Emerging from their resort world leaders have come up with one idea that just might work. Banking Oversight. No seriously, this is what they are spending money coming up with. Click the link, see for yourself. Of course their brand of banking oversight is new. It’s nothing like the banking
Continue readingTag: democracy
Canadian Trends: Expensive resorts and lavish dinners, austerity is in the air
The G20 leaders continue to excel at making a credible case for austerity. Hunkered down in a Mexican luxury resort the reality of the world most people live in is no where to be found near them. Between lavish meals economic talk erupts, lots of talk which these leaders insist
Continue readingCanadian Trends: So is "Ethical Oil" still ethical?
We’ve gotten several damning analysis of our real stance on human rights in the last few years. The list grows today with Canada being added to the Human Rights Watch List. Canada will be put in the company of some of the world’s worst abusers of human rights tomorrow when
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: When rights are annoying #nlpoli
There’s something about this frivolous and vexatious thing that caught people’s attention right from the start. Under the provincial Conservatives’ new secrecy laws, a cabinet minister can refuse to disclose information if he or she thinks the request is “frivolous or vexatious”. (sec. 43.1) Leave aside the idea that a
Continue readingCanadian Trends: Contrarian optimism and the omnibus ballet
The Canadian economy, ‘the envy of the world‘. Remember that? Of course that in itself was a complete lie more of which is revealed all the time. But who needs memory when you have what passes for politics? For it is only in the world of politics that a government can
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 readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: More oil, less democracy #nlpoli
“Oil and democracy do not easily mix,” wrote political scientist Michael Ross in The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations, his 2012 study of the impact that income from oil development has on governments around the world. Regular readers will recall this idea from an earlier
Continue readingPop The Stack: If you only read one article about the Budget fiasco, read this one
If you’ve been avoiding reading about what all the political nerds are getting so excited about here is a truly fantastic analysis of the situation. If you only read one article about it, read this one. That is if you care what it means to have a fair, representative government.
Continue readingPop The Stack: If you only read one article about the Budget fiasco, read this one
If you’ve been avoiding reading about what all the political nerds are getting so excited about here is a truly fantastic analysis of the situation. If you only read one article about it, read this one. That is if you care what it means to have a fair, representative government.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Stacked House Filibuster #nlpoli
Democracy is a beautiful thing. The people of Newfoundland and Labrador are witnessing its full beauty in the filibuster against the Conservative government’s latest assault on openness, transparency and accountability. The opposition parties are into the second day of almost continuous debate on a bill that would gut the public’s
Continue reading350 or bust: Canadian Democracy in Disarray
* There is mounting alarm and opposition across Canada, even among many conservatives, about the Harper government’s omnibus budget bill, Bill C-38. Yesterday Parlliamentary Speaker Andrew Scheer (a Conservative MP from Saskatchewan) denied Elizabeth May’s well argued Point of Order re: allowing Omnibus Budget Bill C-38 as a legitimate omnibus
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Bill C-38: Joyce has a choice! Let her hear your voice!
June 9, 2012: Citizens opposed to Bill C-38 pause for a moment outside of Conservative MP Joyce Bateman’s Winnipeg South Centre office before continuing to distribute literature in the constituency. Photo: Paul S. Graham Stephen Harper’s Bill C-38 continues to generate controversy and opposition across Canada. In Winnipeg, a group
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Two Men Who Changed The World, And Two Men Who Didn’t
“The problems of Canada are not problems caused by Canada, they are the effects of the foreigner causes, the communists and the Jews.” The crowd of men encircling the speaker at the Montreal public house were fixated with the unquestionable certainty the wirey Adrien Arcand embodied. “It is not from
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Complete details of 2008-09 Bank Support
Readers of this blog will have hopefully read my report “The big banks big secret” which examines the $114 billion that Canada’s banks received during the 2008-09 financial crisis. Its major finding was that at some point three of Canada’s five big banks had received support worth more than their market capitalization,
Continue readingCanadian Trends: Modern capitalists hate capitalism
You can sum up any current financial news in to a few categories. You’ll either find yourself reading about: A solution proposed by those responsible for the problem that when tried didn’t work. An expensive summit or meeting attended by those responsible for the problem to discuss a solution which won’t work.
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Retiring the Monarchy
Alright, what longstanding Canadian institution shall we dispense with today? Queen Elizabeth II has been all over the news of late in honour of her Diamond Jubilee. Never satisfied, some of those rabble-rousing muckrakers in the NDP have refused to join in the festivities. That killjoy Pat Martin in particular,
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: ConCalls: Spending Money and Time
On the one hand I sympathize with the speed of the investigation into the illegal robocalls (and live calls). Elections Canada are the pros, and will have to testify in court, etc., and want it to all be done correctly. On the other, bigger hand, it’s bloody insane that the
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Majority Rule by the Few
The wasteful, unelected monarchy is bad and democracy is good. Since most Canadians don’t require a more indepth argument than that, let’s use the democratic system to finally severe Canada’s ties with the monarchy. Let’s get a majority of us together, in our democracy that will require about 38% of
Continue reading350 or bust: For Sale: All Of Canada
* The federal government has suggested it could replace a team of smokestack pollution specialists by turning to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, appearing to contradict its own description of the scientists and their work on Environment Canada’s website. The apparent contradiction comes as hundreds of charities and organizations across
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: ConCalls: American Robocall $1Million Fine
WTF Elections Canada? U.S. Fed Judge ruled VOTER SUPPRESSION WITH ROBOCALLS "consultant" must pay 1 million. baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/… #CDNPOLI— Sharpay Point (@truththrust) June 05, 2012 Let’s take a peek south of the border, and see how a judge there treated a voter suppression robocall. (Conbots will gleefully note that the lack
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