“Before my father died, he said the worst thing about growing old was that other men stop seeing you as dangerous….Dangerousness was sacred.” Last night I watched Act of Valor. I liveblogged it so you don’t have to watch it. You’re welcome. First there was The Lottery, a dystopic tale
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Alberta Diary: Calgary Centre Conservative nomination fight takes a turn, but Joan Crockatt’s still the frontrunner
Your blogger with Joan Crockatt: Remember, when the author of this blog appears in a picture with a politician, it does not imply endorsement – he just can’t help himself! Below: Nomination candidate Jon Lord and contest dropout John Mar. The battle for the Conservative nomination in the Calgary Centre
Continue readingAlberta Diary: As goes California, so goes the nation!
The Beach Boys, now, and, below, then. Below them, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, then and now. As goes California, so goes Canada? As goes California, so goes the nation – the nation in the normal scheme of things being what the world knows as the Good Ole U.S.A. For many
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Elections Canada Out To Sabotage Etobicoke Centre By-election
There’s no better way to characterize the agency’s role in the high-stakes Etobicoke Centre by-election appeal heard by the Supreme Court of Canada earlier this week. The “independent” and “non-partisan” agency responsible for conducting federal elections and referendums in Canada is unequivocally siding with Ted Opitz, the Conservative MP who
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Jason Kenney: Thank Me For Cutting Refugee Health Benefits
Canada’s federal immigration minister is way out of line here. The Calgary South East MP has posted a petition on his website – jasonkenney.ca – asking Canadians to thank him for a job well done. The petition’s exact words: “We, the undersigned, thank Jason Kenney for his efforts to streamline benefits afforded to
Continue readingThe Equivocator: Justin Trudeau is a Serious Candidate for a Serious Party
I agree with Andrew Coyne that the Liberal Party of Canada needs to be the party of bold policy ideas and that on some issues we need to be to the left of the NDP/to the right of the Conservatives. However, I strongly disagree with Mr. Coyne’s assertion that “a party
Continue readingcenterandleft: Conservative Transparancy Now Scientifically Proven to be a Joke
51st place isn’t necessarily always a bad thing. The 51st wealthiest person in the world, or the 51st smartest are blessed to be so lucky. It’s a placement they can be proud of. When your country is ranked 51st on any list, it is unlikely to be a source of
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Robocalls Fraud Federal Court Challenge: Council of Canadians Needs Our Support
Editor’s Note: I’m pleased to publish and share with you the letter below, from Maude Barlow (pictured), the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, regarding the ongoing robocalls election fraud case currently before the Federal Court. During the May 2011 federal election, thousands of Canadians were robbed of their
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Harper Conservatives’ Attack Ad Betrays Fear of Mulcair Victory in 2015 (VIDEO)
Stephen Harper’s Tories are proof that when a dictatorial regime is threatened by the force a democratic insurgency, and the specter of losing power, it becomes dangerous. Threatened by the prospect of NDP leader Thomas Mulcair becoming Prime Minister in 2015, the Conservative Party of Canada released a new dirty-politics
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Time to wax philosophical about Ralph Klein and the Order of Canada
Former Alberta premier Ralph Klein, back in the day. Below: Former Quebec premier Jacques Parizeau, also back in the day. Now that the campaign to give the Order of Canada to Ralph Klein has all but met its goal, one wonders when the effort to hang the same gong on
Continue readingImpolitical: New troubling allegations on Del Mastro 2008 campaign
“Employees linked to cousin’s company each gave $1,000 to Dean Del Mastro campaign.” Bravo to Postmedia for pursuit of this story. But three donors to Del Mastro’s campaign or riding association, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, say they were asked to make $1,000 donations and were reimbursed by
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Fixing Canada’s Democracy, Part 74 of 877
I spent 3 hours in the House of Commons from midnight to 3am this morning watching the contemptuous debauchery of the Conservative government squash democracy in ramming through Bill C-38. Several weeks ago I also spent some time in the BC legislature watching that version of embarrassing contempt. Beyond a
Continue readingbastard.logic: These Are Not Your Father’s Tories. Seriously.
“I worked for (Mulroney-era environment minister) Tom McMillan, who was a very red Tory. I wrote speeches for him. We never checked his speeches with the PMO. He’d get up to answer in Question Period. He didn’t have a script for how to answer. Brian Mulroney was not telling his
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Harper Conservative response to NDP seems delusional – and apparently ineffective
The Conservative Party’s Parliamentary brain trust figures out how to respond to Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair during Question Period. Below: Nik Nanos. No one should be particularly shocked that yelps of protest by western premiers and Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in Ottawa have failed to dent support for the
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: Cons vs. NDP on Dutch Disease shows marginalization of Liberal Party
I remarked last week on Twitter about how NDP leader Tom Mulcair has been dominating my daily news clip package lately, as his comments about an alleged Canadian case of “Dutch Disease” and subsequent trip to the Alberta oil sands spark a heated debate about the Canadian resource sector and
Continue readingCalgaryLiberal: Calgary-Centre By-Election: Lee Richardson Resigns
Two days ago Lee Richardson resigned to work with the Progressive Conservatives and Ms. Redford in Edmonton. The first thing that is apparent is that a federal Tory joined the Progressive Conservatives, and not the Wildrose. That should but a substantial damper on those who equate Ms. Smith’s Wildrose and the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: GroupThink ReSpun: On US Police Forces Operating in Canada
We have decided that “GroupThink ReSpun” will be the name of the process whereby various of the Politics, Re-Spun crew collaborate on editorializing about a current event. Enjoy the poetry of the term! So apparently, the RCMP wants to ease into allowing US agents to operate freely in Canada: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/canada-politics/rcmp-ease-canadians-idea-u-agents-canada-201905380.html
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Nightmare Canadian Conservative Justice – Let’s Not Recreate the American Failure Up Here
The burning legion of stupid, led by Harper and his Conservative clown government balefully plods on toward making Canada’s prison system a mirror image of the failed system present in the United States. Do we really need to frack things up Canada-Harper style to get the message that this is
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: We Need “Conservative Math” for Social Spending.
Can you imagine if we had the sort of hand grenade type budgeting for the social services of Canada? It would be like OH!, nationalized day care??? we thought it was like only 5 billion, but it turned out to be 7 billion, damn I guess that’s just ‘mission
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