Assorted content for your weekend reading. – If there’s any lesson we should all be able to draw from the past decade in Canadian politics, it’s that anything can happen. But it’s still rather amazing to see Gerald Caplan get hopeful about the NDP’s prospects of forming a social-democratic government:
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Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Brian-Michel calculates the expected outcome of the 2011 election minus the Robocon election fraud based on Anke Kessler’s data. Alison, thwap and Saskboy all rightly lament that a government claiming that a majority entitles it to treat Canada as a helpless plaything may
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Frank Graves notes that for all the spin from the Cons and their enablers about public acquescience in program slashing, there’s actually another issue taking centre stage among Canadian voters: (I)f people prefer spending cuts to increased taxes and debt, they prefer “investment”
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your pre-debate reading. – Dave connects a few more dots as to who’s behind Robocon. Guy Giorno helpfully acknowledges that the Cons were supposed to have business-style processes to avoid the exact kind of electoral fraud that’s been discovered across Canada – signalling both that they’re indeed
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Evening Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – In the last couple of days’ worth of developments on Robocon, the Cons defaulted to their standard setting of admitting nothing and misleading about everything – though it’s hard to see that strategy working out well given the amount of information that’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Erin notes that the revenue gap being used as an excuse to demand massive cuts in Ontario is nearly entirely closed with a more plausible set of underlying assumptions and projections – and that’s without taking the look at revenue which was
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Damian Carrington reports on the Harper Cons’ sad efforts to prevent the European Union from accurately accounting for greenhouse gas emissions from the tar sands, offering in particular a look at how Canada’s actions look to our global neighbours who don’t operate from
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Assorted content to end your week. – Susan Riley brilliantly slams the message that austerity is necessary for everybody but those who already have the most: Is anyone else getting tired of being lectured about austerity by wealthy consultants in expensive suits who charge $1,500 a day for their advice
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This and that for your Thursday reading. – Erin nicely summarizes Don Drummond’s report on Ontario’s finances. But it’s worth noting that leaving aside Drummond’s own choice not to follow the instruction, anybody looking for a thorough analysis of Ontario’s fiscal realities should be able to discount the report in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Thomas Walkom highlights the lesson we should draw from the economic devastation caused by the shutdown of an Electro-Motive plant which was supposed to serve as a poster child for corporate giveaways: Using tax breaks to encourage domestic production is a standard prescription.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your week. – Erin nicely challenges Brad Wall’s efforts to tilt the playing field against poorer provinces when it comes to Employment Insurance and equalization. – But I’m not sure we can expect much change to EI in any event. After all, as Dr. Dawg notes,
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This and that for your Thursday reading. – I’d planned to post on the sheer arbitrariness of the Cons’ insistence on eliminating a regulation for any new one they implement. But Erin gets there first: At best, this rule is a gimmick. At worst, it will delay or prevent the
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Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading. – Trish Hennessy points out that Rob Ford’s contemptuous attack on the idea of secure employment may offer an ideal contrast between the right-wing view of the economy and the stability citizens actually want for themselves: Remember when holding down a job for life
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Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Brian Jones writes that we’re well on our way to an only slightly-sanitized version of feudalism: According to news reports this week, the average annual income of the Top 100 CEOs is $8.4 million. That’s less than is paid to superstar puckster Sidney
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Alice offers her own take on Ian Capstick’s leadership musings by questioning why a current candidate would see more prospect of influencing the race by dropping out now rather than staying in the field: * It is worthwhile being able to win
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Bruce Campbell comments on the link between rising inequality and declining democracy, while Rachel Mendleson notes that the erosion of workplace democracy and the labour movement is a key factor in both. – Meanwhile, Erin points out that while decades of corporatist policy
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.- Yes, there’s plenty of reason for outrage that the Cons are selling access to cabinet ministers through a high-priced club. But this isn’t the first time Con cabinet ministers have dedicated their profile to the…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Evening Links
This and that for your evening reading.- Erin offers up his suggestions for the Saskatchewan NDP’s renewal process:The next NDP leader will presumably be met with a barrage of negative advertising from the Sask Party. New Democrats would do well to ele…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- Nanos confirms that even as cities are starting to crack down on the Occupy movement, the general public is highly sympathetic to the message about reining in inequality and corporate control:The Nanos…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading.- Abacus’ Canadian polling on the Occupy protests suggests that there’s loads of public sympathy for the view that there’s a need for change in how wealth and power is distributed – with the main concern being …
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