As the parties enter their second full week Harper’s strategy of attacks based on a fictional premise, taking credit for the recovery, avoiding answering inconvenient questions and pretending he has nothing to do with the sketchy cast of characters su…
Continue readingTag: jack layton
The Canada Pension Plan
Everyone under the age of 60 should read this article. “Most of today’s retirees did not contribute enough when they were working to pay for the cost of the benefits that they are currently receiving. That deficit is being made up for by greater cont…
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: DAY NINE: Platforms (part one)
There’s little chance that Jack Layton will get a fair reading of his platform and people’s response to it from the mainstream Canadian media. A great example of this is a sleazy little piece written by Gloria Galloway, who’s covering the NDP campaig…
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: DAY SEVEN: Stephen Harper Tires Of Democracy
I’m having a difficult time not writing about Stephen’s petulance as if he were some whiny assed titty-baby. His contempt for his opponents, the Canadian people and democracy in general have been difficult to watch during the first week of the campaig…
Continue readingPample the Moose: Debates, Debates, Let’s Have More Debates!
Most of my current students are too young to remember the now infamous election debate clashes between Brian Mulroney and John Turner. So I like to show them the Free Trade Clash from 1988 or the patronage kerfuffle of 1984. Both debates were widely …
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: DAY SIX: Ignamentum!
Okay, so I’ve coined a silly word and am probably jumping the gun on this. Michael Ignatieff has only a smidgen of momentum but it’s a good start for a guy who has been unable to get any for almost three years now. According to pollster Nik Nanos, Igg…
Continue readingMadLibMadLib: Democracy Debated? Or Democracy Debased?
So the boys have thrown down. The Conservative Leader, Mr. Harper, issued the challenge this morning to Mr. Ignatieff, the Liberal Leader, that they should have a one-on-one debate between the two candidates who, at least in the words of John Baird, are the only men running to become Prime
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: DAY FIVE: Trying To Keep Up
With five parties vying for Canadians votes — the Bloc of course restricted to the province of Quebec where they will likely to retain or at least be in contention for approximately one sixth of the seats available in Canada — there are a lot of nar…
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: DAY FOUR: Things Get Interesting Early
I have had my heart set on going to the polls since last year when Harper, our Evangelical Christian PM, reverted to form once again and started cramming his beliefs into Canadian policy. For me it began when he and his party decided to deny fund…
Continue readingPop The Stack: Every Vote is a Strategic Vote
Fellow DemReform blogger CuriosityCat has a great post today on a little tidbit that passed the lips of Jack Layton: “The way to stop Stephen Harper from getting a majority is to take Conservative seats one by one, and defeat the MPs who are there. That’s how you stop Mr. Harper from getting a majority,” I […]
NEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: Back! Blogging The Election
I should have hung a “Gone Fishing” sign on the little blog but for some reason couldn’t bring myself to do it. My thinking was that any day the burnt out feeling that had come over me in late December would wash away and I’d be able to pick right u…
Continue readingMadLibMadLib: Election Called for May 2
The Governor General, as expected, has agreed to drop the writ and dissolve parliament. The first day of the election period seems to be shaping up to be about the coalition and whether or not the Canadian public is being lied to by the Liberal Party and their sneaky agenda
Continue readingMadLibMadLib: Harper Government Falls on Contempt Motion
For the first time in history the presiding party in Canadian government has been found in contempt of parliament. It’s exceptional that this hasn’t happened before now given the often-contentious mood of parliament. The Harper Conservatives, however, have shown themselves to consistently and unwaveringly think that they are above parliament
Continue readingRight of Center Ice: 10 headlines capturing the "work" of the Harper Regime
The Globe and Mail has released a photo slide show titled “A look back at the biggest headlines from Canada’s 40th parliament” with 8 of the 10 headlines either critiquing or outright slamming the Harper Regime’s path of governance. The two exceptions? The first was the state of Jack Layton’s
Continue readingRight of Center Ice: Would Harper prorogue parliament again?
A thought for progressives to discuss: Layton has two votes this week with one potentially mattering significantly more than the other. If Layton supports the budget on Thursday can he really vote alongside the expected Liberal non-confidence motion on Friday? He could certainly vote against an Opposition Day non-confidence motion,
Continue readingPop The Stack: Go to the Dance
I’ve got an analogy for the Conservtive party’s stance over the possibility of a coalition. They’re just clever bullies, and they should be treated appropriately. Think back to high school. Lets say there’s this bully who likes the same girl (or guy) as you. They don’t want you to go to the dance because you’ll […]
Right of Center Ice: Will the LPC respond?
Parliament resumes and the “we don’t want an election” rhetoric seems to have been dialed down as the NDP and CPC both release campaign-style ads aimed at convincing Canadians they have what it takes to lead this country. Meanwhile at Stornoway, crickets chirp. I’d like to think that the LPC
Continue readingThat Sinking Feeling?
I don’t know if it’s just my old age, the fact that I’ve been involved in politics since I was 18 or the fact that I’ve gone from radical Marxist to more of a realist, but I just don’t see Jack Layton’s capitulation on the corporate tax cuts as the bla…
Continue readingRight of Center Ice: Private Bills from the gov’t that are not Government bills
We saw this tactic months ago when Candice Hoeppner tried to kill the long-gun registry through her “private member’s bill.” Since it worked so well, Harper is going to try it again. This time, with the Canadian Wheat Board. Bruce Stanton, MP for Simcoe North in southern Ontario, introduced a
Continue readingRight of Center Ice: He actually did what?!: Energizing politics and other unacceptable antics
Do not adjust your television set. We are firmly in pre-election mode. The majority of CPC talking-boxes may reject this claim (even though their own fund raising material say otherwise) but Peter MacKay isn’t going to dance to the party tune. Today while speaking to the media in Winnipeg, MacKay
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