Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Heather Scoffield gives far too much credence to the Cons’ spin on what their focus group results mean. But her report offers what may be the most definitive indication yet that the Cons’ ideology bears absolutely no resemblance to what Canadians actually want:
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Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup
Apparently there have been a few developments in the NDP’s leadership race – and indeed enough that I’ll likely need to apply a bit more a filter on what I catalogue in my roundup posts. (In particular, I’ll generally stop pointing out survey or event-based coverage which doesn’t add much
Continue readingThis is my SOS to the world
A tiny community called out to world. And the world answered. Foreign aid arrived in Canada courtesy environmental organizations which, if you’ll remember, dear Reader, are “radical groups” with “radical agendas” trying to “derail” the Northern Gateway Pipeline project. Our radical agenda, backed by independent science, demands acknowledgement that the
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: Second ballot without a second language
Yesterday, Paul Dewar’s NDP leadership campaign released a poll that they claim put Dewar in first place on the second ballot of the NDP leadership race. Understandably, other campaigns drew their own conclusions from the results or their own unreleased but contradictory results. But the one question that the poll
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Mike de Souza’s report on the Cons’ attempts to hide both the oil industry’s involvement and its own lack of credibility is well worth a read in full. But let’s focus on a more basic revelation: Harper has set up a publicly-funded
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Too close to call
Apparently it only took yesterday’s flurry of polls to create the easy narratives the media has been craving in the NDP leadership campaign. But there’s plenty of reason for caution about the messages that have been drawn from the polling. To start off with, “Thomas Mulcair on top” isn’t exactly
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Why you should register (by Feb 18th) to vote in the NDP Leadership Election
NDP Candidates at the Quebec debate February 18th is the last date for which new NDP members are eligible to vote in the NDP Leadership elections that will occur on March 24th. If you are a un(der)employed or 26 years old or less, it only costs five bucks. Registering as
Continue readingTerahertz: More on the Cullen plan #ndpldr
It’s always interesting when I post a piece that was mainly intended to give an extended response to one of my friends on Facebook, and then suddenly Macleans picks it up and I get responses from all over the internet. I hope to do my best here to respond to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your weekend. – David Olive highlights the complete lack of need for the Cons’ planned attacks on Old Age Security: Say what you will of Stephen Harper’s success in scaring Canadian seniors with his recent musings about cutting seniors’ benefits. It does not warrant the public
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Candidate Rankings – February 12, 2012
It’s undoubtedly been an eventful seven days in the NDP’s leadership campaign – and one of the most important weeks of the race is just around the corner as the membership deadline approaches. But does any of the activity change this week’s rankings? 1. Thomas Mulcair (1) Certainly not at
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Liveblogging Today’s NDP Leaders Debate
Today’s NDP leadership debate lands in Quebec. I’m using 14 criteria to evaluate who I’ll be voting for. Let me know if you have suggestions for improved criteria. 2012.02.12 NDP Leaders Debate February 2, 2012 — NDP Leaders, By the Numbers and the Intangibles (0) August 27, 2011 — Liveblog
Continue readingBlunt Objects: Liberals Riding High in Quebec?
There’s been a lot of buzz lately over the small snippets of a recent federal Forum poll that shows the Liberals gaining steadily on the NDP, especially in the province of Quebec where according to Forum, the Liberals lead with 28% of the vote, the NDP second with 25%, the
Continue readingFar and Wide: Speaking Of "Boring"
What’s your definition of boring, bland, yawn inducing? For myself it’s predictability above all else. From a purely partisan perspective, I suppose this now on going media categorization of the NDP leadership race as “boring” is a welcome frame, but really it does a disservice to the wider political climate.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Thomas Walkom highlights the lesson we should draw from the economic devastation caused by the shutdown of an Electro-Motive plant which was supposed to serve as a poster child for corporate giveaways: Using tax breaks to encourage domestic production is a standard prescription.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup
News and notes from the last few days as the deadline to sign up looms just a week away in advance of a convention that’s set to far exceed the turnout the NDP expected. – Niki Ashton responded to questions about whether she’d stay in the race with a strong
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: Didn’t you used to be NDP Foreign Affairs critic?
We’d really like to take NDP leadership candidate Paul Dewar seriously. Really, we would. It’s hard to imagine a candidate who struggles in unscripted French being a credible face for a party that has the overwhelming majority of seats in francophone Quebec. But we were prepared to overlook that. The
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 – Saganash Bows Out
In my most recent leadership candidate rankings, I mentioned that I still saw a possible path to victory for Romeo Saganash. To expand slightly on what I’d planned to turn into a more substantive post, that view was based on the possibility that he could effectively put into practice Tarik
Continue readingRed Tory v.3.0.3: The Real Opposition
Although the Liberals may have been reduced to third-party status in parliament after the last election, there’s little doubt that, largely thanks to the feisty leadership of Bob Rae, they are presently the de facto Opposition to the Harper Government®. If polled, I wonder how many people would even know
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: How MPs voted on Opposition Motion to Protect OAS
The motion to maintain the age requirements for OAS at 65 was defeated. The motion read: That the House reject calls by the Prime Minister to balance the Conservative deficit on the backs of Canada’s seniors by means such as raising the age of eligibility for Old Age Security and
Continue readingPipelines: Which side are you on, planet or profit?
Since the Northern Gateway pipeline hit the news, the regina mom has read more posts about science than ever before. And it’s not because science claims a place in her higher reading order. Rather, it’s because the HarperCon response to public outrage about the pipeline has forced her to know
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