It’s 3:45am. For the past week I’ve had a churning in my stomach I can’t shake, and with it I can’t sleep. So much is on my mind, but so much is always on my mind — why should this week be any different? So I’m going to just sit
Continue readingTag: Government
Canadian Progressive World: With Persichilli Appointment, PM Harper Shows Quebec The Political Middle Finger, Embraces The Ethnic Vote
Quebec will not be a priority for the Conservative Canadian Prime Minister during the next four years of his comfortable majority rule. That was the message Stephen Harper sent with his appointment this week of Angelo Persichilli as the new director of…
Continue readingHellberta: Canada: A country in economic denial
Well the market since the S&P downgrade of U.S. debt has been a fun ride huh? Gold continues to set what seem like daily records while stocks are “only slightly higher than a decade ago“. But all of these lightning fast developments have not shaken the faith Canadians (and in
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Canada’s Unenviable Royal RaceTo The Past
Where are Canadian progressives when you need them? Where were Canada’s anti-mornachists, pacifists and nationalists when Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative government were planning to return Canada to its Royal yesterday? Defence…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: When It Comes Right Down to It, It’s Mainly a Con Game
Modern, consumer economies are essentially a confidence game. When confidence is high, money flows; goods are produced, sold and bought; and we all (sort of) enjoy the boom. When confidence is low, that all comes undone. &n…
Continue readingeaves.ca: Shared IT Services across the Canadian Government – three opportunities
Earlier this week the Canadian Federal Government announced it will be creating Shared Services Canada which will absorb the resources and functions associated with the delivery of email, data centres and network services from 44 departments. These types of shared services projects are always fraught with danger. While they sometimes are successfully, they are often […]
Continue readingOn the Green Party platform.
Finally — for now, at least, until the Tories and NDP release the rest of their platforms, and the Libs release anything at all — I’m going to take a quick look at the Green Party of Ontario’s platform. It’s the shortest, and the slimmest when it com…
Continue readingOn the Ontario PCs’ platform
[Sorry for the double-post. Had some unfixable errors in the previous version.]So, here we go with the Ontario PC Platform, the Changebook (warning: PDF). Or is that the Change Book? ChangeBook? I don’t know, and I don’t think they do, either.According…
Continue readingOn the Ontario PCs’ platform.
So, here we go with the Ontario PC Platform, the Changebook. Or is that the Change Book? ChangeBook? I don’t know, and I don’t think they do, either.According to this, Tim Hudak was a Customs Officer at the Peace Bridge. I knew there was a good reason …
Continue readingOn the Ontario NDP’s 2011 platform.
Okay. The Ontario NDP’s platform. The Plan for Affordable Change (warning: PDF). Jeez, focus-group that name much? I’m splitting this into the four areas that the ONDP did in the platform, for ease of reference.1. Making life affordableYou mean it’s no…
Continue readingArt Threat: $16.8 million in arts funding goes to BC Arts Council
Last Thursday, July 7, BC’s Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, Ida Chong, announced $16.8 million in funding for the arts, to be administered through the BC Arts Council. This amount is the second-highest level received by the BC Arts Council in its history. In the announcement, Minister Chong apologized for the long delay […]
Continue readingParliamANT Hill: Google got 38 user data requests from Ottawa in 6 months
Inspired by this story: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/07/08/pol-google-governments.html
Continue readingWorld Headlines Review: Greek Sovereign Debt Crisis a Sovereignty Crisis
Greek Parliament, Syntagma Athens – by kouk News outlets around the world have focused heavily on the so-called Greek Sovereign debt crisis this week. The proposed solution–an IMF loan package requiring “austerity measures” and a fire-sale of public assets–has sparked massive unrest in the capital, where people from all walks
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Molly’sBlog 2011-07-03 01:45:00
HUMOUR:A QUICK AND EASY GUIDE TO FORMS OF GOVERNMENT:
Continue readingOn back to work legislation. Whoa, deja vu.
So, another conservative (note the small “c”) government, another round of back to work legislation. Canada violates its international obligations yet again, and is again grouped with such shining lights of liberty as Colombia. It’s the same old song a…
Continue readingOn governance (4): The courts
Ah, the courts. Probably the only arm of the government that everyone has some contact with at some point or another. Sure, some people go to the House, or visit Rideau Hall, and some people even get themselves elected. But sooner or later, everyone en…
Continue readingOn governance (3): The Crown.
So, yeah. The Crown. This could be a really short post — hell, by my standards, it probably will be.Here’s the thing. Constitutionally, we need the Crown. We can’t get rid of the monarch, or at least the Governor-General, without overhauling the whole…
Continue readingOn governance (2): Parliament
This one’s going to be a little disconnected. The overarching thread, as said yesterday, is figuring out how to adjust our governing institutions to suit the importance of the principle of autonomy — that is, the idea that legitimate government author…
Continue readingOn governance: (1) Principles
How should we govern ourselves? Since Locke’s Second Treatise, the presumption has been in favour of self-government — that is, each individual adult person has the natural right to govern his or her own life. Thus government by others is, when legiti…
Continue readingOn the Quebec question: (5) The Constitution
Final point I want to consider on this issue. Some objections to Quebec separatism or nationalism seem to turn on a fear of “opening up” — that is, amending — the Constitution. After all, Mulroney tried it twice, and was sunk both times. Constitution…
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