By: Pembina Institute | Press Release: OTTAWA — Clare Demerse, federal policy director at the Pembina Institute, made the following comments today following the release of the 2013 federal budget: “Jim Flaherty delivered his eighth budget at a time when the federal government’s track record on the environment and climate change is under heightened scrutiny, and
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The Canadian Progressive: Federal Budget 2013: CAW demands full national manufacturing strategy for Canada
By: Canadian Auto Workers Union | Press Release: Billions in new federal supports for Canadian industry is a partial, but important, step forward in assisting the country’s embattled manufacturing sector, said CAW President Ken Lewenza, in response to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s budget released today. In his budget, Minister Flaherty outlined the federal
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Federal Budget 2013 Must Focus on Job Creation, Not Cutbacks, CAW Says
By: Canadian Auto Workers Union | Press Release TORONTO – The CAW is calling on federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to focus on job creation, not more spending cutbacks in his 2013 budget, to be unveiled tomorrow. “Canada’s public debt is small, relative to past history and to the debt problems faced in other
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Fatal Trajectory of the Harper Cons
The other day I wrote about how Stephen Harper's slide in the polls was beginning to resemble a one-way ride on an asteroid.Not just a mere tumble through space, but a clear and definite negative trend.And I pointed out that this blazing trajectory couldn't come at a worst time for the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Public Interest Alberta takes a closer look at that province’s rhetoric about taxes, and finds that in fact most Albertans pay more income tax than they would under the more fair and progressive systems applied in other province: “Albertans who believe the myth
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Budget 2013: NDP Urges Harper To Change Course, Put Canadians First
Budget is an opportunity to start building a fairer, greener, more prosperous Canada By New Democrats (Press Release) |Feb. 21, 2013: OTTAWA – With our economy continuing to underperform and structural imbalances worsening, NDP Finance Critic Peggy Nash (Parkdale – High Park) is calling on the Conservative government to change course
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Evening Links
Miscellaneous material to end your week. – Lawrence Martin questions the media’s obsession with fabricating stories out of imagined motivations and insignificant shifts in poll numbers: In the year before an election, the media’s heavy focus on tiny political twists and turns is understandable. Here in Canada, a federal campaign
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Jimbo Flaherty’s War on Kevin Page
As you know Jimbo Flaherty, the Con man now posing as a Finance Minister, really hates Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer. And for all the right reasons.For proving him wrong over and over again, and making him look like he doesn't know what he's doing.Read more »
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Con Assault on the Dutch Disease
Nothing Tom Mulcair has ever said scares Stephen Harper more than his claim that the Dutch Disease is killing jobs all over Canada. Especially in vote-rich Ontario where the next election will be decided.Because if the people in that province ever realize how much Harper's Alberta First economic policies are hurting
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Murray Dobbin writes about the significance of Idle No More as a shift away from the presumption that First Nations’ interests are represented solely by elected officials: There are some fascinating similarities between the Idle No More phenomenon and the Occupy movement.
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: According to The Canadian Press: “Statistics Canada says…
According to The Canadian Press: “Statistics Canada says the country’s trade deficit with the world ballooned to $2 billion in November from $552 million in October as merchandise imports rose 2.7 per cent and exports fell 0.9 per cent.” But, but … the Harper Conservatives keep telling us (despite all
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The cheek of Jim Flaherty … expensing his Maybelline while preaching austerity!
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty before application of his Smashbox and Cover Girl. Below: Mr. Flaherty after his makeup makeover. Warning: Any resemblance to J. Edgar Hoover is certainly purely coincidental. Below that: FBI icon J. Edgar Hoover and the real Mr. Flaherty. Jim Flaherty portrait by Edmonton artist William Prettie.
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Best Comment In Response To "Jim Flaherty Wears Makeup" Story
When I worked as a civil servant I bought my own makeup.
Continue readingCalgary Grit: 2012 Woman of the Year
Every December, I like to name a “Person of the Year” – the individual who left their mark on Canadian politics over the past year. The only rules are that the PM is too obvious a choice, and that lame picks (“You!”) are strictly verboten. The Person of the Year
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Thomas Walkom discusses the meaning of the Ontario Libs’ attempt to take collective bargaining rights away from teachers in the context of the wider labour movement: The union movement is one of the last remnants of the great postwar pact between labour,
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The Alberta Apocalypto: The world as you know it is about to end! Again…
Alberta Finance Minister Doug Horner gets ready to make a sacrifice to placate the mighty and angry Deficit God. Alberta politicians, not to mention the Legislative complex, may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Mr. Horner. Oh my God! The world is coming to an end! I’m not
Continue readingImpolitical: The Carney brouhaha
This is causing a bit of a stir in some circles today in light of the Globe piece yesterday: “The Carney affair with the Liberal Party: It will all end in tears.” I’m not sure exactly who would be the ones ending up in tears here so I leave it
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Bill Curry reports on Jim Flaherty’s arbitrary choice to declare that Canadians can’t have any more CPP retirement security than the most callous provincial government in the country is willing to grant them. And Martin Regg Cohn rightly responds that our reaction
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Taint of Ideology
Although I’m sure that I frequently fall victim to it, I am deeply offended by lazy thinking, our seemingly endless capacity to fall back on ideological bromides as a substitute for careful and reasoned consideration of an issue. Instances of such defective cogitation abound, and are especially noticeable in online
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Jim Flaherty and the Theatre of Cruelty
You might think that Jim Flaherty would be satisfied with ramming through his latest Trojan Horse budget.His ghastly swollen beast stuffed to the gills with toxic waste.But no. Now he's going after seniors and the Canada Pension Plan. Read more »
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