Thomas Mulcair in Question Period The leader of the NDP has done Canadians, and Canadian democracy, a service through his dogged, skillful, meticulous and highly professional questions posed to the Prime Minister during Question Period. Mulcair has clearly spent a great deal of time researching the facts of the Sentate
Continue readingTag: Political Courage
CuriosityCat: 2015: The ballot question in Canada’s next election?
Methinks John Ivison has hit the nail right on its head with this: If the Auditor-General’s report does suggest a systemic problem of corruption and abuse, who would bet against the Conservatives using the Senate as a classic wedge issue, pointing out that the Liberals are in favour of preserving
Continue readingCuriosityCat: The Mulcair Envelope: Questions that will haunt the NDP Leader
The Mulcair envelope issues Ottawa is aswirl with rumours about breaches of ethical rules by our esteemed senators, and a subcurrent is now starting, egged on by a desperate Conservative Party that wishes to change the channel and/or deflect criticism. Three interesting articles by journalists deal with the possible cash
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Poll: Massive support for Proportional Representation
Hat tip to BluntObjects for the LeadNow poll of Canadians’ views about the need to fix our broken electoral system. The poll shows massive support by Liberals, Dippers and Greens for some form of proportional representation (the key plan of the Joyce Murray fix-it-now campaign for leadership of the Liberal
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Harper’s Permanent Majority through Redistribution & FPTP
A Confederation denied legitimacy Here is a startling analysis of the impact of the recent redistribution, the probability of a permanent Conservative majority in the House because of our archaic First Past the Post system. A must read for everyone interested in politics in Canada. Please pass on this post
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Is Justin Trudeau trying to win the big enchilada on his own?
Justin Trudeau’s Big Enchilada? This extract from The Vancouver Courier just about sums up the fate of electoral reform’s future right now: Political cooperation isn’t a new concept, but University of B.C. political science professor Philip Resnick says it’s worth noting that in both the NDP and Liberal leadership campaigns,
Continue readingCuriosityCat: If Justin Trudeau really wanted to engage Canadians, he would do this
Trudeau: Ideology over science Hat tip to Impoliticalfor this remarkable summary of why Trudeau has decided, in is wisdom, to ignore the wishes of the majority of Canadians for a more democratic electoral system. Read the whole article for the exchange between Trudeau and Murray on proportional representation. Here’s a
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Joyce Murray’s electoral reform proposals are the most democratic of all leadership hopefuls
Joyce Murray – She walks the talk Joyce Murray’s electoral reform proposals are the most democratic of all candidates for leadership. Unlike the others who are simply practising old-style top-down command politics, Joyce is actually walking the talk of participatoty democracy in the party. Her pre-election cooperation idea leaves the
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Justin Trudeau, read Andrew Coyne if you are a bold, serious leader
Andrew Coyne The debate is gathering steam, and Andrew Coyne has posed several questions which every candidate for leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada (and particularly Justin Trudeau, whose father modernized the Canadian democracy almost beyond compare with his priceless gift of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms): Fundamentally,
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Liberal leadership race: Liberal-Green pre-election ceasefire could prevent Harper majority in 2015
MP Elizabeth May MP Joyce Murray was interviewed by the Canadian Press on the possibility of a pre-election electoral cooperation taking place in ridings that choose to do so before the 2015 election. Joan Bryden’s interesting article on the interview includes this comment on the extraordinary significance that such cooperation might
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Liberal Leadership Race: Joyce Murray’s Electoral Reforms Promise
Joyce Murray – Progressive Reformer MP Murray’s position on pre-election cooperation between the Liberal, NDP, Green and Blog parties in order to remove Harper’s right wing government from power, and her commitment to serious electoral reform, bears repeating in full: Our principal challenge is to give Canada the 21st century
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Joyce Murray is right: Our electoral sytem is broken and needs fixing
Joyce Murray: Targeting our democratic deficitAndrew Coyne has supported Murray’s idea of removing the Harper Tories from power and reforming the electoral system.This is a brief report of what Joyce Murray said, by Joan Bryden:But her proposal for co-…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Grace Under Pressure
Paul Martin may have earned his reputation as Mr. Dithers. But, as Geoffrey Stevens points out, he possesses something that Stephen Harper and Vic Toews lack — grace under pressure. Toew’s wild diatribe about “standing with child pornographers” was not the first such Conservative outburst on that subject. Back in
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