As exercised by one of our intrepid cabinet ministers: Mr. Duncan described the provinces as being blindsided by Mr. Flaherty behind closed doors. “He put the document in front of us and said, ‘This is the way it’s going to be,’” the Ontario Finance Minister said. “We all kind of
Continue readingTag: federalism
Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading.- Dan Gardner highlights how Stephen Harper is imposing exactly the kind of costly, top-down policies on Canada’s provinces that he once railed against:This week, at least five provincial governments, starting …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament In Review: October 7, 2011
Friday, October 7 was the last day in the House of Commons before the week-long Thanksgiving break. And there was plenty to chew on as MPs left their final mark before heading home.The Big IssueThe main point of debate was once again the economy as the…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
This and that for your weekend reading.- Armine Yalnizyan points out what a “Buffett tax” could do for Canada:Put Larry and his 99 fellow CEOs together, and they could put almost a 10% down payment on a national program to bring dental care to school k…
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: Is she still Nycole from the Bloc?
Who says political summers need to be boring? A well-timed leak to the Globe and Mail about new NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel certainly livened things up, with the revelation that Turmel was very recently a member of two Quebec sovereigntist parties…
Continue readingPample the Moose: Federalism – It’s not just for Centralizers any more!
As an addendum to yesterday’s post, I see that Nycole Turmel has re-stated her commitment to federalism, and plans to end her membership in the sovereignist Quebec Solidaire. But here’s the central issue for me, as someone who teaches courses on Canad…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On devolution
It remains to be seen exactly how much discussion of social policy will move from the federal level to the provincial one as Canadian civil society adjusts to a Harper majority. But I’m not sure a signal that the action is going to be at the provincial…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Up for debate
The NDP has released a first look at the prioritized resolutions from this weekend’s #vancon2011 (PDF). And while most of them may not come as too much surprise (or appear particularly controversial), there are a few which look highly noteworthy in dev…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading.- Gerald Caplan has a modest suggestion to ensure the Senate doesn’t do any more avoidable harm to Canada’s democracy:That we have no need for a second house of Parliament of any kind is the first proposition h…
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: The NDP, The Quebec Question and 50% + 1
Much has been made of Jack Layton’s “controversial” comments on a possible Quebec sovereignty referendum.The fact is that it is a very rational and defensible position. Based on the closest precedent, the entry of Newfoundland into Confederation, Quebe…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: A progressive paradox for Québec and Canada
The mood in the progressive milieu here in Québec seems rather grim this morning. In Québec history we call the twenty year period when anti-union, right wing populist Duplessis ruled, the “Era of the Great Darkness”, and many by email or on social media have spontaneously referred to the upcoming period in an analogous way. […]
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