Foreign Minister Lavrov – the man with the answer Within a week or so the outlines of a solution to the Ukraine predicament will become clear to all. As I expected (and hoped), wiser heads have come up with a workable formula. The Russians are leading the way, with Obama
Continue readingTag: political reform
CuriosityCat: The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade treaty: Evil fruit from Secret talks
It is worth reading the article by Joseph Stiglitz on the problems posed by the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade treaty. Our government is one of those negotiating in confidence a treaty that will substantially effect the livelihood of all Canadians. Stiglitz highlights the problems posed for democracies by the one-sided secrecy
Continue readingCuriosityCat: A Liberal Party Mess in the Making
A man of principle This is a mess. Justin Trudeau and his advisors had better get on to this debacle post haste, reveal all the facts and communications, and make sure the principle of open nominations is adhered to. If we start retreating from opennes and transparency before the election
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Ukraine needs help to overcome the Iron Law of Oligarchy
Daron Acemoglu’s articleon the Ukraine in today’s Globe & Mail is a must read for all who are concerned about the mammoth task facing Ukraine right now. Unlike so many writers who skate across the thin ice of ignorance in their commentary on what is really happening in that blighted
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Ukraine Predictions: A Breakup, of sorts
Plea from Ukraine My earlier post showed some interesting maps of the ethnic and language divisions inside the Ukraine, and asked whether a split into two parts was going to happen. Today Julia Ioffe in the New Republic has this forecast: Neither America nor NATO can stop this. They’ve shown
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Liberal Party Convention: The Most Important Policy Resolution
In my view, the single most important policy resolution at this week’s convention in Montreal is the prioritized number 31, which should significantly reduce our democratic deficits. That resolutionreads: 31. Priority Resolution: Restoring Trust in Canada’s Democracy* BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Liberal Party pursue political reforms which promote: Open,
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Ontario Byelections: The change that really counts
It seems that the leaders of all three poltical parties in the province of Ontario sense that voters want change. Premier Wynne, leading a minority Liberal government, was rejected by voters in the two byelections, but says change is wanted: Real Change Wynne? After writing off the byelections as “skirmishes”
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Brian Rice: The right person for President of the Liberal Party of Canada
Brian Rice – Political reformer par excellence For many reasons, I believe that Liberals should elect Brian Rice as the next President of the Liberal Party. He is a mover and shaker, a man of ideas, an adept politician in his own right, and a very hard worker. One very
Continue readingCuriosityCat: The Senate: Will Mulcair’s rabbits and doves flee in all directions as Mulroney’s did?
Constitutional twins? Thomas Mulcair gives the impression that he relishes the views of some of him as a tough guy. In Question Period, faced with a cornered Prime Minister Harper who has to appear (sometimes) and answer questions (even if with non-answers), Mulcair is the diligent, remorseless, forceful, and effective
Continue readingCuriosityCat: The Battle for the Soul of Canada’s NDP
Tony Blair wrested control of the British Labour Party away from the hardliners who had successfully run that party into the ditch in election after election, by concentrating on a small core of voters, and offering policies that were outmoded, anti-capitalistic and unappetizing to most British voters. Thomas Mulcair faces
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Canada, want a good Deputy Prime Minister? Look for the man with the hardball in his office
Two of these men could be PM in the next 18 months Thomas Mulcair says he and his NDP have learned from the disasterous provincial NDP election: “It’s not enough to look at the electorate and say, ‘vote for me, I m good.’ You have to say, ‘vote for me,
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Deperately seeking Toronto’s Nenshi
Purple reign Is it time for Canada’s largest city to have its very own purple rain? The Editorial Board of the Globe & Mail seem to think so. They frame the issue this way: Toronto needs to be rethought from its suburbs inward, not from its centre outwards. And its
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Why Stephen Harper will call an early election in spring 2014
George S. Patton I expect the Throne Speech in late January 2014 to be the timing for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to dissolve Parliament and call for an election in the spring of 2014, rather than wait for the legislated October 2015 date. The Liberal Party under Justin Trudeau are
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Making them answer for their actions #nlpoli
Anyone who wants to understand the value of the House of Assembly need only look at Question Period on Tuesday. Liberal Andrew Parsons threw question after question at child, and family services minister Paul Davis about a report by the Child and Youth Advocate into the case of a young
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Senate expenses scandal: The spreading ripples
Mounties are acoming … Here are some recent developments: Duffy’s expenses actually amounted to more than $90,000, and the RCMP alleges that Wright broke the law by giving Duffy the money to cover them. The affidavit also includes correspondence between staffers in the Prime Minister’s Office and Conservative senators about
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Senate expenses scandal: Snippets from the Mounties
They’re are the march … to protect our democracy A bombshell burst in Ottawa today when the Mounties filed a request for a search warrant dealing with the Duffy expenses scandal. Reading that request is interesting. I include a few snippets that caught my eye. Overall, my impression from the
Continue readingCuriosityCat: 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 readingParchment in the Fire: Wrestling with Democracy
Wrestling with Democracy is an ambitious, historical examination of the changes in voting systems across a large number of Western liberal democracies over the course of the twentieth century that argues that ‘most major voting system reforms in the twentieth-century west have been intimately linked to larger social struggles over
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Justin Trudeau raises the bar for MPs and Senators
A breath of fresh air in Ottawa In a move that is refreshing, because it shows an MP who is willing to listen to criticism, and to rethink matters in the light of such criticism, Justin Trudeau has announced that he will work with charities to reach some solution satisfactory
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Stéphane Dion: Let our MPs take a pocketful of votes to Parliament
A pocketful of votes Dion gave an interesting talk at Joyce Murray’s meeting in Vancouver this morning, dealing with the different kinds of electoral reform that we could adopt. One new idea that he dropped on the table is interesting, and, I believe, novel: that our MPs votes in Parliament
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