Nathan Cooper, Speaker of the Alberta Legislature, sailed very close to the wind when he lent his name to a letter signed by a group of dissident United Conservative Party MLAs opposed to the province’s latest COVID-19 restrictions. While the position taken by the 18 rebel Conservative MLAs is repugnant
Continue readingTag: partisanship
THE FIFTH COLUMN: Can America Be Saved
I am writing this as a citizen of a world that no matter where we live are strongly impacted by whatever America does and whatever happens in America America is celebrating but it will take a lot more than the end of the Trump presidency to save America. Trump promoted
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how right-wing provincial governments across Canada are deliberately denying benefits to their constituents solely to try to avoid any credit going to the federal level in advance of this fall’s election. For further reading…– Murray Mandryk, Sarath Peiris and plenty of letter writers have already pointed out the
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Episode 17: Partisanship and the future of Alberta politics
This week on the Daveberta Podcast, guest hosts Erika Barootes, Janis Irwin and Natasha Soles chat with our producer Adam Rozenhart about their experiences in provincial politics and where they see Alberta politics moving in the near future. They also answer some questions you submitted to us. Erika Barootes is the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how people generally have a better idea about the facts underlying our political choices than they suggest in response to an ordinary poll – and how we can make better decisions by looking to the root causes of that distinction. For further re…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: By invitation only
Yes, Paul McLeod’s report that Stephen Harper will go through a three-month election period without meeting a single person who hasn’t been previously vetted by partisan operatives is pretty much the logical extension of the Harper Cons’ attitude toward the public. But it’s worth offering a reminder how that relates
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative T-shirt violated the rules
The employment minister wore a Conservative Party of Canada T-shirt to an event promoting the Government of Canadas’ Universal Child Care Benefit program. That’s not OK, ex-Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson ruled back in 2010. The post Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative T-shirt violated the rules appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: "We’re better than news, we’re truthful"
So says Kory Teneycke, the former VP of the new defunct Sun News Network and now Director of Communications for the PMO. The irony here is simply too much. He is at least half right. Sun News Network was premised on just about anything but the truth. It was highly
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: "We’re better than news, we’re truthful"
So says Kory Teneycke, the former VP of the new defunct Sun News Network and now Director of Communications for the PMO. The irony here is simply too much. He is at least half right. Sun News Network was premised on just about anything but the tru…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: "We’re better than news, we’re truthful"
So says Kory Teneycke, the former VP of the new defunct Sun News Network and now Director of Communications for the PMO. The irony here is simply too much. He is at least half right. Sun News Network was premised on just about anything but the truth. It was highly
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Paul Krugman writes that the ultra-wealthy’s contempt for anybody short of their own class is becoming more and more explicit around the globe – even when it comes to basic rights like the ability to vote: It’s always good when leaders tell the
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Flaherty’s Curtain
Jim Flaherty was unethical, incompetent and he should have been fired. Those aren’t my words, they’re Thomas Mulcair’s, spoken just last year in Question Period. Yet after the former Finance Minister’s death, Mulcair has called him a good man and a gre…
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Flaherty’s Curtain
Jim Flaherty was unethical, incompetent and he should have been fired. Those aren’t my words, they’re Thomas Mulcair’s, spoken just last year in Question Period. Yet after the former Finance Minister’s death, Mulcair has called him a good man and a great public servant. There’s no doubt that the NDP
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Flaherty’s Curtain
Jim Flaherty was unethical, incompetent and he should have been fired. Those aren’t my words, they’re Thomas Mulcair’s, spoken just last year in Question Period. Yet after the former Finance Minister’s death, Mulcair has called him a good man and a great public servant. There’s no doubt that the NDP
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Yves Smith notes that a short-sighted focus on returns for shareholders generally represents a poor allocation of resources even on the level of a single corporation – while also pointing out what that mindset does when shared across the business sector: As the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – The New York Times editorial board points out that a higher minimum wage can produce clear economic benefits for businesses as well as for workers: One 2013 study by three economists — Arindrajit Dube, T. William Lester and Michael Reich — compared the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Dean Baker discusses the strong relationship between union organization and the elimination of poverty: A simple regression shows that a 10 percentage point increase in the percentage of workers covered by a union contract is associated with a 0.7 percentage point drop in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Jenny Carson asks what governments are doing to lift poor workers out of poverty. (Spoiler alert: the Cons’ answer is “why would we want to do that?”). – Meanwhile, Kemal Dervis and Uri Dadush discuss the desperate need to rein in inequality
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Frances Russell discusses the inevitable collateral damage to our planet from the Cons’ war on science: Over the past 200 years, Canadians built on flood plains because “we thought we had relatively stable climate — the climate we experienced over the past century,”
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Bea Vongdouangchanh reports on Kevin Page’s concerns that the Cons are set to effectively destroy the PBO. And the Star’s editorial board slams Stephen Harper’s war against transparency and accountability in general: Stonewalling, foot-dragging and contempt for Parliament pay. At least that’s what
Continue reading