Stephen Harper, the self-professed economist (can you call yourself that when you don’t have a Ph.D.?) who ‘claims’ such sterling management to the economy, has received another blow to his exaggerated and unwarranted reputation of competence: A European Union analysis of the just-completed trade agreement with Canada suggests the EU
Continue readingTag: CETA
The Canadian Progressive: Canada-EU CETA trade agreement has “troubling” elements: Yves Engler [VIDEO]
Yves Engler, a Canadian activist and author of The Ugly Canadian: Stephen Harper’s Foreign Policy, discusses the “troubling” elements in the Canada-EU CETA trade agreement. The post Canada-EU CETA trade agreement has “troubling” elements: Yves Engler [VIDEO] appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What U.S. Steel Shutdown Reveals About Harper
While all of us continue to be riveted by the ever-deepening pit into which the duplicitous Prime Minister is digging himself over the Duffy scandal, other events are equally revelatory of Stephen Harper’s dark psyche. One of them is the announcement by U.S. Steel that it is permanently shuttering its
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Don Braid comments on Alberta’s complete lack of credibility when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental issues. And Andrew Leach nicely sums up the PC/Con position in trying to put a happy face on growing emissions: Suppose you run
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Thomas Walkom writes that the Harper Cons’ much-hyped economic record in fact offers ample reason to demand a change in government: The Conservatives insist that the economy is their strong suit. And for a while it was. In 2011, voters bought Harper’s pitch.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Frances Russell rightly asks whose freedom is supposed to be protected by free trade agreements such as CETA: Once Canada signs CETA (the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) with Europe, federal, provincial and municipal governments will suddenly find their hands and feet
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Duncan Cameron writes that Stephen Harper’s CETA triumphalism may result in serious long-term damage to Canada for the sake of a temporary political reprieve: Promoting the big bamboozle means Harper is gambling with Canada’s economic future. The PM is touting a deal not
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On core products
It may not come as much surprise that I thoroughly disagree with Murray Mandryk’s paean to corporate protection agreements. But his take on the CETA does signal one point worth highlighting. Last week, my column dealt with the shift toward seeing politics as a matter of marketing and microtargeting, rather
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Impact of trade agreement may spark renewed interest in universal public drug plan
Last week Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente said the Harper government’s “consumer friendly” agenda was at odds with the pharma provisions in the new European trade agreement. As critics had been warning, the new agreement will effectively extend drug patents by … Continue reading →
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Marc Lee writes that British Columbia has learned nothing about the dangers of staple economics. But Christy Clark has certainly learned something from her predecessor’s playbook: one term after Gordon Campbell’s promise not to impose an HST fell by the wayside immediately after
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Vale delays Long Harbour smelter… again #nlpoli
Earlier this year, mining giant Vale was saying they’d start production at the new Long Harbour smelter in 2013, but after a meeting with Premier Kathy Dunderdale in Brazil, the company won’t be ramping up until 2015. That’s the news from VOCM on the weekend, although they didn’t report the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
This and that for your weekend reading. – Thomas Walkom notes that the CETA isn’t particularly about trade, but instead serves to enshrine yet again the principle that investors come before citizens. – Lana Payne highlights the contradiction between the promise that giveaways to the corporate sector will lead to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Who Do You Trust?
Two seeming unrelated stories, both connected by one pernicious element: unwarranted government secrecy. In this morning’s Hamilton Spectator is the sad tale of Marit McKenzie, an 18-year-old Calgarian who died after taking an anti-acne drug known as Diane-35. Often prescribed off-label as a birth-control pill, the drug’s side effects can
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Water, Water Everywhere
Something to think about from the folks at Operation Maple: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: We should talk about CETA. But we won’t.
What a capital idea! (Pun fully intended.) Critics of the free trade talks with Europe are urging provinces to ensure any negotiated deal gets a full public airing before it is formally signed. Critics are appealing to the provinces because with every trade deal that has been considered at the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Scott Sinclair discusses how CETA could create extreme and unnecessary risk in Canada’s banking and financial system: The failure of a single company (such as Lehman Brothers in October 2008) or unchecked growth in markets for high-risk financial products (such as sub-prime
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – Andrew Gavin Marshall surveys the grossly disproportionate amount of wealth and power held by a small elite class: In 2006, a UN report revealed that the world’s richest 1% own 40% of the world’s wealth, with those in the financial and internet sectors comprising the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Why Is Harper So Fervent About Free Trade?
Much has been written about the Harper government’s obsession with concluding a variety of trade deals; probably one of the most worrisome in terms of its implications for Canadian sovereignty, jobs, environmental protection and culture is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) that Canada is pursuing with the European
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Harper government bullying provinces to accept EU trade deal,says Council of Canadians
Federal funding for a hydro project in Newfoundland and Labrador is tied to the condition that the province removes minimum processing rules in the fisheries. The Council of Canadians accuses the Harper government of bullying provinces to accept EU trade deal. The post Harper government bullying provinces to accept EU
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: CETA: EU-Canada trade agreement threatens fracking bans
Note: CETA negotiations continue in Brussels today (May 6) through at least Wednesday. By: Council of Canadians | Press Release: Amsterdam/Brussels/Ottawa – The proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the European Union (EU) and Canada would grant energy companies far-reaching rights to challenge bans and regulations of environmentally damaging shale gas
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