PHOTOS: The prime minister of Canada in a Navy hat. The new kind. Yeah! A macho Navy cap! Now where’s Tommy Flanagan, now that we need him again? No, not that Tommy Flanagan! The political strategy guy. Below: Former prime minister Joe Clark, former Alberta premier Jim Prentice and current
Continue readingTag: mike duffy
Accidental Deliberations: Good to go
A few images which may or may not become highly relevant in just a few minutes.
Continue readingHarper is not serious about senate reform
Stephen Harper is not serious about senate reform. Despite his announcement last week that he plans to stop filling vacancies in the upper chamber until the senate is reformed, his track record on the issue is very poor. Stephen Harper, cc: pmwebphotos (Flickr.com) Harper was first elected to parliament in 1993
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how the Senate’s failure to provide any second thought on C-51 may serve as the ultimate signal that it has nothing useful to offer Canadians. For further reading…– PressProgress’ look at the Senate’s sad history is well worth a read. The CBC reports on the Auditor General’s findings
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Queeg Harper and the Sinking Con Ship
He's still the Captain of the dilapidated Con ship, the rusty tub that should have been scrapped long ago. And like the crazed Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny, he's still going after his bloody majority, like Queeg went after the strawberries.But unfortunately for Stephen Harper that majority is proving as elusive as those
Continue readingLeDaro: Mike Duffy Saga
Harper sure knows how to appoint Senators, Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau, and the notorious Mike Duffy. Harper campaigned against an appointed Senate, against privilege and corruption, in 2006, only to embrace it full on when he became Prime Minister. He appointed Mike Duffy, a so-called journalist who abused his position
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper, The Duffy Trial, and the Lost Summer
It's sometimes hard to remember, and even harder to believe, that Stephen Harper came to power promising to clean up government.And a new era of accountability.But we all know how that turned out. That was then.This is now… And now that we know that there is even more evidence that
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Duffy Trial: The PMO Cover-Up Begins to Unravel
We've waited a long time to find out what role Stephen Harper's PMO played in the Mike Duffy scandal. And now we're finally starting to find out.They arranged for an outside audit to try to keep Ol' Duff quiet.And then proceeded to whitewash it. Read more »
Continue readingAlberta Politics: And now for the hard part … getting businesses and right-wing commentators to curb their hysteria
PHOTOS: Alberta NDP premier-elect Rachel Notley at the centre of media attention. Below: NDP premiers Dave Barrett of British Columbia and Bob Rae of Ontario, back in the day; columnist and NDP activist Gerald Caplan. And now, the hard part … If you thought overcoming the supposed Progressive Conservative juggernaut
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Zombie Confidence Fairy finally rears its head as the 2015 Campaign of Fear gets up steam in Alberta
A group of five prominent Edmonton businessmen with ties to the Prentice Progressive Conservative Party tried to talk some sense into us crazy Albertans yesterday about voting NDP during a news conference in the Melcor Developments’ boardroom in downtown Edmonton. From left to right: John Cameron, Paul Verhesen, Doug Goss,
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Why the Duffy Trial is Also the Trial of Stephen Harper
Sometimes I think that the Mike Duffy trial is like one of those Russian nesting dolls, with Duffy as the biggest doll hiding all those other scandals inside it.Which is unfortunate, because it might give people the impression that it's all about Ol' Duff and his dubious activities.When in fact
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Duffy Trial Starts to Suck In Stephen Harper
Ever since the Mike Duffy scandal erupted one question has never been properly answered. How on earth did Duffy think he could get away with posing as a Senator from Prince Edward Island, when he had lived in Ottawa for decades? And yesterday that question was finally answered. It apparently wasn't
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Peter Ladner discusses why our tax and fiscal policies should be designed to reduce inequality – rather than exacerbating it as the Cons are determined to do: Right now, the richest 20% of Canadian families hold almost 70% of the country’s wealth.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Barrie McKenna takes a look at how the Cons are pushing serious liabilities onto future generations in order to hand out short-term tax baubles within a supposedly-balanced budget, while Jennifer Robson highlights the complete lack of policy merit behind those giveaways. And Ian
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Michael Harris on the Case Against Duffy and the Case Against Harper
If you've been following the trial of Mike Duffy, you know that the prosecution is having trouble making its case that he broke the rules, because it seems the Senate didn't have any.And that the judge is getting impatient. But as Michael Harris points out while the case against Duffy is in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: What you know in the PMO
Obviously, the revelation that Mike Duffy saw his job in the Senate as including a role as a publicly-funded lobbyist for the climate denial movement raises a whole new set of questions about the Cons’ misuse of public resources. And if, say Enbridge is being at all honest in its
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jordan Brennan discusses the utter failure of past trade agreements to live up to their promises, making it all the more unclear why we should be prepared to accept a new wave of even more inflexible restrictions against democratic decision-making. The trade and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – PressProgress documents how the Cons are driving Canada’s economy into the ditch. And Michael Babad reports that economists with a better grounding in reality than Stephen Harper are begging the provinces not to impose the austerity demanded by the Cons. – Kara
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 14: And they’re off! But why?
This week, Premier Jim Prentice called his uncalled-for election. The question remains, why? The election — a year ahead of the lawful election date — has no validity. The PCs have a majority that any government in Canada, or the world, would kill for (and in some countries, that’s exactly
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Why Wasn’t Nigel Wright Charged in the Duffy Affair?
Ever since the trial of Mike Duffy began, I keep getting asked the same haunting question: If Duffy is being charged with accepting a bribe, why wasn't Nigel Wright charged with bribing him by cutting him that $90,000 cheque?And I have to explain that the RCMP has yet to explain that
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