Doug ‘Backroom Dealer‘ Ford, the buffoon currently occupying Ontario’s premier’s office, is likely surprised that his appointment of personal pal Ron Taverner, one that reeks of cronyism and corruption, is meeting with resistance. As reported in The Star, the interim OPP commissioner has filed a complaint to Ontario’s ombudsman, asking
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Politics and its Discontents: The High Price Of Willful Ignorance
The other day I wrote a post entitled The Cost of Disengagement. Today’s post might be considered a companion piece, inasmuch as disengagement and ignorance often go hand-in-hand. And sadly, much of that ignorance is willful. I have been a lifelong reader of newspapers; my first memory of them is
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Cost Of Disengagement
I have reached a point in my life where I hold out little hope for our collective future. It is one of the reasons I post less frequently these days. Writing about the word’s ills often seems futile. But that is not to say that I have lost my capacity
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Ontario Conservatives present a “climate change plan” that has been shown to fail.
A follow-up to my last post: The Ontario Conservative government has finally presented its plan for mitigating climate change. No carbon tax! No cap and trade! Sounds great.. until you see the details: “Rather than imposing a price on carbon pollution as a cost of doing business, the Tories are
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: This Is What Ontario Has To Contend With
Ontario would appreciate the sympathy of saner provinces: H/t Mackay Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Kim Jong Un Comes To Canada
Well, at least his spirit has. Kim, you may recall, despite the increasingly smiling face he presents to the world, is not a man to be crossed. Just ask those who are the first to stop clapping at one of his military cult rallies. Or ssk his uncle what happened
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Spark Of Integrity
If one follows politics closely, it is easy to become quite jaded. On almost daily display are scenes of arrogance, condescension and the corrupting influence of power. We are reminded of those sorry aspects of our species regularly by Ontario’s Doug Ford government, one I hesitate to label by any
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Cannabis Beacon
For those seeking to ingest ‘the herb’ legally and are looking forward to the opening of bricks and mortar stores in Ontario April 1st, Premier Doug Ford has taken all of the guesswork out of finding such emporiums. Conveniently, they will be be found within 150 metres of schools. The
Continue readingAlberta Politics: There’s a meeting in Calgary tonight, and the people there are going to be very, very angry
Two well-heeled older men who never wanted for anything during their upbringings and now live comfortable, privileged lives will be getting together in Calgary this evening to talk about just how very, very angry they are. The idea of a $15-per-hour minimum wage makes them very, very angry. The idea
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: An Unreliable Narrator
In fiction there exists what is known as the unreliable narrator, which can be defined in this way: It is a character who tells the reader a story that cannot be taken at face value. This may be because the point of view character is insane, lying, deluded or for
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The furious denunciations of Tzeporah Berman in Alberta are unprecedented, hypocritical and dangerous
Orthodoxy means not thinking – not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness. — George Orwell, 1984 + + + The stream of vituperation directed at B.C. environmentalist Tzeporah Berman for her consistent opposition to Alberta’s pipeline demands is unprecedented, hypocritical and dangerous. I am not just talking about the death threats
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Whose Her Daddy?
Notwithstanding efforts at misdirection by Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government, it’s clear that she (Caroline Mulroney) is Daddy’s (Doug the Thug) girl: H/t Theo Moudakis Recommend this Post
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney’s Passage to India is nothing more than a nice fall holiday with two friends
United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney and UCP MLAs Prasad Panda and Devin Dreeshen took off for India yesterday. The main problem with the UCP passage to India is that, no matter how Mr. Kenney describes it, the six-day visit is really nothing more than a nice fall vacation in
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Ontario’s Ongoing Shame
Ontarians are responsible for the election of this buffoon. Ontarians will have to wear this shame for the next four years. H/t The Toronto Star Recommend this Post
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Thank you, Doug Ford, for making it clear our Constitution isn’t worth the paper it’s written on!
By making use of the Canadian Constitution’s Notwithstanding Clause to wreak petty vengeance on his old adversaries at Toronto City Hall, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has actually done Canadians a favour. After 36 years of delusional complacency, we have now had confirmed what anyone who was really paying attention knew
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Democracy’s Fragility
To be sure, the elevation of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario to government redounds to everyone’s shame. Led by a buffoonish thug, Doug Ford, it is a party that seems intent on debasing not only its proud history, but also all citizens of the province, whether they voted for
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Doug Ford achieves the impossible: he’s gotten Canadians interested in constitutional reform!
Office-holding Conservative politicians and operatives of their well-funded Astro-Turf and think tank support network across Canada have now virtually to a man and woman jumped aboard Ontario Conservative Premier Doug Ford’s runaway constitutional train, defending his use of Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ override clause to gerrymander electoral districts in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Dougtatorship notwithstanding, what have you got to fear, Mr. Scheer?
What have you got to fear, Andrew Scheer? Is there a single office-holding Conservative in this country who is willing to stand up for the fundamental rights of Canadians as they are assaulted by Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his unrestrained Dougtatorship? What an opportunity this could have been for
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Flawed Ford Logic On NWS Clause
Of all the scenarios out there where I’d envision a provincial government in Ontario invoking or trying to invoke Section 33 of the Charter (the “notwithstanding clause”) to override court decisions based on the Charter… a situation involving a BIll that shrinks municipal government in Toronto wasnt in my top
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The era of Notwithstanding Clause restraint is over … get used to it!
The era of Notwithstanding Clause restraint is over. Get used to it. To borrow someone else’s felicitous metaphor, Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was always an unexploded bomb lurking in the rubble of our country’s constitutional history like a decaying munition under the modern-day pavements
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