Winnipeg Free Press story. Long live the patronage!
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Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Mia Rabson writes that patronage and secrecy are thriving under the Harper Cons, even after they’ve lost any excuse about other parties’ ability to stop their plans: But when the federal appointments process has no transparency, any time someone with political ties as
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: When rights are annoying #nlpoli
There’s something about this frivolous and vexatious thing that caught people’s attention right from the start. Under the provincial Conservatives’ new secrecy laws, a cabinet minister can refuse to disclose information if he or she thinks the request is “frivolous or vexatious”. (sec. 43.1) Leave aside the idea that a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – The OECD is the latest independent observer to confirm Thomas Mulcair’s point that dutch disease is a real problem for Canadian manufacturing. And Marc Lee calls for a green industrial revolution as a better path toward economic development and environmental responsibility than
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Trish Hennessy assembles a handy set of ideas to deal with income inequality. – No, there isn’t much new in the Cons’ familiar pattern of deceiving the public, covering it up, then lying by about the cover-up by blaming civil servants who
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review – May 7, 2012
Monday, May 7 saw another day largely dominated by debate on the Cons’ omnibus budget bill. The Big Issue Plenty of MPs rightly focused on the Cons’ move to combine so many disparate types of legislation into a single behemoth of a bill. Don Davies remembered his first instruction as
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Paul Krugman highlights the anti-social austerity agenda at work in the U.K. and U.S.: (T)he austerity drive in Britain isn’t really about debt and deficits at all; it’s about using deficit panic as an excuse to dismantle social programs. And this is, of
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: Parliament in Review – April 26, 2012
Thursday, April 26 saw ample discussion of private members’ business – and if the Cons are now cracking down on such debate, the results of the day’s proceedings might give us some clues as to why. The Big Issue While it didn’t receive as much media attention as another issue
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review – April 24, 2012
Tuesday, April 24 saw a day of debate focused on a relatively non-contentious piece of legislation: a citizen’s arrest bill which largely reflected Olivia Chow’s work after charges were laid against David Chen of the Lucky Moose. The Big Issue When it came to the substance of the bill, there
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review – April 23, 2012
Monday, April 23 was the first day back in the House of Commons following the Easter break. And it featured some of the most lively and telling discussion we’ve seen yet on the Cons’ anti-refugee legislation as the second-reading debate reached its end. The Big Issue As part of the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Erin points out that there’s a relatively simple cure for Dutch disease – just as long as provincial governments are willing to put citizens ahead of resource extractors: (S)ince resources are priced in American dollars, the higher exchange rate further reduces provincial resource
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Patronage and seals… #nlpoli
Thursday’s announcement by fisheries minister Darin King should give you a pretty big reminder that the local political scene remains mired in the past. The provincial government is giving a private sector company a $3.6 million. They are calling it a loan. In effect, the provincial government is going to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Alison nicely debunks the Cons’ latest Robocon talking points. Paula Boutis offers her own suggestions to strengthen Elections Canada in investigating vote suppression. And Glen McGregor and Stephen Maher report that the Cons have been working on funneling federal money through a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your weekend. – Karl Nerenberg reported on Marc Mayrand’s Robocon testimony, featuring some much-needed discussion of what can be done to improve the Canada Elections Act to ensure fair elections rather than creating an incentive for electoral fraud: Mayrand fretted to the Committee that there are
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your weekend. – pogge rounds up last week’s news on the Robocon front – while the outside attack on the NDP’s leadership vote suggests that the block-the-vote crowd isn’t limiting its work to general elections. – Meanwhile, Dave connects some dots between the Harper Cons, the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Brian-Michel calculates the expected outcome of the 2011 election minus the Robocon election fraud based on Anke Kessler’s data. Alison, thwap and Saskboy all rightly lament that a government claiming that a majority entitles it to treat Canada as a helpless plaything may
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Bennett’s telephone call “gendered violence” according to PACSW prez #nlpoli
Most of you likely missed it, but a sharp exchange in Twitter on Monday showed the way politics in this province rolls these days. Dara Squires writes a blog called ReadilyAParent, She’s also syndicated in the Western Star and some of the TransCon weeklies. Dara’s post on Sunday took up
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – On the Robocon front, Terry Milewski connects the dots between identification of voters as non-Con supporters and the deceptive robocalls that followed. Steven Chase and Daniel Leblanc discuss how Elections Canada figures to determine who placed the Cons’ fraudulent calls, while Glen McGregor
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
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