The Council of Canadians has an update on the mega-quarry that the Highland Companies (owned by a US hedge fund) tried to sneak into Ontario’s Melancthon Township. You’ll recall that this company posed as a potato farming operation in order to quietly …
Continue readingTag: Canadian Politics
Scott's DiaTribes: ‘The Jack effect’ scares the Conservatives
A new poll is out that shows the Conservatives and the NDP in a virtual tie – unsurprisingly linked to the recent death of Jack Layton:
The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey pegs support for Layton’s NDP at 33 per cent — tied with the ruling Conservatives and well ahead of the Liberals at 21 per cent. That’s almost a three-point gain for the New Democrats since the May 2 election, which vaulted the party into official Opposition status for the first time in its 50-year history. The Tories are down almost seven points while the Liberals are up two. Harris-Decima chairman Allan Gregg said the NDP gain is most […]
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Almost as surprising as Duffy being named to the Senate..
..is that Angelo Perchelli, formerly of the Toronto Star, is now going to be the new Director of Communications for the PMO. He’s perfectly suited to it, as he has plenty of practise from his Star column writing hack pieces for the Conservatives….
Continue readingwmtc: mcquaig: lewis’s masterful eulogy a stirring reminder that we will not go quietly
Linda McQuaig’s appraisal of Stephen Lewis’s beautiful eulogy of Jack Layton is worth reading.It will probably be a while before a Canadian prime minister again offers a state funeral to someone on the left.Of course, there aren’t many political lead…
Continue readingwmtc: canada and u.s.: join to speak out against tar sands pipeline
Environmental activists in the US see an opportunity for real action against the tar sands pipeline. Since the oil-friendly and environment-hating Harper government won’t listen to us on this issue, we owe it to North America to do whatever we can to t…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: More Shameless Progressive Conservative Attack Ads
Looks like the PC`s have bought another slew of advertising for Google search terms with almost any combinations including “Liberal Party” or “Ontario Liberals” and the like having an on-top PC ad linking to the website www.liberalreview.ca.
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Progressive Proselytizing: NDP vs Liberal Leadership Election Procedures
We are at a unique position not seen in a long time when both the NDP and the Liberals are set to elect new leadership and are currently led by interim leaders. Following Jack Layton’s death, the NDP will hold its leadership vote in January of 2012 and…
Continue readingbastard.logic: Ezra Levant Is Ethically Outraged Over Jack Layton’s Final Farewell
by matttbastard In the midst of his double-fainting couch freakout over Jack Layton’s outrageously socialist state funeral, flesh & blood cartoon QMI columnist Ezra Levant claims the late NDP leader “clearly did not meet the standard of a state funeral” … Continue reading →
Scott's DiaTribes: All options should be discussed at least – not thrown away arbritarily.
I see that we have some stories in the media about “merger talk growing” between the Liberals and NDP again after the funeral of Mr. Layton. We even had a couple of Liberal MP’s come out (Justin Trudeau notably) saying that while he wasn’t convinced it was the way to go, he was willing to listen or be convinced otherwise. There was then others such as Mr Rae flatly rejecting it.
Some say this is just media driven, and perhaps it is. Personally though, when you’re a party that has been losing votes over the last three elections, and losing seats, including your worst showing ever in the […]
Continue readingwmtc: celebrating jack: "one should always have a dream that is bigger than a lifetime"
Nothing remains to be said about Jack Layton, the man and the leader. I certainly can’t say anything that hasn’t been said so many times already. I can only continue to miss him, and to pledge my determination to his cause – to our cause. But I thought…
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: ‘Je me souviens’…..
I thought I’d reflect a bit on yesterday’s funeral service of Jack Layton. I could go into a bit more detail of why I think certain right wing media columnists are lashing out at the public reaction or Jack’s farewell letter, but I think I’ll leave that for another day next week. Today, it’s about reflection.
Certain things that stood out yesterday for me include:
-seeing the personal side of Mr. Layton through his 2 children. -seeing the political side as orated by Stephen Lewis -a very powerful political statement that may have made some uncomfortable, but I don’t think could or should have been avoided. -seeing some of […]
Continue readingwmtc: celebrating jack: rise up
I missed this song in the 80s, along with the video, filmed on the streets of Toronto. Perhaps it was a Canadian thing that didn’t cross the border very much, but I only know “Rise Up” from the 2011 NDP election campaign.Yesterday, like most of you, I …
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
Former U.N. Ambassador Stephen Lewis ended his moving eulogy for Jack Layton yesterday with this inspiring quote: Not only is another world possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” ~Arundhati Roy To read the full te…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: 2011 Ontario Election: Religion in the Riding of Parkdale Highpark
Religion usually isn’t a dominant issue in Canadian politics. While there is certainly a general correlation with higher levels of Christian religiosity among conservatives, prominent debates over religion as the key polarizing issue is quite rare. Dur…
Continue reading350 or bust: We’ll Miss You, Jack
Today is the state funeral for the Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, and the Leader of the Official Opposition in the Canadian Parliament, Mr. Jack Layton. Like many other Canadians, I was surprised by the depth of the sadness I felt on hea…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Green Energy Proposals Part II: Party Positions
In Part I, I sketched an overview of the consequences of various green energy proposals. Because it is election season in Ontario, let me note the following party observations with respect to these various green energy proposals.
Firstly, Conservative…
Continue readingbastard.logic: Greatly Exaggerated Rumours, Jack Layton Edition
by matttbastard Michael Valpy addresses the current conventional wisdom that without Jack Layton, the NDP — and Canada’s left — is now doomed, doomed, DOOMED! Ahem. Sorry ’bout that. Now, where were we? Oh! Right. Valpy: When polls from the … Continue reading →
bastard.logic: How Dare Jack Layton Make Canadians Feel Hopeful Again!
by matttbastard David J. Climenhaga, responding to National Post columnist Christie Blatchford’s now-infamous cranky, contrarian reaction to Canada’s outpouring of love and admiration for Socialist cur Taliban Jack Layton (HISSSSSSS!): [T]he offending column is far from the worst piece Blatchford has written, … Continue reading →
wmtc: jack layton memorials are more than grief: they’re an affirmation of the ndp’s vision
The enormous outpouring of emotion on Jack Layton’s passing continues unabated. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians are leaving messages and flowers, and making donations to the Broadbent Institute. Millions more are writing tributes online, through NDP…
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: On that Blatchford column
There has been lots of ink, tweets and blogposts written and spilled over Christie Blatchford’s rather controversial National Post column about the public and media reaction to Jack Layton’s death and/or his farewell letter.
What I’ll say is this; she of course has the right to say whatever she wants – we live in a free country after all. Some are questioning if this was the proper time to say it, but I’m looking at it more from the angle that if this had been a Conservative high ranking politician, or a high ranking General or Policeman who had died far too young and who had left words of […]
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