Miscellaneous material to start your week. – When even free-trade warrior Barrie McKenna can only respond incredulously to a message campaign on behalf of the wealthy, you know it’s gone too far. So here’s McKenna answering the contrived outrage over the NDP’s proposal for a slight increase in income tax
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Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
This and that for a sunny Saturday. – Paul Wells discusses the clash shaping up between the Cons and the NDP: Some 57 per cent of respondents said they’re dissatisfied with the Harper government, compared to 36 per cent who like it. Last month’s federal budget drew more unsatisfied reaction
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Evening Links
Assorted content to end your day. – Carol Goar asked this weekend for a reasonable explanation as to how to allocate the pain in times of austerity. Not surprisingly, the McGuinty Libs came to the wrong answer – and the Harper Cons figure to do even worse. Meanwhile, Trish Hennessy
Continue reading350 or bust: The Harper Government’s “Friends With Benefits”
In September 2009, at the G20 summit, Prime Minister Stephen Harper joined world leaders in committing to end government handouts to climate polluters. But the Harper government is still paying Canadian taxpayer’s money to the richest corporations in the world, at the rate of $1.38 BILLION per YEAR, which works
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – On the Robocon front, Terry Milewski connects the dots between identification of voters as non-Con supporters and the deceptive robocalls that followed. Steven Chase and Daniel Leblanc discuss how Elections Canada figures to determine who placed the Cons’ fraudulent calls, while Glen McGregor
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Amy Minsky uncovers some suspicious-looking spending patterns underlying Robocon, while Postmedia also points out that election results in at least a couple of seats may plausibly be subject to challenge. Emma Pullman offers some more details on the Manning Centre’s voter suppression
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Frank Graves notes that for all the spin from the Cons and their enablers about public acquescience in program slashing, there’s actually another issue taking centre stage among Canadian voters: (I)f people prefer spending cuts to increased taxes and debt, they prefer “investment”
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your pre-debate reading. – Dave connects a few more dots as to who’s behind Robocon. Guy Giorno helpfully acknowledges that the Cons were supposed to have business-style processes to avoid the exact kind of electoral fraud that’s been discovered across Canada – signalling both that they’re indeed
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: December 14, 2011
Wednesday, December 14 saw another day of debate devoted to free trade issues, this time addressing a proposed treaty with Jordan. But first… The Utterly Unprecedented, Stunning Development Which Shook The Very Foundations Of Canada’s System Of Government As Administered By Stephen Harper Helene Laverdiere asked a simple question to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Damian Carrington reports on the Harper Cons’ sad efforts to prevent the European Union from accurately accounting for greenhouse gas emissions from the tar sands, offering in particular a look at how Canada’s actions look to our global neighbours who don’t operate from
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Erin nicely summarizes Don Drummond’s report on Ontario’s finances. But it’s worth noting that leaving aside Drummond’s own choice not to follow the instruction, anybody looking for a thorough analysis of Ontario’s fiscal realities should be able to discount the report in
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: Parliament in Review: December 5, 2011
Monday, December 5 saw the House of Commons debate the NDP’s motion on climate change. And while the Cons tried to put up a relatively brave facade on an issue where they’ve been fighting progress at any turn, they inevitably ended up showing their true colours. The Big Issue At
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: China Looks To Stephen Harper For Lessons In Dirty Energy Exploitation
oilyleaf.jpg Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in China this week to meet with Chinese leaders about how both countries can profit big by exploiting China’s shale gas reserves, as well as by importing Canadian tar sands oil. Harper is scheduled to meet with both Chinese officials, as well as
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Mike Ward nicely describes the “Orwellian reverie” being used by the Cons to try to manipulate the public into acceding to the every wish of the oil sector: In what other world could the delivery of jobs, profits and unrefined oil to a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your weekend reading. – Stephen Maher reminds us that the Harper government now lecturing us about the need to attack social programs because of a federal deficit is the same incompetent group that caused the deficit in the first place through reckless tax slashing and vote-buying
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: November 21, 2011
Monday, November 21 featured the final day of debate on the Harper Cons’ omnibus budget bill. The Big Issue Not surprisingly, the final day of debate on budget legislation gave rise to plenty of clash, with Peter Julian offering up the best summary of the contrasting positions: What the Conservatives
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to end your weekend. – As Thomas Walkom notes, it’s an open question as to who will take up the cause of defending universal public health care in Canada – but easy to figure out who poses the greatest threat to it: Writing in The Globe and Mail
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – I’d planned to post on the sheer arbitrariness of the Cons’ insistence on eliminating a regulation for any new one they implement. But Erin gets there first: At best, this rule is a gimmick. At worst, it will delay or prevent the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Carol Goar criticizes the tax giveaways that have blown a massive hole in the federal budget: But there is one area of government activity that will escape (Tony Clement’s budget-slashing) scrutiny. Every year Ottawa gives up billions of taxes in deductions, exemptions, deferrals,
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