There is an electoral reform meeting here in Brantford-Brant on Sunday to discuss (what else?) Electoral Reform. It is being sponsored by the three Liberal Party of Canada Clubs here (the Women’s Commission, the Seniors Commission and the Young Liberals of Brantford-Brant), but it is meant to be a non-partisan
Continue readingTag: Liberal Party of Canada
Alberta Politics: Bernard the Roughneck in his own words: Neal Bernard Hancock responds to his critics
PHOTOS: “Bernard the Roughneck,” Neal Bernard Hancock, addresses the media in Ottawa in this screenshot of the CBC’s tape of his interview. Below: Mr. Hancock at the same event with Mark Scholz, president of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors, David Lefebvre, director of the Quebec Oil and Gas Association (which the CAODC describes […]
The post Bernard the Roughneck in his own words: Neal Bernard Hancock responds to his critics appeared first on Alberta Politics.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Jokers to the Right
It’s time we learn more lessons from Archie Bunker. While the right wing continues to become increasingly clownish, we need to go back to Norman Lear’s classic 1970s sitcom, All in the Family, to get re-acquainted with Archie Bunker’s willful embrace of ignorance and bigotry to learn where he’s coming from and how to protect … Continue reading Jokers to the Right →
Alberta Politics: Rain’s forecast, but today promises to be a sunny Labour Day celebration just the same
PHOTOS: A Canadian Labour Day parade, well back in the day. Below: A poster for today’s Labour Day barbecue and picnic in Edmonton, J.S. Woodsworth, first leader of the CCF, and a philatelic tribute to labour. “What we desire for ourselves, we wish for all.” – J.S. Woodsworth, first leader of the CCF Oh, today […]
The post Rain’s forecast, but today promises to be a sunny Labour Day celebration just the same appeared first on Alberta Politics.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Stephen Harper quits his day job, sets up ‘international’ consultancy – brace for trouble!
PHOTOS: Former PM Stephen Harper, finally sailing into the sunset? Don’t count on it. (Photo grabbed from the Harper PMO’s now-defunct website. I believe this is the best photo ever taken of Mr. Harper, peering, as it does, right into his soul.) Be…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Part II: If there’s no Russian threat in the Baltics, why is Canada so enthusiastic about a new Cold War there?
PHOTOS: The memorial to the Soviet soldiers who died conquering the city of Berlin in 1945, the last time a major world power seriously underestimated and misjudged the Russians. Below: NATO’s top soldier, Czech General Petr Pavel and the U.S. Army
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Mel Hurtig, a great Canadian – and, full of beans, as we used to say
PHOTOS: Mel Hurtig with his Canadian Encyclopedia, without which, once upon a time, no respectable Canadian home was considered complete. I am grateful to Mr. Hurtig for one thing not mentioned in the short commentary below, and that is my accidental i…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: One year ago, Stephen Harper, master of all he surveyed, called an election – what could possibly go wrong?
PHOTOS: Then prime minister Stephen Harper with his strategic brain trust, back when they still seemed like the masters of Canada’s political universe and would seem so for a few more weeks. (Source unknown.) Below: Screen shots of Mr. Harper’s Aug…
Continue readingMichal Rozworski: How not to fund infrastructure
Recycling is supposed to be a good thing, so when the federal Liberals quietly announced that “asset recycling” would be part of their strategy for meeting their much-ballyhooed infrastructure promises, not many eyebrows were raised. They should have been. Asset recycling is an obscure code word for selling our public goods for private profit. It’s […]
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Does the federal Tory pivot toward Alberta show they’ve given up on power in Ottawa?
PHOTOS: Stephen Harper, the former prime minister, not exactly as he appeared at the Conservative Party’s Calgary Stampede barbecue last night, but close enough. Below: Jason Kenney, Mr. Harper’s former sidekick in Ottawa, whom the former PM endors…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Ottawa won’t say if former Ukrainian prime minister is now a Canadian citizen, as Russian media report
PHOTOS: Former Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and former Canadian PM Stephen Harper in their July 13, 2015, news conference announcing a Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement. (Screen shot of CBC broadcast.) Below: Former Conservative immigra…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The tragedies we ignore: Recent Wildrose gaffe won’t end right’s bogus equivalencies in Canadian political discourse
PHOTOS: The Famine Memorial in Dublin. The Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s and ’50s is ignored in current Canadian political discourse while the Ukrainian Famine of the 1930s is frequently evoked. Both are real historical events with ideological roo…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: When Tories, the Fraser Institute and media team up to attack plans to improve the CPP, you have to know it needs fixing!
ILLUSTRATIONS: A luxurious retirement? Do you get the feeling that ship may have sailed? Well, rich conservatives and their flunkies want you to think that a better Canada Pension Plan is a bad idea anyway. Below: Conservative Party of Canada Finance C…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: We need a referendum on electoral reform? No! We need a national referendum on the TPP!
PHOTOS: Justin Trudeau, back in 2015 before he was prime minister, promising Canadians real change, including electoral reform, if we gave him the chance. We gave him the chance. Below: Opposition Conservative interim Leader Rona Ambrose (CBC Photo) an…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Hard truth from the Parkland Institute: New pipelines won’t much improve the price fetched by Alberta oil from Bitumen
PHOTOS: An oil tanker, floating in “tidewater” – in this case the balmy Persian Gulf. Below: Earth scientist David Hughes, and a caribou strolling along a pipeline, this one in Alaska. That’s tonight’s harvest of royalty-free photographs. My …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: RCMP turn a blind eye to abandoned firearms in Fort Mac – manna to the gun lobby but a worry to the rest of us
PHOTO: RCMP officers like these in High River during the flooding to 2013 were subjected to a vicious campaign of vilification by some Alberta gun enthusiasts for seizing abandoned weapons in the Southern Alberta town (CBC photo). QUEBEC CITY We know f…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Pipeline perceptions, percentages and past Parliamentary performance dog NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair in Alberta’s capital
PHOTOS: Thomas Mulcair in Edmonton … shortly before the disappointing federal election on Oct. 19, 2015. Below: Canadian Labour Congress President Hassan Yussuff, former NDP MP and leadership candidate Peggy Nash, and influential Alberta union leader…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Justin Trudeau’s Plan to Turn the Liberal Party Into a Movement
Justin Trudeau has been underestimated from the moment he decided to run for office.And even after boldly moving the Liberal Party to the left of the NDP, breaking the deficit taboo, and winning a strong majority, I still hear a lot of people saying th…
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Benefits and risks
Everyone wants a more inclusive, open democratic political party. I’ve no argument with that in this article about Prime Minister Trudeau, Party President Anna Gainey and also National Membership Secretary Leanne Bourassa, (who wasn’t quote…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A class of refugee the National Post and Wildrose Party can finally love: billionaires in tax flight
PHOTOS: N. Murray Edwards talking about himself in a screen capture from a Facebook video. Below: The National Post’s Kevin Libin and the Wildrose Party’s Derek Fildebrandt, united in their fearless championing of the Canadian overdog. Bottom: Wild…
Continue reading