So far, the Saskatchewan NDP’s leadership campaign has been awfully quiet. And with a membership deadline looming for anybody who wants to be able to vote in the leadership election, time is running out for anybody looking to attract support from outside the party’s existing membership base. While it remains to
Continue readingTag: policy development
The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Policy Pixelation #nlpoli
The members of the House of Assembly voted unanimously at the end of October to set up a committee to decide how to give everyone in the province a cheque each month from government. The motion started out with a few reasons why the members thought it was a good
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On structural barriers
As the NDP’s federal leadership race approaches its conclusion, Tom Parkin has been doing some noteworthy writing on some of the issues which voters may want to keep in mind. And I’ll start with Parkin’s discussion as to how some of the systems which most deserve to be modeled may
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- Louis-Philippe Rochon reminds us why even if we were to (pointlessly) prioritize raw GDP over fair distributions of income and wealth, inequality is bad for economic growth in general:The more we redis…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: A place for discussion
Following up on yesterday’s column, I’ll expand somewhat on some of the decisions the NDP may want to consider as (or before) it elects new leaders. And since the recent federal convention has been treated by other commentators as everything from a shi…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Up for discussion
Kady O’Malley has already highlighted a few of the noteworthy resolutions (PDF) submitted to this weekend’s NDP policy convention. But I’ll point out a few more which look to me to deserve attention.First, in the category of simple good ideas regardles…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On rebuilding steps
I’ve posted before about the NDP’s strong progressive stance since the October election – which looks to be a positive move in terms of principles and politics alike. But there’s also a great deal of work to be done on the party side. And I’ll su…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On statements of values
It’s true that a party’s policy book is not the same as its election platform. But it’s also true that there is more to a party than a single campaign or platform. And considering that the difference between a policy book and a platform can be pointed out in a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Lonnie Golden studies the harm done to workers by irregular schedules. And Matt Bruening comments on how Missouri, Kansas and other states are passing draconian restrictions on benefits by trying to get the middle class to envy the poor. – Meanwhile, Scott Santens
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading. – Gerald Caplan writes that we all bear some responsibility for growing inequality – and how we’ll need to use our electoral power to reverse it: (S)elf-sacrifice is not going to be the key to reducing inequality, with all the great damage it inflicts
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On limited victories
Truly, I wish Andrew Coyne’s latest actually described policy-making in Canada, and not merely the state of theoretical political debate. But in fact, we live in a country where “let’s consider whether a trade agreement actually has benefits, rather than signing whatever gets shoved in front of us” has been
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On lasting influence
Murray Dobbin continues his quest to push for more big ideas from the federal NDP here. But it’s worth dividing his take into one theory well worth applying, and one which would be entirely counterproductive. At the outset, I’ll agree with Dobbin’s take that a number of the NDP’s current
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: LPC national board candidate interview: Maryanne Kampouris for national policy chair
From February 20-23, federal Liberals will gather in Montreal, and one of their tasks will be to elect a new national executive. In the coming days, I’ll be publishing interviews with some of the candidates seeking election to the party’s national board. Maryanne Kampouris won a contested election at the
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: Ontario Liberals pick our policies: Transportation, bees and early childhood education
Ahead of the Liberal Party of Canada biennial coming up in February in Montreal, Ontario Liberals gathered in Kingston this weekend to debate over 60 policies and pick the 10 priority resolutions that our province can send on to be debated by Liberals from across the country at the national
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: #mtlqc13 – Day 3 Review
Once again, Aaron has a list of the resolutions passed at the NDP’s federal convention – and I won’t comment much on what passed other than to note that once again, some key resolutions (on social housing, health care funding and temporary foreign workers) were passed by the plenary session
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On priorities
Yesterday, I posted a brief overview of the policy resolutions set to be discussed at the NDP’s federal convention in Montreal next weekend. But over the next few days, I’ll go a step further in taking a look at the ones I see as most important for the party’s development
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week.- The U.S.’ budget negotiations are leading to some public lobbying as to whether wealthy Americans will make any contribution whatsoever to closing the country’s deficit. On the plus side, Warren Buffett is re…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading.- Yves Engler thoroughly discusses how the Harper Cons’ foreign policy has included bullying countries around the world into placing the profits Canadian mining interests over the needs of their own citizens – …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2013 Roundup
One might have thought that the final days of municipal elections around the province would make for a relatively quiet stretch in the Saskatchewan NDP leadership campaign. But instead, it looks like most of the campaigns are neatly using greater public awareness of politics generally to build interest in the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2013 Roundup
Assorted news from the Saskatchewan NDP’s leadership campaign over the past few days… – Ryan Meili explained his choice not to start unveiling policy just yet by suggesting that leadership starts with listening – and the list of user-submitted ideas on his website looks to be expanding nicely to signal
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