Here, on how political fund-raising scandals in Ontario and British Columbia only highlight the complete lack of rules governing donations in Saskatchewan.For further reading…- SCOTUS’ Citizens United decision is here (PDF). And Michael Hiltzik discu…
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Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading.- Alexander Panetta reports on the G20’s agreement on the need to crack down on tax evasion – as well as the steps Canada needs to take to get our own house in order:The final communique warned of actions against c…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading.- Lana Payne writes about the need for a Bernie Sanders in Canada to highlight and oppose the privilege of the wealthy few:It is in this context of blatant unfairness — rules for the rich and rules for…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading.- Corey Hogan makes the case for Rachel Notley’s NDP to develop a progressive fix to Alberta’s fiscal mess:No matter what you decide to do, you’re going to take a political hit with somebody. Credibility will be…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- The Ontario Association of Food Banks discusses the long-term damage done by childhood poverty and deprivation:When facing a very tight budget, food is often the budget line that gets cut in order to a…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading.- Jason Hinkel writes that for as much attention as global inequality has received in recent years, it may be significantly more of a problem than we’ve previously assumed – and getting worse as time goes by:It doe…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Evening Links
Assorted content to end your week.- Angella MacEwen discusses how most of what’s sold as “free trade” serves mostly to hand power to the corporate sector at the expense of the public. Ashley Csanady and Monika Warzecha point out that the same is true f…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- In the wake of the Panama Papers, Don Pittis writes that tax shelters serve only to ensure that the wealthy don’t pay their fair share for a functional society – meaning that everybody who can’t afford…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week.- CBC and the Star have both started reporting on the Panama Papers – offering a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg of international tax avoidance. And the Star also recognizes why we shouldn’t let grey-area tax…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading.- Nick Bunker points out that there’s much more to an economic recovery than nominal GDP – with labour’s share of growth serving as a particularly important indicator as to whether anybody is benefitting beyond t…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.- Martin Regg Cohn exposes the Ontario Libs’ pay-to-play governing strategy, as cabinet ministers have been instructed to use their roles and access to meet fund-raising targets of up to half a million dollars per…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading.- Rosemary Barton reports on the Libs’ announcement of increased funding to help developing countries fight climate change – which does represent a noteworthy improvement on the Cons’ comparative stinginess. But as…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Is there something vaguely familiar about the Wildrose Leader’s ‘interactive event’?
PHOTO: Wildrose Leader Brian Jean gazes into the future, or into a pond, or something. For $150 bucks, you can sit there with him. The annual general meeting pages on the Wildrose website include an invitation to an opportunity to take part in a conversation with Brian Jean in an
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Greg Keenan exposes how corporations are demanding perpetually more from municipalities while refusing to contribute their fair share of taxes to fund the services needed by any community. And Sean McElwee points out how big-money donations are translating into a warped U.S.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Barbara Tasch writes about the IMF’s latest research on growing inequality in developing and developed countries alike. And Michael Krassa and Benjamin Radcliff study the impact an improved minimum wage can have on economic well-being: Simply stated, as the minimum wage increases, the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On acceptable surprises
When Alice Funke first identified the effect of an extended writ period under the Cons’ well-hidden revisions to the Canada Elections Act, I mused the effect was less problematic than it appeared at first glance. But now that the possibility of an extra-long campaign looks fairly real and the issue
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On succession plans
Over the past few days, I’ve finally made it around to reading Paul Wells’ The Longer I’m Prime Minister. And there are a few points raised by Wells’ account of Stephen Harper’s stay in office which call for plenty more discussion. Let’s start with the conflict between Harper’s long-term plans
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On half measures
Having written this column a couple of weeks back on electoral financing in Saskatchewan, I’ll take a moment to address this letter to the editor in response from R. Curtis Mullen. It’s indeed true that Saskatchewan has spending limits which apply during an election campaign. But the Canada Elections Act
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how Alberta’s strengthened political financing rules under Rachel Notley’s NDP only highlight how far Saskatchewan has fallen behind. For further reading…– Bill 1 is here (PDF), while Alberta’s legislation which it amends to prohibit organizational donations is the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act, RSA 2000, c E-2
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – PressProgress points out that neither the public nor a group of the world’s leading economists sees the slightest value in balanced-budget gimmicks which override sound public decision-making. And Paul Krugman observes that the entire conservative economic strategy is based on overinflating bubbles,
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