The era of Notwithstanding Clause restraint is over. Get used to it. To borrow someone else’s felicitous metaphor, Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was always an unexploded bomb lurking in the rubble of our country’s constitutional history like a decaying munition under the modern-day pavements
Continue readingTag: donald trump
Babel-on-the-Bay: Obama’s Oratory Opens Opportunity.
That is how it is done! The former American president has finally directed his skilled oratory at that disgusting Donald Trump. Obama brought honour to the office of president now held by Trump. Somebody had to say it. Mr. Trump dishonours the office. Enough is enough. But so what? What
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Keeping calm in chaos.
Not being a big fan of Canada’s foreign minister Chrystia Freeland, I must admit that she is very good at handling the news media. Being a former journalist certainly helps. And you have to admit that she is under a great deal of pressure from the media to tell it
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Irreconcilable differences? Gulf between the Alberta and federal NDP is wide, and could grow wider
The rift between Premier Rachel Notley’s Alberta New Democrats and the federal NDP led by Jagmeet Singh over the Trans Mountain Pipeline is wide and deep, but it is not unbridgeable – yet. That could soon change, though, if two likely political scenarios unfold in tandem: an early federal election
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Donald Trump and the Plaid Shirt Guy
Well there he was the other day in Billings, Montana, bathing in the love of his grubby supporters.Slurring his words, comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln, demanding the head of the person who wrote that anonymous op-ed piece in the New York Times. Only to have a young man standing right behind
Continue readingAlberta Politics: How far is the United Conservative Party prepared to go to be tolerant of intolerance? Quite far, apparently
MLA Richard Gotfried defeated candidate Cindy Ross last night for the United Conservative Party nomination in the Calgary-Fish Creek Riding. Mr. Gotfried, narrowly elected as a Progressive Conservative candidate in a tight three-way race in the May 2015 Alberta election, has detractors within the UCP. Still, his victory has to
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Is Donald Trump Now Too Dangerous To Be President?
I can only imagine what Donald Trump's mental state must be like, but I'm sure it's not a pretty sight.Not after Bob Woodward in his new book Fear, claimed that Defence Secretary James Mad Dog Mattis had once lamented that Trump had the mind of a "fifth or sixth grader."Which must
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Donald Trump and the Crazytown Nightmare
It's the most devastating portrait of a President ever written. And its title "Fear" couldn't be better chosen.For Bob Woodward's new book about Donald Trump reveals a President and a presidency in the throes of a nervous breakdown.And that should scare everybody.Read more »
Continue readingAlberta Politics: MP’s Tweet sets off teapot tempest as Trump’s tabloid crony David Pecker exits Postmedia board
It’s interesting that the presence of David Pecker on the board of Postmedia Network Inc. only became a topic of public debate after he left the largest publisher of daily and community newspapers in English Canada last week. The fact the evocatively named CEO of American Media Inc. was known to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Poker playing politicos.
It has been a while since playing poker at the local casino. The people who work the tables as a team, at that place, play a rough game. I stick to blackjack and craps at the casino and play poker monthly with a group of friends who have played together
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Donald Trump’s Failed Attempt To Intimidate Canadians
It was a deadline that Donald Trump insisted Canada must respect. In the language of the gangster in the White House, an offer it couldn't refuse.Canadians had until Friday to sign a new NAFTA deal dictated by himself, or there would be trouble.But Team Canada stood its ground refusing to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Donald Trump’s claims about the Canadian trade bargaining team have, for once, a ring of truth!
Yes, Donald Trump is a liar and a braggart, but the American President’s boast yesterday morning that cowed Canadian trade negotiators have all but folded and any new trade deal they sign will be totally on U.S. terms has a ring of truth. Given his track record, it’s certainly not
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Randy Rainbow and the Trump Impeachment Song
By now I'm sure he only sees what he wants to see, only hears what he wants to hear.But it's going to be hard to avoid that new poll. The one that suggests that Trump is not only incredibly unpopular.But also that a record number of Americans want him to be
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Day The Mobster Donald Trump Threatened Canada
Almost a week ago I looked at why the grubby Donald Trump was trying to sound like a gangster. And concluded it was because he was desperately afraid of going to the Big House.Well now the cowardly bully is mouthing off again.This time he's threatening Canada.Read more »
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Time to walk away from Trump, Ministers Freeland and PM Trudeau
Social media these days goes very fast, as you know from reading Twitter. BLogs can seem a bit slow in that respect. By the time I post this.. it may be outdated or overtaken by new events. That being said, this is an inflammatory a piece as you’ll ever see
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Joesph Stiglitz writes that history has proven wrong the theory that the weak recovery from the 2008 economic crash was the result of “secular stagnation” rather than a woefully insufficient public policy response. And Sam Pizzigati points out how the U.S. public is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trudeau trusting Trump?
Is that nice of Mr. Trump or is it not? He has given Canada this week to cave in to his absurd demands on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The U.S. president has proved to Trudeau on many occasions now that he is a liar, a braggard, a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Advice on dealing with the Trump Administration for Chrystia Freeland: don’t give away the store
WASHINGTON, D.C. – I see Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s foreign affairs minister, is also in town tonight, so if I happen to see meet her strolling on the National Mall or enjoying a beer at Kramer’s Books, I’ll say hi for you-all. I’ll also have some advice for her, worth what
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Matt Bruenig makes the case for a social wealth fund in the U.S. And David Dayen offers a reminder that Alaska’s dividend to citizens from its own wealth fund is both extremely popular and an effective treatment for many social ills. – Meanwhile,
Continue readingMontreal Simon: What If Donald Trump Actually Shot Someone on Fifth Avenue?
It was his most infamous remark, the one that should have instantly disqualified Donald Trump from running for President.The one where he claimed that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any supporters.But somehow Trump was elected instead of arrested, or confined to a mental institution.And now Thomas
Continue reading