No, we shouldn’t be surprised that Jim Flaherty is lending the weight of Canada’s federal government to a concerted effort to attack U.S. social programs. But for those who may have missed it, the supposed “fiscal cliff” being used as an excuse to push…
Continue readingTag: Jim Flaherty
RedBedHead: Why Are The Tories Pushing Canada Into Recession?
Remember how the Tories are the party you want to vote for in tough economic times because they’re great managers and willing to make the tough decisions? Remember all that stuff? Yeah, well, the Tories are poking holes in the Canadian economy faster than the rest of us can bail.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Heather Scoffield reports on the Canadian Index of Wellbeing’s stunning finding that Canadian quality of life declined by a quarter between 2008 and 2010, while the Vancouver Sun and Lindor Reynolds comment on the collapse in well-being far beyond the economic damage
Continue readingImpolitical: Flaherty muses on CMHC privatization
“Flaherty eyes privatization of CMHC.” Well that’s something big to watch. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is a profitable Crown corporation ($335 million in profit in the 2nd quarter) and has billions in assets. It is a stabilizing force in the Canadian housing market and by providing residential mortgage
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Tim Harper slams the Cons for yet another omnibus abuse of parliamentary democracy: Stephen Harper didn’t invent prorogation and omnibus legislation, but he has made two arcane polysyllabic political terms part of our everyday lexicon, improving our vocabulary but diminishing our democracy. His
Continue readingAlberta Diary: MP Russ Hiebert’s anti-union campaign: is Bill C-377 another Tory ‘own-goal’?
Unidentified Conservative Party Member of Parliament contemplates B.C. Tory MP Russ Hiebert’s “own goal.” Strangely, actual Harper Government MPs may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Mr. Hiebert. What are Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s boon companions in the courts, fern-encrusted law offices, plush executive suites of provincial medical associations and
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: What’s the hang-up this time? #nlpoli
Via VOCM: Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says he is looking forward to working out details for the Muskrat Falls loan guarantee with Premier Kathy Dunderdale. … Flaherty says the feds have made a commitment to provide the loan guarantee for Muskrat Falls, but they still need to work
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – While Thomas Walkom’s latest has faced some justified criticism from a couple of angles, this part at least looks to be right on the money: The assumption here was that if businesses were allowed to keep more of their profits they would
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Kady points out that despite the Cons’ best efforts to stonewall, the Robocon investigation in Guelph looks to have locked in on the source of their fraudulent robocalls. And while it’s indeed somewhat concerning that Elections Canada hasn’t reached anywhere near the same
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – I’ll follow up with one extra note from Mark Carney’s address to the CAW – as the headlines seem to have missed a rather important point about the relative effect of the Canadian dollar and even the widest possible definition of labour
Continue readingImpolitical: Something stinks on the Oshawa waterfront: Let’s ask Flaherty
Jim Flaherty is Minister Responsible for the GTA. Also happens to be the MP for Oshawa-Whitby. His wife, Christine Elliott is the MPP for Whitby-Oshawa. And there were big goings on in Oshawa yesterday where an ethanol plant was approved of by the federal port authority over significant local objections:
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Tales from the political root cellar: Alberta’s liberal War on Spuds and the Harper election strategy
David Swann in Alberta’s political root cellar, contemplating all those potatoes. Actual Alberta politicians may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: The real David Swann, Alberta’s likely reaction to his quixotic efforts. Perhaps it’s just as well that Dr. David Swann, former leader of the Alberta Liberals still toiling away
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Juxtaposition
Jim Flaherty… Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Monday new rule changes to define “suitable employment” and “reasonable” efforts at finding work have yet to come down, but as far as he’s concerned people should be prepared to take pretty well any available job. “There is no bad job, the only
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Patient Zero
Paul Krugman highlights what seems to him the first example of the “repeat a lie until it’s taken as conventional wisdom” messaging strategy of the North American right: I originally got the term “zombie lies” from the healthcare field, specifically Canadian health care, where there are certain stories — like
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Dave Coles writes that the Harper Cons are using their power to protect the privacy of international arms dealers, while at the same time demanding stringent reporting requirements for labour unions and their members: Labour unions are among the few institutions that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On parallel pursuits
Let’s follow on the theme of both Thursday’s column and the Mound of Sound’s post with a closer look at the corporatist “there are no bad jobs” philosophy – which serves as the obvious foundation for constant attacks on wages, unions and workers even if it’s been walked back as
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Economic Meltdown
Oh no. How embarrassing. Just a few days ago he made a spectacular entrance at the G20 Summit, declaring that the whole world should follow Canada's economic model. Because he's a real economist eh? But tonight he's riding the burro backwards, as all around him the model crumbles. Read more »
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Burning question
Jim Flaherty is taking credit for saving consumers money by tightening mortgage insurance rules. So how many extra thousands of dollars did he cost Canadian homeowners when he loosened precisely the same rules before?
Continue readingImpolitical: The Harper interview
A few thoughts on the big interview last night between Harper and Peter Mansbridge on the National… This interview seemed to have two parts to it. The primary focus was Europe, as it rightly should be. This took up more than half the interview. The European situation is a reflection
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Sins Of The Father?
But then again, perhaps Peter MacKay is only modelling his behaviour after his elders. Recommend this Post
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