A must read published in the Star. “ I took the job when it was agreed that a few amazing and fearless public servants would join — namely, Mostafa Askari and Sahir Khan. We signed in proverbial blood. We vowed to give Canada a true legislative budget office. Nothing less.
Continue readingTag: Harpers Legacy
Democracy Under Fire: Is Politics a Team Sport?
Recently a Conservative MP became the first MP in more than a decade to raise a point of privilege against his own governmentin questioning why he was denied an opportunity to speak by his own party whip during question period. Whilst the item that he wished to speak about (selective
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: The Silence is Deafening
As our hero Kevin Page is replaced as the Parliamentary Budget Officer by the Parliamentary Librarian‘temporarily’ whilst a ‘process’ takes place to perhaps replace him with a less open and honest individual more amenable to the Harper Regimes obsession to control the message we learn that Librarian staff have been
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Government Web Sites to be Reduced or Eliminated
Recent leaked documents have confirmed that Tony ‘Gazebo’ Clements has been asked by King Harper to drastically cut the number of government websites available to Canadians. Initially, the number of sites will be slashed to six, with the ultimate goal of consolidating all online Government of Canada information into one
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: PBO Position Finally Advertised
Just a few days before Kevin Page’s contract expires the Conservative government is advertising for a mid-level executive to fill the spot meanwhile the Parliamentary Librarian will take over as interim budget officer. The lengthy job description suggests the government is clearly looking for a more compliant budget watchdog than
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Will our ‘watchkeepers’ be watching in the future?
As the frustration level builds with the ongoing lack of accountability and response to concerns about various watchdog departments and officers the number of articles condemning this ‘governments’ approach to these things increases. Its getting so hard to keep up that once again I will simply post a few clips
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: The Senate is not the problem
Its not the institution, its the self serving and partisan people appointed to it…. Recent events have once again brought calls for the senate to be abolished or reformed and whilst the latter is no doubt needed, the former is not IMHO on the cards if for no other reason
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: PBO contract expires soon.
The Library of Parliament who are responsible for filling the position when Mr Page’s contract expires in just two months has only now “issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking the services of an executive search firm to assist with the recruitment and selection of candidates for the PBO position.”
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Stand on Guard
At this time of year as we look back over the previous year and forward to the coming year is also a good time to look at the broader picture of where we are both personally and as a country. When compared with so many other countries around the world
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Cooperation between Political Partys
There has been much talk of‘cooperation’ between partys since the close results in recent byelections and whilst I have in these pages urged such ‘cooperation not confrontation’ in the HoC I wonder exactly how long such common sense will last and what form it will take in a practical sense.
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Oh Canada!
Many years ago I stood proudly with other newcomers to Canada and became a Canadian Citizen, of late I have not been so proud to be Canadian. The Canada that I became part of was, I thought, an open and accepting and diverse country governed as a parliamentary democracy and
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Democratic Decline: Death by a Thousand Cuts.
This week the text of Allen Gregg’s speech at Carleton University went viral, in it he outlines many of the concerns that a lot of bloggers, myself included, and some journalists have been expressing for some time. He says his concern was first piqued in July 2010, when the federal
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: ‘Democracy no longer enters into it’
This week I will let a few other commentators speak to the condition of our democracy and the Harper regimes ongoing disdain for opposing views, parliamentary process, the taxpayers, and that promised open and accountable thing!. First up Rick Mercer regarding the probability of yet another Omnibus budget billon its
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Harper, champion of Democracy….. NOT!
With great fanfare, an international organization has announced it is honouring Stephen Harper as its World Statesman of the Year for his work as a “champion of democracy, freedom and human rights.” It is of course a pure coincidence that this ‘award’ is from an organization founded by a Rabbi
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: In Search of Heroes
I am a little rushed this week an so will simply republish this article by Elizabeth May who is far better qualified to speak about such matters than I. On Wednesday, June 13th, just after Question Period and before the tabling of amendments to the Omnibus Budget Bill C-38, a
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Election Fraud Case Further Delayed.
In the ongoing court case brought by Council of Canadians challenging the legitimacy of seven particular ridings election results, RMG the company that worked for the Conservatives is now claiming ‘we did not do it’ despite compelling information to the contrary. The Conservatives them selves are of course making concerted
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Is Cooperation Necessary or Possible?
There has been much talk of late about cooperationbetween the left leaning political partys with a view to stopping the dismantling of Canada by the Harper regime beyond 2015 by electing a different government at that time. What form that may take if it materializes is up for debate but
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: PMO v PBO, who will be next?
We all realize by now that nobody really knows what the financial and social impacts of the Harper regimes omnibus Buget and departmental cuts are going to be, and that includes King Harper and his retinue of script readers. For some time now our fearless Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: This is NOT Democracy
The Opposition pushback over Bill C-38 — driven in part by the Green Party caucus of one, Elizabeth May — is about far more than political partisanship. It’s about whether Parliament can prevent being pushed into complete irrelevance by a government which abuses its power. Andrew Coyne, June 14 2012.
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: You wont recognize Canada
You wont recognize Canada or Parliament by the time Mr Harper and his oligarchical regime is done, that’s not news but is now reality. What I fear most is that we will become a democracy in name only and that any semblance of us being a ‘Representative Democracy’ will just
Continue reading