This and that for your Thursday reading. – Daniel Tencer discusses the latest evidence that trickle-down economics are a fraud, while David Roberts and Javier Zarracina write about how the elite seems to get its own way even when the results are worse for everybody. And Heather Stewart reports on
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Accidental Deliberations: Flailbait
Susan Delacourt’s point that Canadian politics have seen a shift toward a permanent campaign is generally well taken. But it’s worth keeping in mind what it means when parties have the opportunity to plan for years in advance of a fixed election date: Political advertising, once only a feature of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On damaging positions
I haven’t commented yet on the latest wave of federal polls primarily because I don’t see them radically changing my existing take on Canada’s impending election. But I’ll briefly address what looks like an overreaction to the latest numbers by Michael Harris. By way of context, here’s my previous analysis
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On cooperative priorities
As part of their new “Hope and Wild Flailing” campaign theme, plenty of Libs are looking for any pretext – however lacking in reality – to attack Tom Mulcair. And Mulcair’s latest comments on a coalition offer the latest flimsy excuse. So let’s look at how there’s still a huge
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Staying the flawed course
John Ivison is right to note that the Cons’ latest ad reflects the Harper braintrust sticking to what seems to have been a long-established plan. But it’s worth highlighting how that plan has been overtaken by events – and how even the Libs may be able to use the message
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Evening Links
This and that for your Saturday reading. – Keith Banting and John Myles note that income inequality should be a major theme in Canada’s federal election. And Karl Nerenberg points out that voters will have every reason to vote for their values, rather than having any reason to buy failed
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On complexities
Bruce Anderson writes that as some of us have long suspected, a true three-party federal race is developing which will create some new complications for the Cons and Libs alike. But it’s worth pointing out one area where the Cons are in much worse shape than they’ve ever been. Before
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Working across the aisle
Among the other lessons learned from Alberta’s recent election, let’s point out one more with implications for the federal scene. While the main opposition parties recognized that they were too far apart in their general policy orientation to justify a formal coalition, both the NDP and the Wildrose Party were
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – PressProgress weighs in on corporate Canada’s twelve-figure tax avoidance, while noting that the Cons’ decision to slash enforcement against tax cheats (while attacking charities instead) goes a long way toward explaining the amount of money flowing offshore. And Oxfam is working on its
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Choosing the wrong side
Following up on this morning’s column, let’s note that there’s another area where the Libs are stubbornly sticking to a previous position whose underpinnings have been even more thoroughly destroyed. The Libs have been at pains to at least offer the perception of changing their direction from nearly everything done
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how the massive shift in public opinion against the Conservatives’ terror bill should remind us that people are more than willing to reconsider their initial position on a policy – and how it should signal to political parties that it might be a good idea to do the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On guesswork
Shorter Bob Rae: Some people actually believe voters deserve a meaningful idea what political parties plan to do before choosing between them? That’s crazy talk.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: The petulant son
Shorter Justin Trudeau: When I say I plan to do politics differently, what I mean is that I’m willing to leave Stephen Harper in power based on the most petty and frivolous excuses anybody’s ever heard. No longer is there any pretense that a flat “no” to a coalition with
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Saturday reading. – Lana Payne writes that we’re seeing exactly the results we should expect from Stephen Harper’s foolish choice to push money upward: A recent Globe and Mail story, using data from Statistics Canada, pointed out just how poorly the job market is doing under
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: History repeating
2008, pre-election: Liberal bigwigs make a ridiculous spectacle of themselves proclaiming that they’ll never deign to cooperate with the likes of the NDP. 2008, post-election: Having spent the campaign echoing Stephen Harper’s desperate message that a coalition would be illegitimate, the Liberals conclude that they’re willing to cooperate after all,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On prospects for change
The latest round of discussion about the possibility of a coalition to offer something better than the Harper Cons seems to have taken an noteworthy turn. At this point, everybody but the Libs seems to have settled on the position that there’s no real obstacle to a coalition government –
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – For those looking for information about today’s day of action against C-51, Leadnow and Rabble both have details. – Meanwhile, CBC reports that a professor merely taking pictures on public land near a proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline site is already being harassed by
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Edward Keenan is the latest to point out that any reasonable political decision-making process needs to include an adult conversation about taxes and why we need them: This week, when asked about the prospect of raising taxes beyond the rate of inflation in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On constitutional questions
Most of the analysis surrounding the Cons’ terror bill so far has assumed that CSIS’ powers will be interpreted based on a plain reading of the legislation. Under this reading of C-51, any action which could violate the Charter or other Canadian law would only be authorized by a warrant,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On proper fixes
Since this headline seems to be getting far more attention than the actual accompanying interview (if mostly from people with a strong vested interest in distorting the NDP’s position), let’s take a moment to discuss what we’d expect a responsible party to do upon taking power – and what we
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