The latest from Canada’s federal election campaign. – Bruce Campbell discusses the connection between the climate crisis and wealth inequality – along with the miserable failure of Lib and Con governments in responding to both. And Canadians for Tax Fairness offers a fact sheet on closing tax loopholes. – Erica Lentl interviews
Continue readingTag: Erin O’Toole
Accidental Deliberations: #Elxn44 Roundup
The latest from Canada’s federal election campaign. – The Maple examines how the timing and format of the campaign chosen by Justin Trudeau could hardly have been designed for lower expected turnout. – PressProgress looks into the background of Lib candidate Mary-Jane Bennett as both a cheerleader for privatization, and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: #Elxn44 Roundup
This and that from the federal election campaign. – Canadians for Tax Fairness sets out its platform for a fair and equitable tax system. And Katrina Vandenheuvel makes the case for a tax on windfall pandemic profits in particular. – Sue Capon reports that Revera’s response to being required to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Erin O’Toole’s promise he’d put workers on corporate boards is meaningless at best, harmful at worst, unlikely to be implemented
Federal Opposition Leader Erin O’Toole has launched a charm offensive to win over unionized workers normally treated as lepers or enemies by modern North American “conservative” parties. A key policy in the Conservative Party of Canada’s platform, Mr. O’Toole insisted yesterday, will be to require about 100 corporations under federal
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Pandemic election an outrage: Alberta Conservatives. Pandemic over, we’re open for good: Also Alberta Conservatives
It’s an outrage, practically a crime against humanity, for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call a federal election in the midst of a global pandemic, Alberta’s Conservatives say. The pandemic is over and thanks to the wise leadership of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, we are open for good, enjoying the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Unifor uses Stephen Harper, Jason Kenney to target ‘the new 2021 O’Toole’
With election fever running high throughout the land, Unifor’s new third-party political advertisement started showing up on social media yesterday and it was too good not to share in the final hours of this August long weekend. It’s an attack ad that mimics the cliches of automotive advertising, and Erin
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Something is dragging the federal Conservatives down in Alberta – is it Jason Kenney?
It sure looks as if Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s abysmal performance is not merely threatening the survival of his United Conservative Party Government, but is dragging down the federal Conservatives in Alberta as well. Alberta’s Conservatives are too strong and too entrenched even for Premier Kenney to destroy them completely.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Bryan Eneas reports on the discovery of 751 unmarked graves near a single residential school in Saskatchewan. And Samantha Beattie reports on a Catholic priest’s attempt to justify the genocide committed through the residential school system, while John Paul Tasker reports on
Continue readingAlberta Politics: If you like going to the bottle depot, you’ll love the Conservative carbon tax, says Calgary MP Ron Liepert
I hear that Calgary Signal Hill Conservative MP Ron Liepert – who the Canadian Press kindly described as an experienced Alberta politician – has been using the deposit you pay on a bottle of beer to explain party Leader Erin O’Toole’s carbon tax proposal. This is a flawed metaphor, but
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Inputs and outputs
There’s rightly been plenty of pushback against the Cons’ sad excuse for a climate change plan. But it’s worth highlighting that there’s one way in which the principle behind it could accomplish more than the Libs’ one-sided approach to carbon pricing. It would seem too obvious to bear mention that
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Leave ‘em Laughing.
In writing about the leadership skills of our political leaders, we have borrowed the title of a 1927 Laurel and Hardy two-reel movie to explain federal conservative leader Erin O’Toole. You can just visualize Stan Laurel saying to Erin O’Toole or Oliver Hardy “Here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten me
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A liberal performance.
According to Susan Delacourt of the Toronto Star, Justin Trudeau was invoking the ghosts of liberal past at the weekend policy conference. While I rarely disagree with Ms. Delacourt, those were not spirits to whom Justin was appealing. He needs the living, breathing liberals of past years to come back
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: O’Toole sings of solidarity.
Some political pundits seemed surprised the other day that conservative leader Erin O’Toole was trying to build bridges to unions. Not all union members vote for new democratic party politicians. If there has been any drift over the years, it has been to both conservatives and liberals. It is all
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Pick your battles.
If you want to win, in war or in politics, you pick the battles you can win. Losers fight any battle that comes along. It is the problem facing the major opposition parties in the coming election. It is a special problem for conservative leader Erin O’Toole. He is between
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Armine Yalnizyan highlights how our failure to put adequate resources into the caring sector stands in the way of both a COVID recovery and sustainable longer-term economic development. – Jessica Wildfire writes that our economy has been set up to be unaffordable
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Awkward! What can Erin O’Toole do now that Conservative Party delegates have ignored his plea to acknowledge climate change?
Question: What is Erin O’Toole supposed to do now that we all know 54 per cent of the delegates to his online Conservative Party of Canada policy convention have formally refused to acknowledge climate change is an actual thing? Answer: Pretend it never happened, of course. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On plausible alternatives
One of the perennial frustrations in following federal politics is the tendency of media coverage to default toward a Lib-Con duopoly. That pattern typically manifests itself when polling data and other circumstances create an obvious opening for an alternative, and is particularly striking when one of those parties is still
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “Ottawa, we have a problem.”
The other day, we got a good laugh from a Susan Delacourt column in the Toronto Star. She was comparing former federal liberal leader Michael Ignatieff to conservative leader Erin O’Toole. I could never imagine two guys so different. I first met Michael when he was in his early 20s
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Being ‘Just Erin’ won’t cut it.
It seems that conservative leader Erin O’Toole is not just an unknown to Canadian taxpayers. His own caucus in Ottawa is just as much in the dark as are the voters. The conservative MPs are puzzled as to where he intends to lead their party. Some of the more reliable
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