Assorted content to end your week. – Jeffrey Simpson marks Peter Lougheed’s passing by discussing what he brought to Alberta’s political scene that’s been sorely lacking ever since: Mr. Lougheed, defending Alberta’s jurisdictional turf in conflicts with Liberal and Conservative governments in Ottawa, navigated his province through these shoals. The
Continue readingTag: can’t be trusted
Accidental Deliberations: On preordained outcomes
Joe Oliver is trying to pretend that the National Energy Board actually gets to determine whether the Northern Gateway pipeline gets approved: Oliver avoided directly answering a question as to whether Ottawa would ram through approval should the project get the thumbs down, but acknowledged the outcome is rarely negative.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Winslow Wheeler compares the NDP’s F-35 hearings to politics on the opposite side of the U.S. border: The differences between Canadian politicians and members of Congress are utterly stunning. Unlike here, oversight in the Canadian Parliament is alive and well. In Canada, I
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – Plenty of commentators are using the Labour Day weekend to discuss the place of workers in Canadian society. Sid Ryan notes that depressed wages are bad news for Canada’s economy generally. And Morna Ballantyne and Steven Staples point out the need for unions
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – I’ll follow up with one extra note from Mark Carney’s address to the CAW – as the headlines seem to have missed a rather important point about the relative effect of the Canadian dollar and even the widest possible definition of labour
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: A convenient reminder
No, we shouldn’t be surprised that Vic Toews is pioneering exactly the type of reality check that’s most needed when reporting on the Cons’ own PR efforts. But since Toews has helpfully supplied the idea and the template, here’s a handy checklist for any churnalist otherwise tempted to merely take
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On unscientific methods
Scott is absolutely right to be skeptical of the claim that the Cons will let science play any role in their attempt to force a pipeline through northern B.C. – particularly given their general distaste for the subject. But there’s a more direct response worth pointing out to Stephen Harper’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Mitchell Anderson reports on how Norway has assured itself of long-term fiscal security by saving a fair share of its oil resources: Norway produces 40 per cent less petroleum than Canada and has one-seventh our population, but has saved more than $600
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Patient Zero
Paul Krugman highlights what seems to him the first example of the “repeat a lie until it’s taken as conventional wisdom” messaging strategy of the North American right: I originally got the term “zombie lies” from the healthcare field, specifically Canadian health care, where there are certain stories — like
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Michael Harris lists ten things the Harper Cons want Canadians to forget before the 2015 election. But it’s worth keeping in mind that their expectations for mind-wiping are surely shaped by their own willingness to completely forget what they were repeating incessantly before
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Trish Hennessy assembles a handy set of ideas to deal with income inequality. – No, there isn’t much new in the Cons’ familiar pattern of deceiving the public, covering it up, then lying by about the cover-up by blaming civil servants who
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review – May 4, 2012
Friday, May 4 saw a relatively short day of debate on the omnibus budget bill – but with a few twists on the discussion seen to date. The Big Issue Claude Gravelle noted that the range of major changes in C-38 goes far beyond the environment alone. Ted Hsu wondered
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review – May 4, 2012
Friday, May 4 saw a relatively short day of debate on the omnibus budget bill – but with a few twists on the discussion seen to date. The Big Issue Claude Gravelle noted that the range of major changes in C-38 goes far beyond the environment alone. Ted Hsu wondered
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Duncan Cameron discusses how the Cons have already taken Canada and the world in exactly the wrong direction. But Murray Dobbin points out that we should be working on how to change things for the better once they’re finally removed from office,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review – April 5, 2012
Thursday, April 5 was the final sitting day in the House of Commons before a two-week Easter break. And the debate was much less sharp than in previous days, as the primary bill up for discussion was supported by all parties. The Big Issue That bill was S-4, a bill
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: How bizarre
A tweet responding to this week’s column post raises a point worth plenty more discussion. So let’s go into a bit more detail about how the Sask Party’s response to should indeed be considered utterly bizarre – even if it may reflect standard operating procedure for right-wing political parties. By
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Yes, the fraudulent collaboration between the Harper Cons and Sun TV should offer nothing but reason for suspicion about both portions of the right-wing noise machine – and Dr. Dawg, Heather Mallick, Simon Houpt and the Star have all had plenty to say.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Paul Wells points out that despite the Cons’ best efforts to get Canadians to panic over the state of our retirement system, the truth is that we’re actually better positioned now than was projected 20 years ago. (And for those looking inexplicably for
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: Burning question
In re: the credibility of Stephen Harper in declaring that his government’s legal stance that Canadian gay marriage can be retroactively nullified by government fiat shouldn’t be taken as an indication of any greater hostility toward the gay community in “further reopening” the issue: when exactly was it that the
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