Assorted content to end your week. – Jonathan Watts reports on a new study showing how the world’s largest economies (including Canada) are falling far short of the Paris climate goals due mostly to the influence of the fossil fuel industry, while also noting that Canada ranks with China and
Continue readingTag: Electoral Reform
Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Alexi White points out how tall tales about “welfare fraud” have been used as excuse to trap people in poverty. And the Star’s editorial board is rightly concerned about a social assistance review from a Ford government which couldn’t care less about anybody
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On strategic implications
One of the most worrisome aspects of first-past-the-post politics is the reality that a party can take what amounts to unaccountable power for an election cycle based on frivolous and/or misleading messages which just barely nudge public opinion against another option around election day. And parties which don’t have any
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Vancouver Sun Letter
I have a letter in today’s Vancouver Sun, not so much supporting proportional representation (although I do support proportional representation) as addressing what I consider to be baseless objections to the current electoral reform referendum. My letter is second from the top, under the (perhaps regrettable) heading “Complexity isn’t a
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Vancouver Sun Letter
I have a letter in today’s Vancouver Sun, not so much supporting proportional representation (although I do support proportional representation) as addressing what I consider to be baseless objections to the current electoral reform referendum. My letter is second from the top, under the (perhaps regrettable) heading “Complexity isn’t a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – CBC News examines the state of consumer debt in Canada. Jake Johnson writes that despite the growing recognition of inequality as an issue, 2017 saw an unprecedented amount of money funneled into the fortunes of billionaires. And Owen Jones highlights the importance
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on British Columbia’s electoral reform referendum – and the need for a political system where voters have more say than simply a yes/no vote on an incumbent government. For further reading…– For examples of the attempt to defend first-past-the-post based on the desire for accountability for a majority government,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
This and that for your weekend reading. – Kate Aronoff interviews Mariana Mazzucato about The Value of Everything, including some important discussion about the relationship between governments and markets: Aronoff: You talk a lot about the power of the state in shaping markets. What does the idea that the government
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Don Pittis writes that the disastrous results of the U.S.’ giveaways to corporations and wealthy individuals – including a ballooning deficit which isn’t contributing to any improvement in the rate of economic growth, together with an expectation that people will pay the
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: THE FIFTH COLUMN 2018-10-13 19:17:00
On Democracy What a better way to restart The Fifth Column than by a treatise on how to make our democracy actually democratic. Hopefully this will be the first posting in a newly regenerated Fifth Column. I write this at a time when there are so many examples of democracy
Continue readingCuriosityCat: FPTP makes Canadians second class citizens
Voters in the province of British Columbia are faced with a dilemma: Does morality require them to vote for political reform because they owe their family, friends and neighbours a duty to take care of them? This dilemma arises because each voter in BC will within days receive a postal
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Evelyn Forget makes the case for a national basic income which would provide a more stable fiscal base for Canada’s provinces as well as its citizens. And Dennis Raphael writes about the social murder resulting from the wanton destruction of income supports and
Continue readingCuriosityCat: A vote for FPTP is a vote for legalized theft
Voters in BC are being given the chance to vote for a dramatic change in the way in which their representatives in the provincial government are chosen, as this article shows: David Eby said the referendum would be conducted by mail-in ballot, with the campaign to begin July 1 and
Continue readingCuriosityCat: How to Frame the electoral reform referendum in BC, Canada
Mark Mitchell has a post in Facebook in which he writes: Apparently, those of us who support ProRep are wrong to use facts and logic in our argument, when the opposition is using emotion and lies. Any suggestions as to how to change this? Good (Read more…) and a valid
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Jim Stanford discusses how abusing precarious workers has become the primary job of big business. But Owen Jones notes that strikes against McDonald’s in the UK represent just the latest example of workers taking collective action to fight for a more fair
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Oliver Milman reports on new indications that we’re far beyond any reasonable pace in trying to rein in climate change. – The Star’s editorial board discusses why lower-income Ontarians are right to feel like they’re under attack from Doug Ford’s government. And Noah
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Jean Swanson writes about the success of Vancouver tenants in pushing to limit the rent increases which can be forced on them. But any win for collective action will come attempts to stifle more of the same – and Dan Taekema reports on
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: An Abuse of Power
Last Sunday an open letter signed by about 400 Ontario legal professionals was sent to Attorney General Caroline Mulroney asking that she not support the use of the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause. “We, the undersigned members of the legal community, are writing this open letter to you because your office is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Evening Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Gary Mason discusses how politicians are fiddling while our planet burns. And Jonathan Watts reports on the strongest sea ice in the Arctic breaking up for the first time in recorded history, as well as the likelihood that Arctic warming bears part
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Evening Links
Assorted content to end your week. – David Moscrop makes the case for a long-overdue inheritance tax in Canada: Over time, if left unchecked, capitalism facilitates the pooling of wealth — cash, property, business ownership, investments — among a select few. This is as true in Canada as anywhere else.
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