by: Canadian Bar Association | Press Release | April 30, 2014 OTTAWA — The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) says that changes are needed to Bill C-24, Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, and offers 20 recommendations that would improve key areas of the legislation. The CBA welcomes the clarification of residency requirements and provision of
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The Canadian Progressive: Harper’s Attack on Supreme Court Chief Justice McLachlin Unacceptable
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s attack on Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin is an attack on Canadians and Canadian democracy. It’s unacceptable. by: Obert Madondo | May 4, 2014 Prime Minister Stephen Harper is so desperate for political capital he’s willing to publicly smear the Supreme Court of Canada and its Chief Justice, Beverley
Continue readingThe Right-Wing Observer: The Senate is drunk on partisanship
Unelected Conservative Senators have a surprising amount of electoral expertise. It must come from all those years of not getting elected. @JDanAiken @bruceanderson Elections Canada should not have a vested interest in recording a high voter turnout. That’s a conflict. — Senator Linda Frum (@LindaFrum) April 9, 2014 Every day
Continue readingThe Right-Wing Observer: Lukiwski doesn’t understand the meaning of transparency
Full disclosure: Tom Lukiwski is a four-letter word in my home. The fact this man continues to get elected in our home province embarrasses us deeply. He has a demonstrated ability, practiced really over decades, to offend people with thoughtless comments. Thankfully, we don’t live in his riding, so our
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Harper’s abuse of Challenger jets, government resources unacceptable
by: Obert Madondo | April 2, 2014 The Conservatives’ abuse of the Challenger jets and other government resources might end soon if the New Democrats are successful with their latest motion. On Tuesday, the NDP tabled an opposition day motion in the House of Commons that would limit the use of the jests
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Toronto’s G20 Summit As A State of Exception
At Illuminated By Streets Lamps, I have posted a paper I have written on the security apparatus put in place for the 2010 Toronto G20 Summit. I argue that the Province of Ontario employed a coercive, secretive state of exception in order to facilitate the flow of international capital during the Toronto
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Toronto’s G20 Summit As A State of Exception
At Illuminated By Streets Lamps, I have posted a paper I have written on the security apparatus put in place for the 2010 Toronto G20 Summit. I argue that the Province of Ontario employed a coercive, secretive state of exception in order to facilitate the flow of international capital during the Toronto
Continue readingThe Right-Wing Observer: Is Omnibus legislation a Conservative Disease?
The following data visualization shows the total number of pages of legislation drafted to implement budgets tabled from 1994 to 2014. It also shows the average per year for the Liberal regime versus the Conservative regime. It illustrates the Conservatives’ significant tendency towards bloated budget implementation bills. I would like
Continue readingThe Right-Wing Observer: Data Viz of poll results shows even Conservative voters hate the Fair Elections Act
A poll was commissioned by The Council of Canadians, the Canadian Federation of Students, and LeadNow.ca to find out how Canadians feel about the Fair Elections Act. The poll was conducted in late February and early March. I started to put together a visualization of this data, starting with the first
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: In Open Letter, 19 Professors Denounce Harper’s Fair Elections Act
by: Various We, the undersigned, international scholars and political scientists, are concerned that Canada’s international reputation as one of the world’s guardians of democracy and human rights is threatened by passage of the proposed Fair Elections Act. We believe that this Act would prove [to] be deeply damaging for electoral
Continue readingThe Right-Wing Observer: Can we protect our Democracy from unscrupulous Democratic Reform?
When a person or an organization observes an opportunity for profit or gain and are then confronted with laws that make it illegal to proceed, they usually have to make a choice between two or three vastly different courses of action: Break the law and attempt to escape detection, capture
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Parliament’s Sham Report on Missing, Murdered Aboriginal Women Trashed
by: Obert Madondo Many had hoped the Special Parliamentary Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women would move Canada closer to addressing the perennial issue of more than 600 missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls. The committee’s final report, delivered in parliament last week, turned out to be another government-sponsored sham. Most
Continue readingLeft Over: Whores, Bores, and Liberal Cores….
Canada’s opposition NDP open to coalition, Liberals less keen Tue Feb 25, 2014 5:49pm EST – Reuters In a a comment re : http://montrealsimon.blogspot.ca/2014/02/tom-mulcair-and-coalition-dream-that.html Although in principle I agree that whatever progressives elected to Parliament should band together in the sense of controlling the votes, I fail to see why, or
Continue readingLeDaro: Turkey’s Parliament knows how to put legislation through
They must have consulted Rob Ford. 😉
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Harper’s Orwellian “Fair Elections” Act Violates Canadian Constitution
by: Obert Madondo Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Photo by Remy Steinegger The Harper Conservatives’ Bill C-23, the so-called “Fair Elections” Act, violates Section 3 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It’s clear the Conservatives are preparing to steal the 2015 federal election. Bill C-23 is part of their ongoing war on
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: A Response To The Globe’s Jeffrey Simpson
A “dream palace,” The Globe and Mail’s Jeffrey Simpson calls it. Inside that dream palace, the First Nations allegedly live in a fairytale land of sovereignty, respect and healthy relations with the Canadian state. Well, in fairness, Simpson describes the perks of living inside his so-called dream palace a touch more
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: A Response To The Globe’s Jeffrey Simpson
A “dream palace,” The Globe and Mail’s Jeffrey Simpson calls it. Inside that dream palace, the First Nations allegedly live in a fairytale land of sovereignty, respect and healthy relations with the Canadian state. Well, in fairness, Simpson describes the perks of living inside his so-called dream palace a touch more
Continue readingDagenais illustrates why women avoid politics
“If you can’t stand the heat, etc.” … the usual justification when one politician objects to the boorish behaviour of another. And no doubt MP Charmaine Borg heard a lot of that when she objected to the recent attack on her by Senator Jean-Guy Dagenais. The heat you are expected
Continue readingIf you’re a democrat, instruct your MP to support Chong’s Bill
An opportunity to strike a blow for parliamentary democracy has suddenly arisen and all democrats should take advantage of it. On Thursday, Michael Chong, MP for Wellington-Halton Hills, will introduce a Bill in the House that would dramatically devolve power from party leaders to MPs and constituency associations. The Bill,
Continue readingParliament needs a science watchdog
Science has never been more important to the human race than it is today. We are faced with the two greatest threats in our history: catastrophic climate change combined with exhaustion of the Earth’s resources. We must rely on science to lead us out of the crises we have created
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