Assorted content for your long weekend reading. – While some of us may recognize that there’s little reason to lend much credence to the talking points spewed out by any Con spokespuppet, others have tried to give the benefit of the doubt as long as possible. But Lawrence Martin notes
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Accidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review – April 23, 2012
Monday, April 23 was the first day back in the House of Commons following the Easter break. And it featured some of the most lively and telling discussion we’ve seen yet on the Cons’ anti-refugee legislation as the second-reading debate reached its end. The Big Issue As part of the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your day. – Kayle Hatt’s blog looks to be a must-read from here on in. And his post on what to draw from the latest polls is particularly worth a read: Every poll that has been released since Thomas Mulcair was elected leader of the NDP
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: No tough choice
Back here, I discussed how ridiculous the Cons’ “tough on crime” model would look if applied to any other area of policy – and used that comparison to question why we’d handle criminal justice any differently. But after a minority government period where the Cons mostly limited their shows of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review – April 4, 2012
After the Cons refused to listen to the opposition parties’ proposed amendments, Wednesday, April 4 saw a day of debate on the main budget motion in the second-last day before a Parliamentary break. The Big Issue Nycole Turmel rightly labeled the budget as being based entirely on (gratuitous) austerity, while
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Dr. Dawg responds to Andrew Coyne’s suggestion about cracking down on advocacy by charities with an entirely reasonable suggestion as to how to allocate our resources: Given that charities do essential work that the government does not fund—feeding and clothing the poor, defending
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Jim Stanford sets the record straight as to how Canada’s manufacturing sector has eroded over the past couple of decades: (T)echnology can explain some of the job loss, but not most of it. It certainly cannot explain the disproportionate carnage in Canadian
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Martin Papillon offers up some lessons for the NDP in Francois Hollande’s French presidential victory: Being ideological does not have to mean being radical. It means anchoring your platform in a clear, coherent set of ideas that will resonate with the electorate, including
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – The Cons’ attacks on the environment and its defenders are starting to attract plenty of unwanted attention, with the Globe and Mail editorial board weighing in as the NDP, the other opposition parties and the environmental movement join forces to reject the utter
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: While You Were Sleeping: Fed Policies Make It Easier to Hire a Cheaper You
A shorter version of this article appeared today in the Globe and Mail’s Economy Lab Have you noticed how common it has become to talk about replacing workers with even cheaper workers? If you’re looking over your shoulder, you’re not paranoid; you’re paying attention. There’s probably a cheaper you out
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – The Cons’ move to suppress Canadian wages by encouraging the use of disposable, temporary foreign labour is receiving plenty of due outcry. Here’s Armine Yalnizyan: Disturbingly, the federal announcement also set out new wage rules that permit employers to pay temporary foreign
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: March 26, 2012
Having taken a bit of a hiatus during and after the NDP’s leadership campaign, I’ll resume looking back at what’s happened in the House of Commons starting with the election of Thomas Mulcair. (I’ll plan to return to the previous sitting later on.) Monday, March 26 saw Mulcair’s introduction as
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On short-sightedness
Others have already drawn parallels between the Cons’ plan to require Employment Insurance recipients to accept whatever low-paying temporary work might be available as a condition of receiving the benefits they’ve paid into, and other attacks on individual workers such as workfare and forced relocation. But let’s take a closer
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: US anti-immigrant group blames immigrants for global warming
Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS), an anti-immigrant group, blames Mexican immigrants for increasing carbon emissions in the U.S. The group bases its startling claim on a bogus report by the nativist Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), which is linked the … Continue reading →
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Coming to Canada: Prison industrial complex, punishment and profits
Last summer Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives demonstrated their tough stance on foreigners suspected of war crimes abroad. The suspects were rounded up, detained and deported. The sweep was the beginning of a crackdown on immigrants that also … Continue reading →
Continue readingPolygonic: La France Forte, or Why You Desperately Need Sarko Standing On the Beach
The French presidential campaign is kicking into high gear, and Nicolas Sarkozy has one key message for his ungrateful people: vote him back in, and he promises to spend his second term standing on the beach, like a magnificant granite Colossus, liquifying overseas demons with the sheer power of his
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Alison draws the links between Robocon and an American firm proud of its efforts in some of the Republicans’ most odious causes, while Sixth Estate provides a timeline of shady election dealings by the Harper Cons. Dr. Dawg asks the media to stay
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup
Assorted news and notes from the NDP’s leadership campaign as we approach today’s final debate… – Niki Ashton pointed out how the NDP should be able to tap into the desire for democratic decision-making that once motivated the Reform Party before it was turned into a top-down organization under the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to end your week. – Sure, it’s a plus to know that Canada’s military is ready and willing to leap into action to protect what matters most to the government of the day. Now if only that meant something other than serving as political operatives to protect the
Continue readingCuriosityCat: The solution for Canada’s pensions problem: More Canadians
Harper’s Tory government has announced that Canada has a problem: not enough workers in future years to support pensions and old age security payments to seniors: As if that weren’t enough, the budget will also unveil the Conservatives’ plans for raising the retirement age for Old Age Security. The Tories
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