A victory for Canadian democracy as Germany rejects the Harper Conservatives’ reviled multi-billion dollar Canada-EU free trade deal. The post Germany to reject Conservatives’ Canada-EU free trade deal appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
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Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Nicholas Kristof offers a primer on inequality in the U.S., while the Washington Post reports that a think tank looking to fund research into the issue couldn’t find a single conservative willing to discuss it. And PressProgress highlights the OECD’s finding that the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Evening Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Vineeth Sekharan debunks the myth that a job represents a reliable path out of poverty, while reminding us that there’s one policy choice which could eradicate poverty altogether: A job alone does not guarantee freedom from poverty. In fact, in 2012, at least
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Marc Lee looks in detail at the risks involved in relying on tar sands development as an economic model: The UK outfit Carbon Tracker was the first to point out this means we are seeing a “carbon bubble” in our financial markets – that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – David Graeber writes that unfettered capitalism will never tame itself, but will instead need to be countered by a sufficiently strong counter-movement to seriously question its underpinnings. And Thomas Frank follows up with Graeber about the warped incentives facing workers as matters stand
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Canada-EU trade deal will hurt Canada’s auto industry: study
by: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives | Press Release | May 28, 2014 OTTAWA – The proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) will only exacerbate the Canadian auto industry’s recent decline, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). The study, by Unifor economist and CCPA
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – PressProgress digs into the PBO’s report on tax giveaways to look at what Canada has lost from the Cons’ cuts to federal fiscal capacity – and how little has been gained as a trade-off: (T)he Harper government, by starving the public coffers, is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Jared Bernstein takes a look at after-tax inequality, and finds that it fits neatly with Thomas Piketty’s prescription to address the concentration of income and wealth through strong public policy: (W)hile the progressive taxes and transfers that don’t show up in Mr. Piketty’s
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Ontario Liberals fail to protect health care in trade deal with Europe
While the Harper Conservative government has pushed ahead with its Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union, the Ontario Liberal government has failed to protect public health care. Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) protection for public health care was initially supposed to be provided through
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Robert Reich writes about the basic economic lessons the U.S. has forgotten since its postwar boom: First, America’s real job creators are consumers, whose rising wages generate jobs and growth. If average people don’t have decent wages there can be no real recovery
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On consensus positions
I won’t break down in detail the bevy of reviews of the current position of Tom Mulcair and the federal NDP – including pieces by Bruce Stewart, John Ibbitson and John Geddes. But it’s worth highlighting the areas where I’d see no need to challenge the consensus reflected in those
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Bob Hepburn writes that more Canadians approve of the idea of a guaranteed annual income than oppose it – even as the concept is all too frequently dismissed as politically unpalatable. And Stuart Trew points out that a majority of Canadians disagree with
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Converting principles to other people’s money #nlpoli
When Premier Kathy Dunderdale spoke to a St. John’s Board of Trade last May, she claimed the federal government had tried to tie the federal loan guarantee on Muskrat Falls to the European free trade talks. There’s no evidence that her claim is true, at least based on the selected
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Nick Cohen writes that the corporate sector is home to some of the most dangerous cult philosophy in the world: (T)he language of business has become ever more cultish. In the theory of “transformational leadership”, which dominates the business schools, the CEO is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Ellen Roseman writes about the need to recognize the value of public services – and to ensure that they’re properly funded: Canadians value their high-quality public services, such as education and health care. Many understand that public services democratize consumption and help
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – Chris Dillow discusses how a shredded social safety net may turn into a vicious cycle – as voters are more prepared to cast ballots based on resentment when their own livelihood is less secure: Marko Pitesa and Stefan Thau first manipulated subjects’ perceptions
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Nick Pearce offers an interesting discussion of conception of equality that should be placed at the core of social-democratic thinking – with one goal in particular standing out as demanding further attention: (S)social democrats would be more self-consciously political in pursuit of their
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – George Monbiot discusses how another corporate investment agreement – this time one between Europe and the U.S. patterned after CETA – will transfer yet more power from people and their elected governments to corporate elites: The purpose of the Transatlantic Trade and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On false promises
Last week, I linked to this story on the cost of prescription drugs under CETA. But let’s follow up on another aspect of the giveaway to big pharma which might sound fairly familiar: Russell Williams of R&D Canada, which represents the brand-name drug industry, questioned whether it was possible to
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Pamela Wallin Visits Corner Gas -Video
Richard Hughes-Political Blogger Satire is often better than a rest. This video seen on Laila Yuile’s – No Strings Attached was sent to me and it is well, a laugh if you can through the garbage and flowers reality that is Canadian politics today. As long as you do not
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