Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Nora Loreto points out the thousands of deaths known to have been caused by the spread of COVID-19 in Canadian hospitals – and the virtual certainty that the numbers available to date represent a significant undercount. Allan Massie discusses the spread of COVID-19
Continue readingTag: parliamentary procedures
Accidental Deliberations: Visionless
Shorter Trudeau Liberals last month, trying to justify shutting down Parliament and setting up a game of Parliamentary chicken over a throne speech: It’s absolutely vital that we talk about VISION! And LONG-TERM PLANNING! And a FRESH MANDATE FOR CHANGE!!! Shorter Trudeau Liberals now: On second thought, this is no
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On obstructionism
I’ll give Yaroslav Baran credit for explaining in this thread how Parliament’s standard procedures have been modified over the summer. But it’s hard to see how that offers any justification for the Cons’ contrived outrage over Parliament being “shut down”. In essence, the process boils down to two elements. First,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On private determinations
Paul Willcocks has previously pointed out why there’s reason for skepticism about Andrew Scheer’s attempt to play both sides as to whether or not the Cons will try to limit access to abortion. But it’s worth looking at a case study as to how the Harper Cons flouted any distinction
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On shows of confidence
As British Columbia’s MLAs decide how to respond to the Clark Libs’ latest attempt to avoid the results of an election which plainly showed that voters wanted change, let’s offer this reminder. In 2008, Stephen Harper’s Cons established that they held the confidence of Parliament through a vote on a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Jordon Cooper writes that the Saskatchewan Party’s slash-and-burn budget confirms that for them, the poor don’t matter. CBC reports on the devastating effect the budget will have on municipalities, while Courtney Markewitch reports that Saskatoon’s city council is fighting back. And Joel Senick
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- Miles Corak reviews Branko Milanovic’s new book on the complicated relationship between globalization and income inequality. Dougald Lamont examines the current state of inequality in Canada. And Matth…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Rosemary Barton discusses why it’s in Canada’s best interest on the global stage to work on building strong multilateral institutions (including the UN) rather than counting on bluster to make a difference. But Gus van Harten notes that we’re instead signing onto
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On caretakers
Since there’s been plenty of talk lately about caretaker governments and their duty to exercise restraint, I’ll raise one question as to the appointments made the last time a new federal government took office. The day he and his Cabinet were sworn in, and two months before Parliament convened following
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On simplified procedures
Following up on this post, let’s also note how the right answer from Canada’s opposition parties could combine with the seeming agreement between the major party leaders as to the “most seats first” principle to take nearly all of the guesswork out of a post-election minority Parliament. Again, the range
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On practical changes
One of the main attacks on the NDP’s election platform has been the question of what support there is for the constitutional change required to abolish the Senate. But it’s worth distinguishing between the relatively limited constitutional role actually mandated for the Senate which requires following the constitutional amendment formula,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Ian Welsh discusses how our problems with poverty and inequality arise out of artificial scarcity: We either already have excess capacity or we have the ability to create more than people need of all necessities. This includes housing, food and clothing. We still
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On settled issues
As Dan Gardner points out, Stephen Harper is continuing to misrepresent the nature of Canada’s system of government. But he’s nonetheless made a noteworthy concession in doing so: PM: HERE’S THE QUESTION THOUGH. UM IS IT A CORRECT ASSUMPTION TO MAKE THAT WHICHEVER PARTY ENDS UP, IF WE’RE IN A
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Louise Arbour’s interview with The House includes both her compelling criticisms of both the Cons’ terror bill, and the Libs’ failure to stand up against C-51. And the Canadian Press reports on Justin Trudeau’s continued fecklessness, as he won’t even take a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On transitions
Bob Hepburn makes clear that while the Libs may still be in denial about the importance of cooperating to remove the Harper Cons from power, their best friends in the media are under no such illusions. But the most noteworthy contribution to Canada’s discussion about post-election options comes from Aaron
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: The secret platform
It never figured to take long for the Cons to start making up numbers for lack of any legitimate criticism of the NDP’s platform – and Jason Kenney has charged into the breach. But it’s worth noting the source of many of the supposedly-costed items, which consist of NDP MPs’
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On biased decisions
It shouldn’t come as much surprise that the Duffy trial has revealed that the Harper Cons sought to make the Senate as subservient to the PMO as the Cons’ trained seals in the House of Commons: Mr. Rathgeber said the PMO staffers’ handling of the situation was all too familiar
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On delay tactics
Following up on this post, let’s look in a bit more detail as to how the Cons might try to make excuses for a delay in this fall’s expected federal election – and why they might be happy to use the more questionable means to do so. As noted in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On rewriting
There’s plenty of justified outrage over Stephen Harper’s unelected Senate lapdogs choosing to tear up the Parliamentary rule book to force through an attack on unions in the form of Bill C-377. But I’m wondering whether the procedural move used to end debate might itself affect the validity of the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On democratic blockages
I’ve previously pointed out a few of the worrisome ways in which the Cons might try to cling to power after the next federal election even if they’d stand to lose any fairly run confidence vote. But let’s add one more which the Cons have now publicly sanctioned: security “slippage”
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