A stealthy Treasury Board directive in the summer of 2013 required bureaucrats to ask departmental lawyers to decide what constitutes a secret, a decision that used to be made by the Privy Council Office, which oversees cabinet matters resulting in many more documents being exempted from Freedom of Information requests.
Continue readingTag: Harpers Legacy
Democracy Under Fire: MPs Obstructed, Undermined and Impeded!
Recently Green Party Leader Elizabeth May spoke to her fellow MP’s and the Speaker of The House regarding the governments ever increasing practice of limiting debate upon important legislation before The House. She contends that the rights of her and her colleagues in parliament have been “obstructed, undermined and impeded”
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Essential Reading for Democracy.
There have been a number of articles highlighting former Conservative MP Mr. Rathgeber’s new book Irresponsible Government: The Decline of Parliamentary Democracy in Canada in recent days.That he outlines the tight control that the PMO exercises over the Conservative MP’s is hardly a surprise given that he quit the Conservative
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: The War of Words
I am tired of beating my head against the wall repeating things I have been saying here in this blog for over 5 years, this week I am going to simply point you towards a few other folk who are also aware of the dangers of believing everything we are
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Peacekeepers ignored by Harper.
Today our Canadian military members and veterans as well as police officers come together in ceremonies across the country to honour and remember all Canadian peacekeepers who have served or are currently serving in support of peace operations around the world. Among those who will NOT be there are PM
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Harpers “Democracy”
With the Harper Regime loosing a series of rulings in the Supreme Court of Canada from their plans for the senate to prostitution laws to his nomination to the court it should be no surprise that as well as Harpers direct attack upon Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin he now has
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Harper Tries To Foment A Crisis
Harper has taken a surprising number of losing cases to the Supreme Court of Canada. Most, if not all, were obviously places where the government’s position is one that is in direct contradiction with the Constitution of Canada. Even a relative neophyte in Constitutional law in Canada can spot that,
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: How Harper Wastes Your Tax Dollars
Harper likes to style his government as a “firm, steady hand on the tiller”, especially on matters of the economy. But the man is so blinded by his hatred for our country’s laws and the foundational principles of the Canadian Constitution and The Charter of Rights And Freedoms that he
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Harper’s War On The Middle Class
Continues apace. A shortage of skilled workers is the biggest challenge many Canadian businesses face today, Employment Minister Jason Kenney told a skills summit Wednesday, warning it could also jeopardize Canada’s economic development in the future. The problem would continue to grow as the population ages, Kenney told the one-day
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: An All Out Assault
The last couple of weeks of legislative activity in Ottawa have been distressing to say the least. To call it an all out assault on Canada and Canadians is an understatement. The Harper Government has been ramming through a series of legislation that comprise the single most overt attack on
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Harper: A Decade In And He Still Doesn’t Get It
Stephen Harper has been in power for the high side of a decade. That’s a long time. Most Prime Ministers by this point in their careers have figured out that the foreign affairs portfolio is a tricky one. When you are a smallish nation like Canada, you get much better
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Harper Describes Himself
One of the more ludicrous things the Harper Government has been pursuing is creating a “monument to the victims of communism”. A more cold-war propaganda-esque move is almost unimaginable. But, in Harper’s speech at a fundraiser yesterday, he opened his mouth and promptly engaged in self-description. In language reminiscent
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Health Insurance Is Becoming A Scam
I have long been suspicious of health insurance plans of any sort. Even short term health insurance for travel seems to be written in such a way that it is weighted quite firmly in favour of the insurer than the insured. Recently, three cases in Canada came to light that
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Election Act, Election Ont, Election Incentives
So the flawed “fair” Elections Act has now passed final reading with a few amendments that public pressure made the Cons include but without the dozens of amendments proposed by the opposition and without even considering the 75 amendments that the Greens were not permitted to table. The Speaker upheld
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Bill C-23 Passed, Stinkers Included
Whatever amendments were made to Bill C-23, they didn’t address much of anything that I raised as problematic in my earlier analysis of the first draft tabled in the House of Commons. Full text here. Never before have I seen a piece of legislation so clearly designed to “stack the
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: CPC Lied To Elections Canada On RoboCalls?
The corruption that is the CPC’s actions in the 2011 election continues to fester. The most recent instalment comes to us via Stephen Maher’s latest column. In an email May 1, party lawyer Arthur Hamilton told Elections Canada that Conservative call centre workers were not advising voters that Elections Canada
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Garbage in, Garbage out?
Having publicly available information on the well-being of our local communities and national numbers on employment, business viability, population etc etc is essential not only to keep the government ‘honest’ but to make local and governmental decisions affecting these things. At first glance then it would seem that the ongoing
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: What The Senate Ruling Says About Harper
The Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling on the Senate Reform questions that Harper put to them last year came out today. The ruling itself is not terribly surprising, but what is more interesting is Harper’s reaction. Harper said he had no option left after the high court concluded that no
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Speculation: Harper’s Pugilistic Stance On Russia/Ukraine
Harper’s stance on Ukraine does not make a lot of sense in terms of the general back and forth of diplomacy and foreign affairs. Canada is in no position to dictate to Russia on matters military – a country of 143,000,000 can raise a much more substantial military than one
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: If You Love Canada … Read This
I don’t usually use this space to promote posts at other blogs, but at iPolitics Michael Harris has an excellent column that summarizes what Harper is doing to Canada. http://www.ipolitics.ca/2014/04/20/harper-sees-role-as-protector-of-the-richest-few/ Read. Take it to heart, pass it along.
Continue reading