In the unholy rush to jam their Unfair Elections Act through before the majority of Canadians realise just how bad and self-serving piece of legislation it is the Harper regieme has asked the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee to “pre-study” it. In short order the Conservative-dominated committee has come
Continue readingTag: Democratic Sustainability
Democracy Under Fire: Electoral Integrity of Act Questioned.
When 19 international Scholars from six democracy’s across the world add their voice to the over 150 Canadian scholars and almost universal condemnation of the Harper Regime’s attempt to introduce partisan bias into our election rules and to reduce the powers of the world respected Elections Canada then you know
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Five Years of Frustration
Five years ago this week I started Democracy Under Fire due to concern of the way in which the new Conservative Government was ignoring democratic and parliamentary conventions. This was just after their reelection as a result of the lowest voter turnout in Canadian electoral history, with only 22% of
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Political Participation and Perception
In their latest report “By Invitation Only:Canadians’ Perceptions of Political Parties”Samara, the measuring democracy people, identified six key roles of political parties’ functions in three main areas. In a survey concentrating upon the areas of Elections, Engagement & Policy they asked their respondents to rate the performance of Canadian political
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: 2014 – The year we ‘loose’ our democracy?
Whilst some say that it is already gone and that we are being subject to an Oligarchy well on its way to a Dictatorship, a view that I find it hard to argue against, there is still hope. The recent push back by a small number of Conservative MP’s gives
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: A Gift of Democracy for Christmas
For those who may not know Leadnowis “an independent advocacy organization that brings generations of Canadians together to achieve progress through democracy.” They are particularly focused upon building “a stronger democracy that protects our environment, creates economic opportunity while increasing equality” Leadnow has become THE organization for those concerned with
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Information is Power
The senate expense investigation and who knew what along with the PMs efforts to rid himself of these now disgraced conservative senators that he appointed has all but eliminated other news from the headlines. There was however some mention a couple of weeks ago of Canada’s information watchdog Suzanne Legault’s
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Save Democracy from Politics
The title says it all, our very democracy is in danger of being totally subverted by partisan actions which are aimed at keeping or gaining power with little regard to the well being of Canadian peoples or our country. Elizabeth May is correct when she says there is no consensus
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Dysfunctional Legislatures
Is there any such thing as a fully “functional” legislature in Canada? I am starting to wonder. I do not follow all the various provincial maneuverings but it seems to me that many of our governing institutions across the country are in disarray. Certainly the only time our federal government
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Be Careful What You Wish For!
Abolish the Senate? Be careful what you wish for, we all know that it has become highly partisan and some of those appointed feel they are entitled to their entitlements and take even more, reform is needed but do away with it entirely? I maintain that it is not the
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: An exercise in futility?
I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that my efforts in these pages to shed some light upon the various attacks upon our democracy, the ever increasing centralization of power in the hands of a few, our right to details of government spending and decisions, and our right to express
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Kevin Page Reflects upon the Past 5 years.
A must read published in the Star. “ I took the job when it was agreed that a few amazing and fearless public servants would join — namely, Mostafa Askari and Sahir Khan. We signed in proverbial blood. We vowed to give Canada a true legislative budget office. Nothing less.
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: The Silence is Deafening
As our hero Kevin Page is replaced as the Parliamentary Budget Officer by the Parliamentary Librarian‘temporarily’ whilst a ‘process’ takes place to perhaps replace him with a less open and honest individual more amenable to the Harper Regimes obsession to control the message we learn that Librarian staff have been
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Getting their attention…
Much has been written about the Idle No More movement in recent weeks and I will not attempt to define it here for like the Occupy Movement before it the focus of the protests is becoming increasingly unclear. For Chief Spence it seems to be about conditions in her, and
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Unwrap this for Christmas!
I wish I could present you with some uplifting and exciting presents on the democracy front at this time of year but I fear it is not to be, there may be hidden amongst the lumps of coal and crushed remains of our parliamentary democracy a few items that you
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Cooperation between Political Partys
There has been much talk of‘cooperation’ between partys since the close results in recent byelections and whilst I have in these pages urged such ‘cooperation not confrontation’ in the HoC I wonder exactly how long such common sense will last and what form it will take in a practical sense.
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Elizabeth May: Parliamentarian of the Year.
When it comes to choosing MP’s who have earned special recognition for their contributions in the House the choices, in my opinion, are somewhat limited however that Elisabeth May has been voted Parliamentarian of the Yearby her peers clearly indicates her commitment to serving her constituents and Canada as a
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Democratic Decline: Death by a Thousand Cuts.
This week the text of Allen Gregg’s speech at Carleton University went viral, in it he outlines many of the concerns that a lot of bloggers, myself included, and some journalists have been expressing for some time. He says his concern was first piqued in July 2010, when the federal
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Democracy in Decline
A study into the state of democracy in Britain over the last decade warns it is in “long-term terminal decline” as the power of corporations keeps growing, politicians become less representative of their constituencies and disillusioned citizens stop voting or even discussing current affairs.The report by Democratic Audit shared exclusively
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