Miscellaneous material to start your week.- Simon Enoch rightly criticizes the Cons’ fair-weather commitment to democracy in the wake of a fairly resounding vote on the part of Canadian Wheat Board members to preserve the institution and its single-des…
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Accidental Deliberations: Burning question
The Hill Times rightly notes that the Cons’ strategy against the NDP has involved taking every opportunity to attack both unions in general, and any form of association between labour and the NDP. But leaving aside the fact that the labour movement can…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your weekend reading.- As I’d suspected, the Cons are making clear that the kind of behaviour that would get any mere civil servant fired on the spot will be treated as entirely unobjectionable in a parliamentary secretary like Bob De…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading.- David Olive points out the growing consensus that those who have benefited most from free-market economics and bailouts alike should be expected to contribute more to the price of civilization – and the unsus…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
This and that to end your week…- Have no fear, members of the far right: of course the Harper Cons don’t mean it when they sign an environmental protection agreement. Or pretend to disagree with foreign dictators. Or claim they didn’t pressure the ci…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading.- Aaron Wherry takes a look at how the NDP caucus has responded to Jack Layton’s death and the resulting outpouring of public sympathy:After Jack Layton had departed Parliament Hill for the final time last week, …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Beyond our wildest fears
I’ve frequently pointed out that a couple of the Cons’ tax credit programs (implemented while they feigned interest in addressing climate change) made for the least efficient environmental programs on the face of the planet. But did anybody expect that…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Conservative democracy at work
Shorter Gerry Ritz:The only fair vote is one where I get to revise the results after the fact to reflect my preferred outcome.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Mostly competent government
Since the examples are piling up and pogge is nowhere to be found, let’s quickly list off the latest examples of the kind of management Canada’s corporate press so strongly endorsed. Promises made with no funding or follow-through solely for the purpos…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.- Chantal Hebert highlights how the Harper Cons are making a show of ignoring the needs of Quebec – and indeed making matters worse by the day:Persichilli’s recruitment also compounds what amounts to the party
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On arbitrary standards
I’m sure we can look forward to Mitch Wexler’s numbers on the total count of left-wing versus right-wing elected representatives in Canada being trotted out plenty during the course of this fall’s provincial elections – especially if it helps to sell t…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On ancient history
Remember back when the Harper Cons were able to run roughshod over a weak official opposition party which couldn’t muster any allies to fight back against the Cons’ smears?
Just wondering – because thankfully, that sad era is over.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading.
– The Cons are once again getting noticed in the world – this time thanks to Serge Schemann pointing out their callous treatment of asbestos widow Michaela Keyserlingk in the New York Times:
This summer, to Mrs. …
Accidental Deliberations: Burning question
Sure, it’s been fairly obvious that the Harper Cons have spent their time in office asking the world to think less of Canada. But did anybody suspect them to have done so quite this literally?
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On common strategies
Paul Krugman calls out the U.S.’ Republican Party for holding the country hostage until its demands are met. Lucky our own right-wingers are so much more reasonable.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week.
– Carol Goar asks whether the Harper Cons learned anything whatsoever from a recession which they first deemed impossible, then minimized before acting only under political duress:
We have less manoeuvring room today…
Accidental Deliberations: Sad Answers to Rhetorical Questions
Who in the world could possibly be craven enough to fight for the tobacco lobby and against healthier food when public health is at stake?
Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, that’s who.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Accountability in action
Good of the Harper Cons to be positively outraged that the massive cuts they’ve imposed on Environment Canada might result in cuts to Environment Canada. But who wants to bet they’d have been perfectly happy to see Northern water monitoring slashed if …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading.
– Chris Selley nicely summarizes Jack Layton’s celebration of life today:
I can just hear people kvetching: Was this a funeral for a great man, or a rally for his party?
But again, this is surely to mi…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Jack Layton Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading.
– Adam Radwanski astutely recognizes that the outpouring of sympathy and grief following Jack Layton’s death speaks to the gap between what most political parties limit themselves to pursuing, and what many p…
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