This and that for your Thursday reading. – Thomas Walkom makes the point that the hysterical response from Brad Wall and others can’t mask the fact that Thomas Mulcair is right in his analysis of the effect of a high, resource-driven dollar: Mulcair’s solution is hardly radical. He argues that
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Accidental Deliberations: On shadow governments
Plenty of others are theorizing that it’s time for some radical action in response to the Cons’ continued contempt for democratic accountability. But I’ll take a few minutes to work through some of the considerations which should be kept in mind in deciding where to go from here. To start
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
This and that for your weekend reading. – Doug Saunders points out that we have a relatively simple choice between seeking to exact revenge on criminal offenders and actually reducing crime: We know exactly why Norway has such lower recidivism numbers. Prisoners, being under constant observation, are very easy to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Michael Harris rightly tears into the Cons for turning our federal government into Versailles on the Ottawa: The Harper government has more than a touch of Queen Nancy. It has already morphed into Versailles on the Ottawa. The facts, and the rules, are being
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On tectonic shifts
I haven’t spent much time discussing the spate of recent polls showing the NDP with a modest lead on the Cons, as those top-line results can easily enough be considered an expected consequence of a tired government trying to force through controversial legislation against a popular new leader. But CARP’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: A Healthy Society – Chapter 8 Discussion
In chapter 8 of A Healthy Society, Ryan Meili discusses how to improve our democratic system, distinguishing between the participatory action research model which is helping to drive development work in Mozambique and the top-down structures and cynical views of the political system that have all too often been the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Gerald Caplan looks at the principled leadership which Stephen Harper embarrassingly made into an attack on the NDP as an example what Canada desperately needs now: Repeating that war settles nothing, Mr. Woodsworth declared: “I rejoice that it is possible to say these
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
This and that to end your week. – Paul Wells comments on the NDP’s new style of opposition: When I used to ask the Liberals, when they were the Official Opposition, why they didn’t calm down a bit in QP, they would complain that gesticulating was the only way to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your Saturday reading. – As much sympathy as I normally have for Linda McQuaig, I’ll argue that her premise in discussing Andrea Horwath’s call for the wealthy to pay a fair share of taxes is entirely off base. Even if it is easier to discuss such ideas
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how we should look to all levels of government to find ways to work through jurisdictional barriers – rather than accepting them as an excuse for regressive policies. (And lest there be any doubt, I don’t write the titles.)
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Electoral Boundaries Commission Submission
For those interested, here’s the text of my submission to the Saskatchewan Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission. I’ve added to and tweaked the analysis from my earlier column on the subject, but the themes should be familiar. Dear Commissioners: I write in response to your call for preliminary comments on Saskatchewan’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – John Cassidy neatly contrasts growth in the postwar period against that in recent decades – with the former seeing a “picket fence” growth pattern where all segments of society benefited roughly equally, while the latter produces a “staircase” effect (aside from an utterly
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, featuring my musings on how political parties should be able to function without the top-down direction of a permanent leader – and the example the federal NDP has set on that front. (And as you may have noticed, it’s running a couple of days later than usual due to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Sixth Estate catches a right-wing election contractor defending vote suppression, then theorizes as to how Robocon may have come together. – The introduction of Doctors for Fair Taxation is certainly a positive step in ensuring that Canadian physicians show their support for
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On voter information
Andrew Coyne raises some noteworthy points about what political parties know about us and how they use that information. But while I agree as to the need for parties to treat voters as something more than a resource to be exploited, I’ll sound a note of caution that some of
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: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Paul Wells points out that despite the Cons’ best efforts to get Canadians to panic over the state of our retirement system, the truth is that we’re actually better positioned now than was projected 20 years ago. (And for those looking inexplicably for
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Political Roots of Inequality
Last Thursday I was at an event on the issue of rising income inequality, sponsored by Canada 2020. It featured one of the authors of the recent OECD report on inequality, who highlighted the “skills biased technological change or SBT ” hypothesis so favoured by mainstream economists who desperately avoid
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Jim Stanford highlights a trend of employers forcing work stoppages in order to force massive concessions out of their employees – and notes that the Harper Cons seem to be entirely in favour of that kind of economic disruption as long as it’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how the rewriting of Rob Ford’s budget by Toronto’s City Council should serve as a reminder that legislators at all levels of government can do more than merely rubber-stamp the whims of the executive. For further reading, see the Star’s report on the Toronto budget, and compare to
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