PM Stephen Harper Today’s question period in the House of Commons finally showed onlookers what real question periods are for. The prime minister was appearing for the first time since the Senator Duffy loan was made by his chief of staff. And the opposition leaders asked pointed, clear questions. Mulcair
Continue readingTag: political reform
CuriosityCat: A Tale of Two Parliaments: A Stench of Arrogance and Greed
Who shall guard the guards? Our parliament belongs to the citizens, just as the parliament of the UK belongs to British citizens. And when our representatives in our parliaments forget whom they are serving, the citizens are affronted, and the offenders are held to account. In The Telegraph we are
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: Senator Duffy Affair: An explosive sentence
Senator Duffy I have underlined and bolded an explosive sentence in the Andrea Janus article about the CTV report on the agreement dealing with the payment to Senator Duffy of an amount of $90,000 regarding expenses he claimed. Remember that one sentence as this affair starts unfolding! Here it is:
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: Supporter registration deadline should be extended
Joyce Murray – contender With the deadline to register to vote a few days away, and less than a third of the total eligible registered so far, it is imperative that the deadline be extended for a week or two weeks: With a Thursday deadline looming, less than one third
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: Massive Win for Democracy in the Liberal Party of Canada
Democracy is coming At our last convention our party decided to throw the doors open to Canadians by inviting them to join as non-member Supporters and to vote for our next leader. The response has been stunning. Our next leader will be elected by many multiples more people than those
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: Electoral Reform: The Case that 7 of the 8 Liberal candidates will not or cannot answer
Andrew Coyne – truthteller Andrew Coyne in an article in the Vancouver Sun headed To improve our politics we have to repair our broken electoral system, puts a devastating case forward as to why pre-election cooperation followed by post-electoral meaningful electoral reform is necessary: If you never make the case
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: MP Joyce Murray to kickstart the Canadian debate on electoral reform tomorrow
Joyce Murray – Reformer Tomorrow MP Joyce Murray will be given the chance to kickstart what could be the most important public discussion in Canadian politics in two decades, when she debates the other candidates for leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. Susan Delacourt has an interesting (and must
Continue readingCuriosityCat: US Tax Evasion & Swiss Banks: Oldest Bank dies
Wegelin bank – tax criminal Swiss financial circles are reeling from the closing of Switzerland’s oldest bank (founded 1741), after it pleaded guilty to assisting wealthy Americans evade US taxes. Wegelin paid a fine, disposed of assets, and shut down last week after pleading guilty in a New York court.
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: The Joyce Murray Cooperate First, Reform Later Plan’s advantages
The Undemocratic Democracy Recent byelections have once more proved that The Power Trap has the leaders of two of the opposition parties firmly in its grip. The State of Play post Calgary Centre Byelection Some recent reflections on the divided opposition parties: Yet most Liberals here still see other parties
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 readingCuriosityCat: Justin Trudeau really really gets what the new Supporters class means
Justin Trudeau – realpolitiek practitionerJohn Ibbitson in the Globe & Mail comments on the plans of the Trudeau team to use the changed constitution of the Liberal Party of Canada to enhance the chances of Trudeau not only winning the leadership c…
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