How Brian Jean may have started to see himself after whiling away too many hours on Parliament Hill over the decade. Amateur psychologizing by blog authors is unlikely to resemble the actual mental state of real Parliamentarians. Below: The real Mr. Jean, who announced yesterday he is quitting his job
Continue readingTag: Canadian Wheat Board
Alberta Diary: Grass crime no! Grain crime yes! The inconsistencies of Prime Minister Harper
Prime Minister Stephen Harper stands with Rick Strankman and some of the other law-breaking farmers the PM pardoned in 2011. (Photo grabbed from the Drumheller Mail.) Below: Mr. Strankman, now Wildrose MLA for Drumheller-Stettler, and Justin Trudeau, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is open
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: NDP MP Niki Ashton: “New Canadian Wheat Board ad symbolizes the Conservative agenda”
Tell your friends to pull offensive CWB ad: Ashton calls on Ritz to act by Niki Ashton MP (Press Release) | Feb. 6, 2013: OTTAWA – Today in question period, MP Niki Ashton (Churchill) called on Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz to pull an offensive Canadian Wheat Board ad. The ad
Continue readingAlberta Diary: U.S. grain and seed ports will kill a few more Canadian jobs – with a little help from Stephen Harper
Bunge’s $200-million US grain port at Longview, Wash. Below, U.S. police and strikers scuffle at the port. Back in 2009, when the destruction of the Canadian Wheat Board was still just a twinkle in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s eye, work started on a $200-million US grain-handling terminal in the port
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Pure milk or pure ideology? Alberta MP attacks supply management
Milking it for all that it’s worth – not how it’s done any more. Below: Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber. ST. ALBERT, Alberta Brent Rathgeber, Member of Parliament for Edmonton St. Albert, has launched a third “attack” on the policies of the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. But
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for a sunny Sunday. – Mitchell Anderson’s second article on Norway’s success in converting oil resources into a massive source of public wealth focuses on the country’s history of resistance to outside ownership. But I wouldn’t see much reason why Canada couldn’t turn its own sense of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your long weekend reading. – While some of us may recognize that there’s little reason to lend much credence to the talking points spewed out by any Con spokespuppet, others have tried to give the benefit of the doubt as long as possible. But Lawrence Martin notes
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading. – Tabatha Southey speculates as to the inevitable results when the Cons try to summon the entire Internet to answer for its political activity. – David Olive points out that for anybody who wants to buy into “tax freedom day” messaging, the corporate sector
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: NCC fundraising letter exposes Stephen Harper’s hypocrisy
Way back in 2001, Elections Canada charged a certain Paul Bryan for violating section 329 of the Canada Elections Act. Stephen Harper, then President of the National Citizens Coalition, a conservative lobby group that has …Read More
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: November 28, 2011
Monday, November 28 saw the final day of debate in the House of Commons on the Cons’ legislation to trash the single-desk Canadian Wheat Board. And not surprisingly, the result was a particularly focused set of concerns about the bill – though those were waved aside yet again. The Big
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: November 23, 2011
Wednesday, November 23 saw the last votes in the House of Commons on the dismantling of the single-desk Wheat Board. And to who thought there might be some suspense as to the Cons’ determination to impose their agenda without listening to anybody, it’s always great to welcome new readers. The
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: November 18, 2011
Friday, November 18 saw two pieces of legislation discussed. And the contrast couldn’t have been much more stark between an opposition effort to develop better legislation, and a government focused on nothing more than sticking to talking points regardless of whether they made the slightest sense in context. The Big
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Alex Himelfarb nicely summarizes the price of austerity: Let me be clear that I share in the broad consensus that we must be fiscally prudent. But let’s pause on what fiscal prudence really means: It means spending wisely, reducing waste, collecting sufficient
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Farmers – How is that voting Conservative working out for you?
Harper and his mercurial band of autocrats are merrily stomping on the neck of democracy. Sadly, this isn’t news, but rather par for the course as dissent, reality based or not (I’m looking at you prison bloat omni-bus bill) will be passed hell or high water. What makes the Wheat
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your weekend. – Bruce Anderson worries that the Cons might think they face no restriction on their ability to get away with dirty tricks. But Noah Richler suggests that the best way to fight back against the Cons’ disdain for democratic debate is to treat them
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Gerald Caplan documents the U.S. Republicans’ refusal to live in a reality-based society, while hinting that the same philosophy is no less present in the Harper Cons. – Meanwhile, Bruce Johnstone comments on this week’s Canadian Wheat Board ruling as an indication that
Continue readingConservatives: to hell with the courts. Where’s the outrage?
Conservatives and family gather in Chicago to re-enact the ‘good ol’ days’ With the Wheat Board fiasco roaring, the Conservatives don’t seem to care about rule of law or even ‘the normal legislative process’. How are Canadians not being affected by this obvious abuse of law? Aren’t the Conservatives the
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Cutting legal corners to fit your ideology isn’t correct – Federal Court Judge on CWB
Well now, this is a ruling that should have some Conservative government officials fuming that they can’t always do as they please, even with a majority government: A federal court judge has ruled that Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz’s tabling of a bill to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board without holding
Continue readingThey Call Me "Mr. Sinister": We Are A Nation Of Men…
And not laws. If I had to guess how the Harperites will deal with a court ruling against them on the CWB, I would say they are going to ram through their legislation in the Senate, get it royal assent and then argue that they broke no law because the
Continue readingThey Call Me "Mr. Sinister": We Are A Nation Of Men…
And not laws. If I had to guess how the Harperites will deal with a court ruling against them on the CWB, I would say they are going to ram through their legislation in the Senate, get it royal assent and then argue that they broke no law because the l…
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