As has already been reported, the price of admission for Canada’s entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations is the acceptance of everything thus far negotiated. Although all of the talks are secret, with corporations but not citizens privy to its contents, this much is known: the TPP enhances corporate rights
Continue readingTag: harper government misdeeds
Politics and its Discontents: Damn That Democratic Iconography
A story in today’s Star reports that the Harper regime is cutting the budget for guided tours, ensuring some 20,000 fewer visitors will actually get a peek inside the majestic buildings housing the seat of Canada’s national government. The cynic residing within me suggests that our overlords think it prudent
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Stating The Obvious
I suspect this report ranks right up there with headlines such as Expect A Hotter Than Usual Summer. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What The Closure of The Experimental Lakes Area Really Means
To learn the truly tragic dimensions of this Harper maneuver to silence yet another dissenting scientific voice, please check out this article by Michael Harris. After reading it, I think you will likely agree that the health of Canadians is pretty low on the list of Dear Leader’s priorities. Recommend
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Followup To Dr. Chris Keefer’s Brave Stance
The other day I posted a link to a remarkable video showing Dr. Chris Keefer interrupting Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver’s announcement at Toronto General hospital to protest Bill C-31, the legislation that will deny to those claiming refugee-status life saving drugs. Bernie Farber has written a piece in The
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: And Speaking Of Community…
May I recommend an excellent article by Murray Dobbin on how Harper’s policies have been attacking our sense of community and the challenges we face in rebuilding it? Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What The Extreme Right Doesn’t Want Us To Think About
Although it hardly qualifies as a startling or original insight, something occurred to me this morning as I was reading my Sunday Star. Two front page items, one about the bullied bus monitor, Karen Klein, the other about five-year-old Lovely Avelus a Haitian girl rescued from the ruble of the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Incomparably Incompetent Peter Kent
I have to start this brief entry by invoking an old cliche: the best defense is a strong offense. That certainly seems to be the strategy ‘Environment’ Minister Peter Kent is pulling out of his very limited playbook at the UN conference on the environment in Rio as he intones
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What Is Harper Hiding In The Pacific Trade Deal Negotiations?
Given the Harper government’s flagrant contempt for democracy and the Canadian people, I think we should all be worried by the implications in this story and this one regarding ongoing secret Pacific Trade Deal negotiations. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Politics and its Discontents 2012-06-20 08:01:00
Well, I see that our national poster boy for privileged stupidity, the putative Defense Minister Peter MacKay, is at it again, showing how he really feels about our brave men and women in uniform. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Tory Revenge on Page
Well, that didn’t take long. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Two Recommendations For Monday Morning
Since I have a bit of a busy day ahead, I will be brief and recommend two sources for some Monday morning edification. The first comes from a link provided by the redoubtable Dr. Dawg, who continues to go where angels and the mainstream media fear to tread. The second,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Another Victim of the Harper Thought Police
The message couldn’t be clearer: if you want to continue to receive funding, don’t produce data that contradicts Dear Leader. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: An Independent M.P. Condemns Harper Omnibus Bill
I was just reading my weekly community paper, and my M.P., the disingenuous David Sweet, indulges in a debasement of language befitting Orwell’s 1984. For example, despite the tremendous havoc the Harper omnibus bill will wreak on environmental protection, Sweet says that under Bill C-38, “environmental initiatives will not be
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign
A few pictures and signs from last night’s protest near Conservative M.P David Sweet’s constituency office. As in the previous protest against Bill C- 38, we were prevented from demonstrating in front of his office by the Hamilton Police, on orders from the property owner, Kevin Vanderlaan (IPC Investments). A
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: An Eloquent Denunciation of Harper
I am taking a blogging break today, but thanks to Kev over at Trapped in a Whirlpool, I can pass this along. Please watch it, and circulate as widely as possible: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Gated Democracy? – Protesting The Harper Omnibus Budget Bill – Part 2
Yesterday I got a glimpse of the kind of democratic expression that is considered acceptable under the Harper regime. It is one that I found profoundly disturbing. Almost a week ago I wrote a post describing a march organized by Leadnow.ca to the constituency office of my Conservative M.P., David
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Protesting The Harper Omnibus Budget Bill
I wrote a post the other day about a Leadnow.ca campaign promoting nation-wide demonstrations at the constituency offices of Conservative M.P.s to protest Bill C-38, the Harper government’s omnibus budget bill that changes over 70 laws, eroding further our democracy, our labour laws, and our environmental safeguards, to name but
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Why Is Harper Inc. Targeting Only Environmental Charities?
Thanks to Dr. Dawg for the link to this petition to stop Harper attacks on charities who challenge his agenda. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Economy And The People
Several years ago, while he was still writing for Canada’s self-proclaimed ‘newspaper of record,’ Rick Salutin wrote a column entitled something like, The economy is doing fine, the people not so much. In it, he made some trenchant observations about how, over time, the well-being of the economy and the
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