This and that for your Tuesday reading.- Scott Vrooman rightly makes the point that increased wealth at the top tends to splash outside a country’s borders rather than trickling down. And CBC News reports on how that process has been facilitated by KPM…
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Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week.- Jared Bernstein is hopeful that the era of expansive corporate rights agreements is coming to an end. Paul Krugman notes that there’s no evidence anybody has gained economically from the spread of those agree…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.- Alice Martin offers three basic reasons why unions are as necessary now as ever, while PressProgress weighs in on the IMF’s findings showing the correlation between unions and greater equality. And David Ball po…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading.- Robert Atkinson discusses the need for corporate tax policy to encourage economic development rather than profit-taking and share inflation. And Jim Hightower notes that it’s an anti-democratic corporate mind…
Continue readingModest proposals for our defence policy
The federal government has promised to develop a new defence strategy for the country and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has confirmed the public will be asked to participate. I thought, therefore, I would get my two cents in early.
The minister’s mandate letter states, "As Minister of National Defence, your overarching goal will be to ensure that the Canadian Armed Forces are equipped and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On rigged outcomes
I’m not sure when “what would Michael Ignatieff do?” became the Libs’ operating mantra. But as long as the subject of fighter procurement is on the table, let’s highlight the real similarity between two parties on that front: both the Cons and the Libs seem bent on handing Lockheed Martin
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Stephen Marche discusses the Cons’ ongoing efforts to make Canada a more closed and ignorant country: Mr. Harper’s campaign for re-election has so far been utterly consistent with the personality trait that has defined his tenure as prime minister: his peculiar hatred for
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Shannon Gormley points out how the Cons’ actions to strip voting rights from Canadians abroad sticks out like a sore thumb compared to an international trend of recognizing that citizenship doesn’t end merely because a person crosses a border. And Peter Russell and
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Jason Kenney gets a growth portfolio
Jason Kenney has long been one of Stephen Harper’s trusted lieutenants and after yesterday’s cabinet reshuffle, he is now Minister of National Defence. In Harperland, this is a decisive promotion: from the “ugh, why are we still doing this?” of Employment and Social Development to the prestigious, patriotic defence portfolio.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Mark Bittman discusses the connection between economic and social ills in the U.S., and offers a message which applies equally to Canada: I have spent a great deal of time talking about the food movement and its potential, because to truly change the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Shannon Gormley points out that human rights are meaningless in the face of a government which claims the entitlement to strip people of their humanity – which is exactly what the Cons are setting out to do: (W)hen Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Barrie McKenna looks to Norway as an example of how an oil-rich country can both ensure long-term benefits from its non-renewable resources, and be far more environmentally responsible than Canada has been to date. – Michal Rozworski discusses how the devaluing of work
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – The Broadbent Institute studies wealth inequality in Canada, and finds not only that the vast majority of Canada’s capital resources remain concentrated in very few hands but that the disparity continues to grow: The new Statistics Canada data show a deeply unequal
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, questioning whether Canadians share Stephen Harper’s newly-professed aspiration to spend tens of billions of dollars more every year to prop up U.S. and U.K. military contractors. For further reading…– David Pugliese reported on this week’s NATO summit. – NATO’s most recent spending calculations are here (see PDF link), showing
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Laura Ryckewaert looks in more detail at the continued lack of any privacy protection in the Unfair Elections Act. And Murray Dobbin is hopeful that the Cons’ blatant attempt to suppress voting rights will instead lead to a backlash among those who are
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: Conservatives exploit Afghan deaths, but treat vets like 2nd class citizens
A travelling tribute to the men and women who lost their lives in Afghanistan will arrive in your province or territory during the next year or two. The memorial, featuring plaques of the 161 Canadians killed, will be welcomed by their families and friends, but some of us will react
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Lawrence Martin discusses how the B.C. Libs, Harper Cons and other governments have responded to transparency requirements by deliberately refusing to record what they’re doing and why: News from the government of British Columbia. Sorry citizens, we have no files. There is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
This and that for your weekend reading. – Lana Payne sounds the alarm about the choice of the government of Newfoundland and Labrador to cry “deficit!” as an excuse to slash social spending when the actual deficit is virtually identical to the amount it’s spending on added resource development –
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on the Cons’ choice to start charging emergency-stricken communities for disaster relief work by the Canadian Forces. For further reading, see the initial report from Lee Berthiaume, as well as Michael Den Tandt’s criticism of the move.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Wednesday reading. – Pat Atkinson highlights what should probably be the story of the year for 2012: the continued degradation of Canadian democracy under a government which views Parliament and the public with an alarming degree of contempt: Harper’s Conservatives see Parliament as a nuisance.
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