Meet Patrick Brazeau (pictured), the sexist Canadian senator who called Ottawa-based reporter, Jennifer Ditchburn, a bitch yesterday. Her crime: she’d done her job by highlighting his poor attendance record in Canada’s appointed upper house of Parliament. He immediately issued a “reluctant” apology. Why did Brazeau call the reporter a bitch?
Continue readingTag: House of Commons
In defence of 14-year-old girls
So it was that MP Charlie Angus, the NDP’s self-appointed guardian of civility, has declared that Twitter has “turned us all into 14-year-olds in a cafeteria” where “[e]verybody gets to be a Grade 9 girl.” Yesterday’s context, of course, was Patrick Brazeau’s calling reporter Jen Ditchburn a “bitch” because she
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 readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Budget Bill C-38: Canadians Step Up Fight Against Stephen Harper
It’s the eve of the House of Commons vote on Harper’s draconian budget Bill C-38. Earlier today, the Conservatives moved to shut down debate on the legislation. NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen (pictured) promises to make the Conservatives “feel a little pain” for the arrogance and deliberate assault on
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: The Bill That Couldn’t Happen Here
Back when I worked for the House of Commons, every time an Omnibus Bill was proposed (and the usual discussions and negotiations around splitting it were occurring) we would joke about the ultimate Omnibus Bill – An Act for the Government of Canada, with everything a government wanted to do
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 readingDemocracy Under Fire: Canada’s Sad "Democracy"
The Sixth Estate summarizes the basis of this post which highlights just how far we have drifted, or more corrected been steered, away from true democratic representation. Backbench MP opposes government — for a couple of hours — The Honourable Member for Kootenay-Columbia, David Wilks, earned his honorific bypublicly stating
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: How can members represent their constituents?
We here, along with a number of other concerned Canadians have been pointing out the escalating decline of our democratic institutions, our access to accurate and timely information, the increasingly partisan rhetoric and actions that signals that Canadian Democracy is in real trouble for some time now. Whilst no party,
Continue readingThe Equivocator: Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s Speech in Support of the Abolition of Capital Punishment (House of Commons, June 15th, 1976.)
“I am sure that very few of us consciously contemplated, when we decided to run for public office, that we would find ourselves playing a decisive role in the resolution of a question as awesome as that of life and death. Yet, here we are, with all our individual limitations,
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Obert Madondo’s Canada Bill C-10 Hunger Strike: Day 17 Update
This journal entry covers days 15, 16 and 17 (March 28, 29 and 30) my indefinite hunger strike against Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives’ draconian Safe Streets and Communities Act (Bill C-10). I started the peaceful protest at … Continue reading →
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Obert Madondo’s Indefinite Canada Crime Bill C10 Hunger Strike (VIDEO)
Today, April 5, 2012, is the 23rd day of Obert Madondo’s indefinite hunger strike protest against Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s new Safe Streets and Communities Act (formerly omnibus crime Bill C-10). Obert’s five demands include the immediate repeal of the … Continue reading →
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Obert Madondo’s Bill C-10 Hunger Strike: Day 14 Update
This journal entry covers days 12, 13 and 14 (March 25, 26 and 27) my indefinite hunger strike against Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives’ draconian Safe Streets and Communities Act (Bill C-10). I started the peaceful protest at … Continue reading →
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Obert Madondo’s Crime Bill C-10 Hunger Strike: Open Letter to Parliament of Canada
I delivered the letter yesterday afternoon. They wouldn’t let me hand in the letter in person. Said to sent it by mail. My MP, Paul Dewar (NDP, Ottawa Centre), saved the day. He delivered the letter on my behalf. The … Continue reading →
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Obert Madondo’s Bill C-10 Hunger Strike: Day 11 Update
This journal entry covers days 10 and 11 (March 23 and 24) my indefinite hunger strike against Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives’ draconian Safe Streets and Communities Act (Bill C-10). I think I’m approaching a crucial turning point … Continue reading →
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Bill C-10 Hunger Strike: Protestor Addresses Canadian MPs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Ottawa, March 19, 2012 – At 12:01am on Wednesday, March 14, Ottawa-based activist and progressive blogger, Obert Madondo, started an indefinite hunger strike whose key demand is that the Parliament of Canada … Continue reading →
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Electoral and Parliamentary Reform (part 4)
Parliamentaryreform There are basically three things thatgovern the procedures in the House of Commons, House Committees andthe Senate – Parliamentary Tradition, the House Standing Orders andthe current PMs willingness to recognize that the powers that he andcabinet have been trusted with are not a license to dictategovernance by decree. The
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Obert Madondo’s indefinite hunger strike against crime Bill C-10: Letter to the Governor Genera of Canada
Starting at 12:01am today, I embarked on an indefinite hunger strike to demand that Canada’s new Safe Streets and Communities Act (omnibus crime Bill C-10) be immediately repealed. Earlier, I had appealed to the Governor …Read More
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Crime Bill C-10: Jack Harris’ Last Stand Against Stephen Harper
Jack Harris, the NDP MP for St. John’s East , spoke for three hours today against the Conservatives omnibus crime Bill C-10. He resumes his speech on Wednesday as he tries to filibuster the bill. …Read More
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: The Canadian Senate Can Kill Bill C-10
Even as the Tory’s draconian omnibus crime bill approaches the critical vote in the Conservative-dominated Senate, Canadians must still hope that sanity will prevail. The Senate, though unelected and dominated by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s …Read More
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