The Federal Court has nuked the Conservatives effort to stop the courts from hearing a legal challenge to some of the results of the 2011 federal election. With the support of The Council of Canadians, individuals in seven of the more than 40 affected ridings legally challenged the results under
Continue readingTag: democracy
Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: ConCalls: Gone Dismissing
So, new Elections Canada commish, what’s up? I know you’re new on the job, but you seemed to have been able to get a confident handle on things enough by only your second day at work. You were already sure it was right to dismiss a months-long investigation into an
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Rick Salutin on Democracy, Parties, and Electoral Reform
“Democracy,” as Winston Churchill famously stated, “is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Somewhat less famously, he also remarked that “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” Notwithstanding this somewhat anemic endorsement,
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: A CLASSE act for Quebec’s next provincial election
Should an election be called, the more militant group of the Quebec student protest movement will mobilze students against ideology and neo-liberal politics. That’s according to CLASSE’s new manifesto, recently launched by Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois (pictured), the organization’s spokesman. The manifesto focuses on four core themes: democracy, feminism, social justice and
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Quebec Student Protest Movement Begins Tour Of Ontario Universities
While the pots and pans are on a summer hiatus, the ground-breaking Quebec student protest movement is visiting an Ontario university near you. Representatives of CLASSE, Quebec’s largest student federation, and other activists have embarked on a tour of ten Ontario universities. The nine-day Quebec-Ontario Student Solidarity Tour, funded by
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Defining Democracy
Just back from a very brief holiday in western New York, I’m still feeling a bit too relaxed to post anything lengthy, but I do have a reading recommendation for anyone concerned about democracy in its various forms. Earlier this year, The Star’s Rick Salutin took time off from his
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: ConCalls: Cutbacks
Investigating election crimes is hard work, but someone has to do it. Elections Canada in particular has to do it, and in theory they are conducting an investigation into illegal phone calls of all sorts made in 2011. The Conservatives are trying their best to slow that hard work down.
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: A more realistic approach to limiting the influence of money in politics
Cenk Ugyur, host of the popular The Young Turks (a progressive, internet-based US politics show), frequently like to deride the pervasive and damaging influence of Big Money in US politics, especially in the post-Citizens United era. He is right to do so for this is, indeed, among the most corrupting
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Canadians Should Envy Greeks
Canadians aren’t too envious of Greeks, Italians, and Egyptians right now, but maybe they should be. Though Canada has a relatively better economy and a stable political system, the other countries in the world facing crises have something Canada seems to be lacking, a resolve to make things better. Facing
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: ConCalls: Delayed Justice, Swift Dismissal
The day after the new Elections Canada commissioner took over the duties of the suddenly retired previous commish Corbett, he’d had his office dismiss photographic evidence of Americans not living in Canada, making inducement phone calls to convince voters to vote for Conservatives. It’s against the law, by a reasonable
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Canadians Mourn The Untimely “Death of Evidence”
“The Harper government is the most environmentally hostile one we have ever had in Canada.” – Maude Barlow, Chair of the Council of Canadians About 1,500 scientists, lawyers, students and activists from across Canada gathered on Parliament Hill yesterday and held a mock funeral to mourn the death of Canadian
Continue readingCanadian Trends: The National Park Shuffle
Whenever the federal government says “budget deficit’s are no excuse for not spending on X” you should probably be at least a little suspicious. Naturally, I was, but I’m always suspicious so that probably doesn’t mean much. At issue is $100 million in Rouge Valley land Ottawa wants to transform
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: In Ottawa, scientists to mourn the death of Canadian evidence
Canadian scientists gather in Ottawa today to stage a funeral procession to protest the Harper government’s draconian cuts to federal scientific programs and systematic muzzling of Canadian scientists. The protest is sponsored by the Council of Canadians. It begins at the Ottawa Convention Centre at 12 p.m. ET and ends with a rally
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Friendly Canadian Input on the US Election
The sun is shining. The flowers are blooming. We are in a year that is divisible by four. I think we all know what that means. In a matter of months, our American friends will once again start hanging chads or whatever it is they do to hold a presidential
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Bob Rae’s Exporting Democracy
When Michael Ignatief was the leader of the Liberal Party, I lamented that someone whose pre-politics life was as an expert on foreign affairs and had written several books on the subject that I read – even if I agreed only in part – was unable to articulate a clear
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: The Economist Insulted Progressive Canadians’ Intelligence
Earlier, I gloated over the influential right-leaning British magazine’s criticism of Harper’s burgeoning elected dictatorship. I’ve a second sober take on the issue. See, I failed to read between the lines: The Economist actually ridiculed progressive Canadians’ collective intelligence. First, the magazine tells its readers: “Polls show that voters still consider
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Guess Who Said It
Most people do not have deep values. One person one vote, that is how Hitler was able to define his laws. Special points if you can parse it so it makes any kind of sense.
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Liberal Party Petition: No More Omnibus Bills, Harper
The just-concluded Parliamentary session witnessed “serious abuses of power by the Harper Conservatives” through the use of two omnibus bills “that are radically changing Canada”: crime Bill C-10 and Budget Bill C-38. Please Go HERE to sign and share the Liberal Party of Canada’s petition against this abuse of power by
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Friday RoboCon
News goes to die, on Fridays. So today it is appropriate to talk about the biggest news story in the country that doesn’t get the respect or urgent coverage it deserves. It’s only been more than the entire last year that our present government may have been ruling without a
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