Melville Henry Watkins (May 15, 1932 — April 2, 2020) was a Canadian political economist and activist and professor emeritus of economics and political science at the University of Toronto.He was a Read more…
Continue readingTag: NDP
Babel-on-the-Bay: Where have all the leaders gone?
You get the feeling that we are talking about a ghost. Everybody is looking for leadership. Nobody has seen it. Talking to a friend about it, he said the problem is that there are too many rowboat people and not enough canoeists. He explained it as most people row a
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: income support for low-income households in Alberta
Next week, Jason Kenney’s UCP government will table its second budget. With that in mind, I’ve written a blog post titled “Ten things to know about income support for low-income households in Alberta.” Points raised in the blog post include the following: -Low income is associated with lower food expenditures,
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ten things to know about subsidized rental housing in Alberta
In anticipation of next week’s Alberta budget, I’ve written a ‘top 10’ overview of subsidized rental housing in the province. Points raised in the blog post in include the following: -On a per capita basis, Alberta has far fewer subsidized housing units than the rest of Canada. -In 2017, BC’s
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: My latest: sad Trudeau
Is Justin Trudeau sad? He sure looks sad. He looks positively dejected, in fact. In his few public appearances since the election, Trudeau has radiated none of the boyish charm that was the signature of his first term in office. Gone are the selfies, the costumes, and the maddening preoccupation
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: NDP closes ranks around Singh.
‘Better the problem we understand’ seems to be the thinking of the leaders of Canada’s new democratic party. They are closing ranks around the leader who cost them almost half the seats they held in the last parliament. Unlike the conservatives whose leader actually grew their seats by 22, they
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Where is the vision?
In a recent commentary we complained about the lack of leadership of all Canadian political parties. What Canadians want from their leaders is vision. It is like the vision of Sir John A. Macdonald that ribbons of steel could bind this country together. It is our flag and the international
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: All federal parties need new leaders.
Canadians are going to be seeing a number of national political party leadership contests in the coming year. The conservatives are blowing smoke and fire as they warm up to their winner-takes-all contest in June. The greens are having another cup of green tea and considering who might replace the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: How much is too much, Mr. Trudeau?
Justin Trudeau has obviously not had a really wonderful 2019. As far back as September 2018, the prime minister asked his justice minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould to reconsider her position on not interfering in the upcoming prosecution of SNC-Lavalin for corrupt practices. Trudeau insisted that the intent was to save jobs
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It’s your turn Jagmeet Singh.
Luckily there was not too much blood spilt when the conservatives divested themselves of the embarrassment of Chuckles Scheer. Surely the leader of the new democrats can now consider what is the honourable thing for him to do. The point has been made that Chuckles did his best. He won
Continue readingThe Maple Monarchists - Blog: The Canadian Monarchy in the Year Ahead
While 2019 has been an exciting year politically, the CanadianMonarchy has been low-key in a lot of ways. The GovernorGeneral seems to have adapted to her new role and put hermark on it. The government’s questionable decision to cancelthe free royal portrait program was balanced out by the recentappointment of
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Bad government begets bad opposition.
They seem to go hand in hand. The more you loath the government of the day, the more you can loath their opposition. You have to admit that the Ontario government of premier Doug Ford is a disaster. So why does his opposition in the legislature have to be so
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Singh sings Scheer’s song.
One of the questions we have always wanted to ask new democratic leader Jagmeet Singh is what makes him think he is a politician? When you have a question such as that, it is always best to just watch for a while. Now it can be asked. What ever gave
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: There has to be a pony in there.
You cannot have all that cast-off material from a barnyard without a pony in there somewhere. The speech-from-the-throne writers must have figured that if you have to use weasel words, you might as well use a lot. So, if you could stand one more reading of that speech, that the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Justin Trudeau lacks the political smarts.
An old friend is mounting an e-mail campaign to get prime minister Justin Trudeau to add some key members to his new cabinet. I have argued with him that it is not going to happen and frankly the problem is not so much the idea but the fact that the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Now do the decent thing.
Green leader Elizabeth May did the right thing. The other major party leaders, Scheer, Singh and Trudeau should follow. None completed the recent election with honour. Scheer won the popular vote and lost the election. Singh lost ground for the new democrats. Trudeau lost the West but won Ontario and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Luke Savage responds to the attempt by neoliberals to escape growing discontent with corporate control and individual atomization by denying they actually represent a distinct position capable of being opposed: The ubiquity of a particular phenomenon does not make discrete analysis of it
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: A seven-hour caucus meeting creates seven big problems
The Conservative caucus met on Parliament Hill yesterday. Watching them from afar, it recalled a big therapy session. But without a therapist in charge. It went for seven hours, reportedly. That’s a long caucus meeting. At the end of those seven hours, seven big problems remain. They did not dump
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A failure in leadership.
If conservative leader Andrew Scheer is looking for compassion, he is looking in the wrong places. There is no succor for losers in Toronto’s Albany club. Long the King Street hangout of the rich and famous of Canadian conservatism, there is no compassion there for someone rejected by the voters
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Jim Coyle lists a few of the lies voters tell themselves around election time. And the Angus Reid Institute counts the large number of voters who cast a ballot for a party they don’t actually support – with the Trudeau Libs as
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