Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Thomas Walkom puts the Cons’ anti-environmental hysteria in perspective by noting how our cabinet ministers are going out of their way to sound like the most fringy of lunatic Tea Partiers: America’s Exxon Mobil, Britain’s BP, France’s Total E&P, China’s SinoCanada Petroleum Corp.
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Accidental Deliberations: One more front in the permanent campaign
It may get lost in Aaron Wherry’s story on perpetual political campaigning. But the NDP’s work to get constituents involved in letting the Cons know what they think looks like a rather significant break from the top-down messaging we’re accustomed to seeing from most parties: In addition to those billboards,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Book Review: Pulpit and Politics
Dennis Gruending is a former journalist and NDP MP who blogs about political and religious issues – which in theory should make for an ideal background for a book focusing on the interplay between religion and politics in Canada. And Pulpit and Politics is indeed well worth a read. But
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on the spread of bullying in the political sphere even as it’s been rightly rejected elsewhere – and what we should do as citizens to make sure it doesn’t pay off. For further reading, Hannah Tepper interviews Sam Sommers some of the mental shortcuts that are all too easily
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your afternoon reading. – Alison Loat offers some suggestions to make political parties more responsive to Canadian voters: (H)ow can parties reorient spending to encourage a more balanced focus across their responsibilities? Political parties serve at least four critical functions: engaging citizens in politics, selecting candidates for
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
This and that for your weekend reading. – Thomas Walkom tries to be optimistic about the year ahead, and likely settles on the best reason for hope that Canada’s politics will see some change for the better: Canada, like Australia and Brazil, is getting by on sales of raw materials
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your weekend. – Bruce Anderson worries that the Cons might think they face no restriction on their ability to get away with dirty tricks. But Noah Richler suggests that the best way to fight back against the Cons’ disdain for democratic debate is to treat them
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On reasonable standards
A quick thought on how Canadian pundits may want to evaluate how political parties do their jobs – which looks to be particularly relevant given the entirely justified criticisms being levelled at the Harper Cons. In evaluating how a party handles any given issue, it might be worth taking a
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Don’t let dubious political tactics turn us off politics
Here’s a guest post from Ben Gillies, a political economy grad from the University of Manitoba. Canadians Must Not Let Dubious Political Tactics Turn Us Off Politics Altogether By Benjamin Gillies Last week, the Conservatives admitted their party was behind a rash of phone calls to Liberal Irwin Cotler’s federal
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On common concerns
Most of the discussion of Samara’s report on political disengagement has focused on the responses of non-voters. But perhaps more interesting is the fact that the disengaged and the currently-engaged seem to have virtually identical critiques of how our political system fails to function: “Almost without fail, the disengaged we
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On pertinent questions
I’ll add one additional follow-up note from yesterday’s NDP leadership debate. In principle the opportunity for candidates to ask questions of one another looks to have been an ideal chance to test one of the major roles of an opposition leader. And while most of the contenders decided to lob
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – Thomas Walkom rightly points out that the voters most affected by the Cons’ push for privatized pensions are the ones paying the least attention to the issue: For workers over 50, the pension reforms introduced by Canada’s Conservative government on Thursday mean virtually
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: A sad commentary indeed
Yes, it probably is a victory for the federal opposition parties to win hearings into the effect of cuts to Veterans Affairs as a result of Con members who failed to show up in time for today’s meeting. But isn’t something fundamentally wrong when any …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.- David Climenhaga responds to the Cons’ union-bashing in the guise of accountability by pointing out who actually exerts disproportionate influence under a cloak of secrecy:(M)aybe the bright light of a freshly c…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On survival strategies
For all the talk about whether Canada’s Liberal Party is dying, let’s note that one of the most important determinants of its future is the question of how its supporters are prepared to survive.After all, there are two radically different paths availa…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how the small-c conservative wave that was projected as a possible consequence of a majority federal government has instead given way to a tide of voters rejecting the Harper Cons’ mindset. For further reading, Susan Delacourt and I both consi…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Ontario NDP Platform
Pollsters tell us that Ontario’s New Democrats may double their seat total in next month’s provincial election. It’s also entirely conceivable that they could be part of a coalition government at Queen’s Park. But what’s actually in the party’s election platform? One central feature of the NDP’s proposals is to implement a tax credit for companies that hire new workers. The tax […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: PSE in Newfoundland and Labrador
Last March, Keith Dunne and I wrote an opinion piece on Danny Williams’ post-secondary education (PSE) legacy in Newfoundland and Labrador. Among other things, we pointed out that average undergraduate tuition fees (for domestic students) in Newfoundland and Labrador are $2,624/yr., compared with $5,138 for Canada as a whole and $6,307 in Ontario. With a provincial election slated to take […]
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your afternoon reading.- Andrew Potter comments on Samara’s most recent findings about federal politicians in Canada:Samara’s findings underscore the profound amateurism that permeates our national politics. When the vast majorit…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On arbitrary standards
I’m sure we can look forward to Mitch Wexler’s numbers on the total count of left-wing versus right-wing elected representatives in Canada being trotted out plenty during the course of this fall’s provincial elections – especially if it helps to sell t…
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