redtape.jpg With July 2012 officially behind us, the U.S. jobs report for the month has economists and politicians concerned about the employment situation in America. And even though the economy added 163,000 jobs (economists had predicted only 100,000 jobs to be added for July,) the unemployment rate and the underemployment
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DeSmogBlog: What To Expect When You’re Electing: Mitt Romney’s Energy Advisors
Romney and Bush.jpg In the last few months, the press has been drawing a lot of parallels between presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and former Republican President George W. Bush. And they have plenty of reasons for doing so. Romney has already tapped many of the same Bush economic
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Real Train Wreck: ALEC and "Other ALECs" Attack EPA Regulations
shutterstock_2531395.jpg When business-friendly bills and resolutions spread like wildfire in statehouses nationwide calling for something as far-fetched as a halt to EPA regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, ALEC is always a safe bet for a good place to look for their origin. In the midst of hosting its 39th Annual Meeting this week in
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Liberal Party’s Future, New Apple or Old Microsoft
Tablet computers have been around for years, but it took Steve Jobs to make them popular. Though the Liberal Party has been around longer than any tablet computer, it shares more than a few similarities with the now ubiquitous device. The Liberal Party has strong fundamentals and viable market share
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: What To Expect When You’re Electing: Part 2 – Mitt Romney
Romney.jpg In Part 1 of this series, we explored the overall environmental issues that are facing the U.S., mostly as a part of coordinated attacks by politicians in Washington. In the next few articles, we’ll take a look at what each candidate has said or done in regards to both
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: What To Expect When You’re Electing: Part 1 – What’s At Stake
vote-smart-button.jpg Environmental and energy issues became one of the central issues of the 2008 U.S. presidential election. While the economy itself took center stage, energy issues were right behind it, being pushed by the insufferable chant of “Drill baby drill.” In the four years that have followed, the U.S. has
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Olivia Chow’s Budget Speech
http://www.oliviachow.ca/2012/06/budget-bill-read-olivias-speech/ The Conservatives are pushing their Trojan Horse budget bill through Parliament in a reckless manner. But worse than mocking our democracy is the devastating effect this bill will have on families, Olivia Chow points out in her speech. Olivia on the Conservative Budget: What does a job mean to
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: House Republicans Go All In With Dirty Energy Industry Bonanza Legislation
Powerplant-and-EPA.jpg The dirty energy industry might experience Christmas in June if House Republicans have their way. Earlier this month, members of the House Energy Action Team (HEAT) unveiled a “package” of legislation that includes numerous bills that would give the industry everything that they’ve dreamt of for years. The legislative
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Will Dismal Jobs Report Give New Life To Keystone XL Plan?
boehnerand pipelines.jpg While the debate over the Keystone XL pipeline might have disappeared from the front pages in the last few weeks, the battle is still raging. And a grim jobs report for the month of May might just be the catalyst that Keystone proponents have been looking for to
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: EI Isn’t Perfect & That’s Why Reforms Are Wrong
Employment Insurance isn’t perfect, and that’s why the Conservative reforms are wrong. EI’s very purpose is to give money to people without jobs, it is a program that gives the unemployed incentive not to find work. The only reform that will ever fix that is getting rid of EI, anything
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On trade-offs
Much of the recent discussion as to how to develop a strong and sustainable Canadian economy has included absolutely no challenge to the theory that natural resource development is somehow a driver of increased jobs. So let’s take a closer look at the relative economic contributions of the natural resource
Continue readingthe woodshed: No bad jobs, just lazy Canadians
“There is no bad job. The only bad job is not having a job.You do what you have to do to make a living.”–Finance Minister Jim Flaherty (WARNING: As with most things related to Jim Flaherty, the following is decidedly not safe for work, unless you work in the porn
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: FreedomWorks Creates Error-Filled Site To Accuse EPA Of "Killing Jobs"
EPA Kills Jobs Facebook Ad.jpg FreedomWorks, the sister organization to the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP), has launched a new website and advertising campaign to convince American voters that the Obama administration and the EPA are out to destroy American jobs. FreedomWorks has been instrumental in creating the Tea Party in
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: Parliament in Review – April 2, 2012
Monday, April 2 saw the second day of Peter Julian’s extended budget speech. And perhaps the point most worth noting is how many Canadians outside of Parliament took the opportunity have their voices heard in the budget debate. The Big Issue So let’s focus this review on some of the
Continue readingpragmaticcanadian: Getting more out of job creators
Probably the best and most successful way to get more out of the job creators, is to convince them that they can make more money.
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Special treatment for oil industry means poor environmental laws
Thursday, May 3, 2012 The roll-back of Canada’s environmental laws – legal environmental protection that Canadians have worked for decades to put in place – give the oil and gas industry a host of changes that they've been asking for for years. While other industries will benefit, It may be
Continue readingThe Liberal Scarf: Conservative attacks on eco groups should give LPC an opportunity to reach out
A lot has been written about the attacks on environmental groups in the recent Conservative budget, most of it negative, such as this Globe and Mail editorial: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/budgets-new-rules-unfairly-target-environmental-groups/article2387590/ While the Conservatives are wasting your tax dollars to go after legitimate environmental groups (full disclosure: I am currently working part time
Continue readingThe Star’s Tim Harper: Harper bets on big resources and kicks environment to the curb
OTTAWA Stephen Harper, finally freed of the constraints that of the minority years, had no need to deliver anything in his 2012 budget to placate his political opponents. So, unfettered, he delivered big time for big business and carved a path for a resource-based economy shorn of impediments for years
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Fact Checking The New Paul Ryan Budget on Energy and Environment
ryan_620x350.jpg Representative Paul Ryan (R–WI) has released his budget for fiscal year 2013. To almost no one’s surprise, his outline is filled with too many falsehoods and outright lies to count. After analyzing just one section of his proposal – the section on energy and the environment – more than
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