Thursday, December 8 saw debate on four separate bills – though once again, the Harper Cons were most conspicuous by their silence on a bill they were in the process of ramming through Parliament. The Big Issue That would be the Senate patch job which was being debated at second
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Accidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: December 7, 2011
Wednesday, December 7 packed plenty of contentious debate into an extremely short day, with a time allocation motion and debate on two bills fit within an afternoon sitting. The Big Issue Once again, Peter Van Loan sought to limit debate on one of the Cons’ bills – this time their
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: December 6, 2011
Tuesday, December 6 saw a day devoted primarily to debating the Cons’ seat redistribution bill. And the result was some interesting interplay between the three official parties in the House of Commons – if no lack of contradictions as well. The Big Issue In effect, the debate on C-20 saw
Continue readingThe Job: A Ticket to Poverty
Said the office worker to the poor person “Get a job you bum” I have 3 replied the poor person How many do you have? Increasingly these days a job is anything but a ticket out of poverty, that is true right across the country but ever more so in
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Molly’sBlog 2012-02-09 20:40:00
CANADIAN POLITICS: ONTARIO PREMIER’S SPEECH DISRUPTED: What does a politician have to endure these days ? Just for the simple act of bragging in front of one’s numerous rich friends about the devious ways that he plans to increase their (and his own) incomes by offloading hard times onto the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: December 1, 2011
In the midst of a week of acrimonious debate over both the substance of the Cons’ dumb-on-crime legislation and the government’s procedural maneuvers to prevent even improvements which it recognized as necessary, December 1 served as a comparative beacon of cooperation (as noted specifically by Don Davies). The Big Issue
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Vivian Belik looks at the long-ignored outcomes from a guaranteed income experiment in Dauphin, MB – and finds that the positive results of of providing a secure income to all citizens were well worth the investment: (T)he Mincome program was conceived as a
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Raising The OAS Eligibility Age Would Raise Poverty in Old Age
Canadian Press have put out a story based on a research paper by Richard Shillington which was commissioned by HRSDC from Informetrica, and obtained by the CLC through an Access to Information request. Receiving OAS is required to makes seniors eligible for the GIS top up, which provides one in
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Low Income and the Age of Eligibility for OAS
To reprise a now topical earlier blog, hiking the age of eligibility for OAS will have the biggest impact by far on future seniors who are in low income. Many if not most of this group are unable to work due to disability or ill health. If the age of
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Hiking the Retirement Age is the Wrong Answer to the Retirement Crisis
Raising the age of eligibility for Old Age Security/Guaranteed Income Supplement (OAS/GIS) benefits is the worst possible way to deal with the retirement income security crisis facing Canadians. Experts such as former Assistant Chief Statistician Michael Wolfson project that one half of all middle income baby boomers face a severe
Continue readingI’m singing in hell
I’m singing in hell This is a place where my City Councillor invokes UN property rights instead of human rights for the 130 people evicted from a rundown apartment block destined for demolition, where the Mayor, hell-bent on the erection of Pat’s Palace and a domed stadium over social housing,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: November 21, 2011
Monday, November 21 featured the final day of debate on the Harper Cons’ omnibus budget bill. The Big Issue Not surprisingly, the final day of debate on budget legislation gave rise to plenty of clash, with Peter Julian offering up the best summary of the contrasting positions: What the Conservatives
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: November 18, 2011
Friday, November 18 saw two pieces of legislation discussed. And the contrast couldn’t have been much more stark between an opposition effort to develop better legislation, and a government focused on nothing more than sticking to talking points regardless of whether they made the slightest sense in context. The Big
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Winnipeg’s North End – the good, the bad and the unspoken
Winnipeg’s fabled North End, long known for its contributions to the arts, popular culture and radical politics, has always had a reputation for being a tough place to grow up. These days, however, crime, violence, gangs and poverty seem to be its defining characteristics, at least in the minds of
Continue readingcultural sn:afu: Little Victor Update | the TV zombie
I think I’m about to find out how much TV is too much TV in the safe development of a child’s mind. My two-year old son can recognize Dog The Bounty Hunter’s voice, and has now started to respond to … Continue reading →
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Molly’sBlog 2012-01-10 01:12:00
CANADIAN POLITICS TORONTO: NO TO BUDGET CUTS IN TORONTO: The following call out for protest against proposed budget cuts in the City of Toronto comes from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP). **********************[ocap] Stop the Cuts – Final Ford Budget Showdown! Important Update on City Cuts: 1) January 17th Mobilization:
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: November 16, 2011
Wednesday, November 16 saw plenty of direct clash between the Cons and the NDP on an issue that’s been in the news again today. And lest there be any doubt, while the Cons have raised their level of inflammatory rhetoric, they’ve been less than convincing when it comes to anything
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Day Three of Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons January 6-8, 2012 Vancouver/Burnaby All panelist biographies are here. Below are some lessons learned and observations from the sessions. Friday: The opening panel is recorded in the Twitter storify here. Saturday: My notes are here. Sunday: Opening Panel Radical Squares: Reflections on
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy
December marked the three-year anniversary of Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. While I believe there is much to celebrate, much remains to be done. The Strategy surprised a lot of observers, especially in light of the fact that it was announced in December 2008, just as Ontario was entering a recession.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Day Two of Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons January 6-8, 2012 Vancouver/Burnaby All panelist biographies are here: Below are some lessons learned and observations from the sessions. Friday: The opening panel is recorded in the Twitter storify here. Saturday: Opening Panel A Global Tradition: History of the Commons Silvia Federici
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