decision, and that he did so with class. Despite the mini-furore online that
Continue readingPressing Politics: Protected: It’s Justin, Not Pierre’s Son: Trudeau The Next Liberal Leader?
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Continue readingbastard.logic: These Are Not Your Father’s Tories. Seriously.
“I worked for (Mulroney-era environment minister) Tom McMillan, who was a very red Tory. I wrote speeches for him. We never checked his speeches with the PMO. He’d get up to answer in Question Period. He didn’t have a script for how to answer. Brian Mulroney was not telling his
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