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Alberta Politics: Canada had better plan for an unprecedented refugee crisis as U.S. lurches toward ‘ethnic cleansing’

Feb

22

2017

PHOTOS: Austrian police and Syrian refugees crowd a train platform in Vienna on Sept. 4, 2015 (photo by Josh Zakary). Below: U.S. President Donald Trump (photo by Gage Skidmore) and a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey in 2016 (European Parliament photos). Canadians should be deeply concerned about stated plans by the Trump Regime in the ...

Scott's DiaTribes: Conservative Pandering to the Alt-Right

Feb

20

2017

A poll released earlier today says that about a quarter of those Canadians polled want a Donald Trump (attempted) type travel ban. This is who a large segment of the current Conservative Party leadership crop is pandering to. It’s why they endorsed an Anti-Islamaphobia motion by Tom Mulcair last Fall without fanfare, but are resisting ...

Canadian Dimension: Justin Trudeau on electoral reform: deception, cynicism, and misrepresentations

Feb

20

2017

Photo by Andrej Ivanov The year 2015 will be the last federal election under the First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system. This was the promise Justin Trudeau made during the 2015 campaign, and which helped to rationalize his appeal to strategic voters looking to end forever the need to adopt an Anything But Conservative ...

Alberta Politics: Are non-Albertans who FRWN on progress behind many of the online threats against Premier Rachel Notley?

Feb

20

2017

PHOTOS: Part of the uninspiring, sometimes troubling, field of Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidates. Their names? Frankly, it’s too much work to note them all down (CBC photo). Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former prime minister Stephen Harper (CBC). Is a disengaged and demoralized ...

Alberta Politics: Canada’s Conservative Party, a once-great national organization, is being overwhelmed by its own extremists

Feb

17

2017

PHOTOS: Federal Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, a hard-working and talented former Edmonton Transit bus driver. Below: Alberta Infrastructure Minister Brian Mason, a hard-working and talented former Edmonton Transit bus driver. Mr. Sohi, a Liberal, and Mr. Mason, a New Democrat, are both used to cheap conservative shots about their former job. Also, federal Heritage Minister ...

Alberta Politics: What you should worry about when you worry about President Trump – hint: not where Ivanka sits!

Feb

16

2017

PHOTOS: The controversial photo of Mr. Donald, Ivanka Trump and Enrique Peña Nieto … Wait! That’s Joe Trudeau! Below: U.S. Presidents whose “First Ladies” weren’t necessarily their wives, for one reason or another … Thomas Jefferson, who predated the whole First Lady phenomenon; Martin van Buren, a widower; Grover Cleveland, who married while he was ...

Alberta Politics: Why Canadians are lucky Rona Ambrose was hanging around the Caribbean with a billionaire

Feb

6

2017

PHOTOS: The scene abroad N. Murray Edwards’ yacht imagined. Actual Canadian bitumen billionaires and their onboard guests may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real N. Murray Edwards, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau aboard a helicopter, although not the Aga Khan’s, Opposition Leader Rona Ambrose in a yacht harbor, and J.P. Veitch, Ms. Ambrose’s significant ...

Scott's DiaTribes: Electoral Reform abandonment potentially hurts LPC donations, volunteers

Feb

2

2017

I’m going out on a limb to presume Electoral Reform will not be in the Liberal’s 2019 Platform? It is a bitter disappointment to not only the pro-electoral reform advocates in general, but to pro-electoral reform advocates within the Liberal Party (ie such as me, and to others in the Party that got electoral reform ...

Alberta Politics: This feels like it’s happened before … it’s Groundhog Day and the Liberals have just broken a promise!

Feb

2

2017

PHOTOS: Can you not quite shake the feeling, like the Canadian voter at left, things keep happening over and over again? Actual Canadian voters may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and NDP Democratic Reform Critic Nathan Cullen. So long, electoral reform! ...

Scott's DiaTribes: Kudos to Trudeau for welcoming refugees.. now let’s do (a lot) more.

Jan

31

2017

Lots of attention was paid to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeting out how refugees were welcome in Canada – many interpreted this to be a subtle jab at the odious Muslim / Refugees ban President Donald Trump imposed by Executive Order (except the Muslim countries he has business dealings with – but that’s another story). ...

Song of the Watermelon: An Open Letter to Justin Trudeau on Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban

Jan

31

2017

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, In the wake of Sunday’s horrendous terrorist attack on Quebec’s Muslim community, I am writing to ask that you forcefully condemn not just the shooting itself, but the rising tide of Islamophobia that appears to have prompted it. On January 27, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning the ...

Alberta Politics: A Tale of Two Traitors: Or, does President Donald Trump even get this betrayal thing?

Jan

31

2017

PHOTOS: Donald J. Trump – American Caligula, or just an American idiot? President Trump may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: H.A.R. Philby, as portrayed in a Soviet stamp, and Igor Sergeievich Gouzenko, Cold War side switchers. Sally Q. Yates, fired by Mr. Trump for “betraying” the Justice Department. Harold Adrian Russell Philby, better known ...

In This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 4: Trump’s rule by fiat

Jan

29

2017

We all know how powerful the President of the United States is. But I don’t know if we ever recognized just how powerful. Almost … dictatorial? Don’t agree? Well, what other kind of leader can decide, with the stroke of an expensive pen, to ban immigrants from 14 countries, on the basis that they belong ...

Alberta Politics: Canadian newspaper industry advances on Ottawa, hands out, awash in red ink and democratic platitudes

Jan

26

2017

PHOTOS: Stop the presses! … I mean the losses! Put me through to the red ink department … I mean the tax department … Actual Canadian newspaper owners may not be as committed to jobs as the sign on the press suggests. Below: Edward Greenspon of the Public Policy Forum and late of the Globe ...

Alberta Politics: Alberta’s right doubtless dismayed as The Economist boots the U.S.A. off its list of ‘full democracies’

Jan

26

2017

PHOTOS: Democracy has been downgraded in the U.S.A. … (Azerbaijan Press Agency photo). Below: A recent copy of The Economist, U.S. President Donald Trump and Wildrose Alliance Leader Danielle Smith in her political heyday. Hmmm… The venerable Economist Magazine’s research arm yesterday booted the United States off its list of “full democracies,” demoting Ronald Reagan’s ...

Alberta Politics: Support by Rachel Notley for Donald Trump’s Keystone XL Pipeline decision may be unnerving, but it’s politics

Jan

25

2017

PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley at yesterday’s news conference in Edmonton (Government of Alberta photo by Chris Schwarz). Below: Greenpeace Canada campaigner Mike Hudema, U.S. President Donald Trump (who may not appear exactly as illustrated), and Otto von Bismarck (who, actually, often pretty much did). Premier Notley just pledged to work with Trump administration on ...

Alberta Politics: Others sure to suffer as Sudden Apocalyptic Deficit Syndrome strikes affluent, older, white males from Saskatchewan

Jan

24

2017

PHOTOS: The economic landscape nowadays in Saskatchewan. Below: Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman (Twitter), Canadian economists Jim Stanford (Twitter) and Toby Sanger, and, of course, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall. Saskatchewan appears to be suffering from a serious economic malady. Nobel Prize-winning economist and journalist Paul Krugman calls it “Austerity Fever.” Canadian economist ...

In This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 3: Welcome to the world of alternative facts

Jan

22

2017

“The only thing we have to fear is, fear itself.” Franklin Roosevelt, 1932 inauguration. “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” John F. Kennedy, 1960 inauguration. “From this day forward, it’s going to be America first, America first.” Donald J. Trump, 2017 inauguration Well, it’s ...

Canadian Dimension: Justin Trudeau’s giant corporate giveaway

Jan

19

2017

Photo by Simon Fraser University While prime minister Justin Trudeau flogged our public assets last week, he had a soothing message: rest assured, we’ll be well-served by the private sector. Bankers and billionaires lined up to sound a note of confidence. “I think it’s unprecedented,” exclaimed Canada’s top business lobbyist John Manley. “A once-in-a-generation opportunity,” ...

Scott's DiaTribes: Helping the Homeless and the Youth: Coldest Night Of The Year

Jan

19

2017

Once again this year, I’m participating in the Coldest Night Of The Year Walk on February 25th. It is held across the country, and is done to help local charities, primarily to do with the homeless. In Brantford, the walk is raising money for the Brantford Welcome-In Resource Center (otherwise known as the HOmeless Shelter) ...

Alberta Politics: Oilsands phase-out freak-out explained: Conservatives see the road back to Ottawa going through Edmonton

Jan

16

2017

PHOTOS: G7 leaders including Canada’s then prime minister, Stephen Harper, wander down the garden path in Schloss Elmau, Germany, in June 2015. Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Alberta Federation of Labour leader Gil McGowan, Opposition Leader Brian Jean and would-be Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney. OTTAWA “Funny,” Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan observed ...

In This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 2: My hush money has arrived

Jan

15

2017

Deposited into my bank account this week was a payment of $150, my “Alberta climate leadership adjustment rebate”. The rebate covers the period of January to June of this year, which is a rebate for money I haven’t spent yet (or, as I call it, a prebate). The prebate is part of the “climate leadership ...

Scott's DiaTribes: A shout-out to a political local friend.

Jan

9

2017

I wanted to take this time to congratulate a local Brantford Liberal and friend of mine – Donna Nelson. She’s the current President of the local Brantford-Brant Women’s Club, but she’s now going to be doing a bigger role ;). It was announced from Cristina Taglione, who is President of the Ontario Women’s Liberal Commission, ...

Scott's DiaTribes: Why Michael Chong probably won’t win the CPC Leadership race.

Jan

7

2017

I think this poll by Ekos asking whether people of different political stripes whether they believe this statement tells you why Mr. Chong won’t win: When Lisa Raitt, another supposed CPC moderate candidate is attacking Kevin O’Leary for of all things supporting a national carbon tax (and he isn’t even in the race yet ...

Canadian Dimension: Looking forward: five predictions for the Canadian Left in 2017

Jan

6

2017

Photo by Matt Jiggins There’s no sugar-coating it: 2016 was a disappointing year for the Left, as we saw the Democratic Party’s attack on Bernie Sanders, the election of Donald Trump, right-wing motivations for Brexit in the United Kingdom, and the intensification of anti-immigrant rhetoric at home and abroad. But with a new year comes ...