PHOTOS: Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean at the Calgary Stampede. Too country to be electable in the new Alberta? (Photo from Mr. Jean’s Flickr account.) Below: Former Harper strategist Ken Boessenkool and former Harper speechwriter Paul Bunner, both involved in Alberta’s “reunite the right” movement. (Photos grabbed from their Facebook
Continue readingTag: press progress
Alberta Politics: How weird is this? Calgary Chamber of Commerce spokesperson praises Rachel Notley’s NDP government
PHOTOS: Premier Designate Rachel Notley, in orange shoes, with her caucus. Below: Scott Crockatt, the Calgary Chamber’s communications and marketing director; Manning Centre polemicist Colin Craig. Well, these are strange times indeed when the official spokesperson for the Calgary Chamber of Commerce can extol the potential for Alberta’s just-elected New
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Contemptible, Arrogant Martinet
The other day I wrote a post about the resurrection of Bill C-377, the Harper backed private member’s bill that would wage war against unions in Canada. Toward the end of the post I made reference to Senator Don Plett’s arrogant dismissal of witness Paul Cavalluzzo during Senate hearings on
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Details, Details, Details
Details. It seems that Conservative MP Diane Ablonczy finds them irksome impediments to action. Details like objections to violations of our Charter Rights: During the final day of parliamentary hearings into the government’s controversial anti-terrorism bill, Conservative MP Diane Ablonczy used air quotes to dismiss an amendment, first proposed by
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: How Much Do I Not Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways
These pictures are courtesy of Press Progress: One hopes that the entire crew will find their hearts broken come October. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: As The Year Ends
… this deserves one more play. For a full review of the abysmal Harper Veterans Affairs record, check out the good work by the good folks at Press Progress. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Fraser Institute (A.K.A., The Pinocchio Gambit)
It is to be hoped that no one was near the proboscis of Jason Clemens, Executive Vice President of the right-wing Fraser Institute, when he told this tall tale to Steve Paikin recently on TVO’s The Agenda: For a parsing of Clemons’ concoctions, please click here. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: They Said What?
Funny how right-wing non-profits with charitable status can be political whenever they want with no fear of tax audits, whereas those with progressive credentials are singled out repeatedly by the Harper regime for special attention from the CRA. Take as an example The Frontier Centre for Public Policy, a right-wing
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Hockey millionaires and pharmacare tell you everything you need to know about who the Canadian Taxpayers Federation really works for
The Montreal Canadiens in 1912-13. Now the highest-taxed hockey players on the continent, they’re still the best and likely to stay that way. Below: Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions President Linda Silas; U.S. anti-public-health-care fruitloop and Canadian Taxpayers Federation ally Grover Norquist. For a while now it’s seemed as if
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: No Surprises Here: The Fraser Institute Shows Its Biased Incompetence
Of course, right-wing groups like the Fraser Institute never let facts and data get in the way of a rabid ideology: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: This Explains A Lot
The above picture helps to illustrate why industrialized nations seem so cavalier about climate change. Click here for details. Meanwhile, Stephen Harper’s climate soul mate, Australia’s Tony Abbott, has just extended a giant middle finger to the world’s developing countries: Australia is resisting a last-ditch push by the US, France
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Who Do You Trust?
My money is on environment watchdog Julie Gelfand. Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq’s parliamentary assistant, Colin Carrie? Not so much: H/t Press Progress Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Timely Reminder
What Have The Unions Ever Done For Us? was produced in Australia after John Howard’s conservative government went after collective bargaining rights. H/t Press Progress Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Blast From The Past
I am sure that some politicos would prefer certain things remain buried in what seems to be a collective public amnesia. Thankfully, the Internet is the gift that just keeps on giving, as this piece from Press Progress reminds us: . Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Right Wing Instructs Us On Our Errors In Thinking
Benighted soul that I am, I did not realize the myriad errors of thinking I have fallen prey to. Happily, University of Toronto geography professor Pierre Desrochers has set me straight on a few things: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Martk Carney Speaks On The Consequences Of Unbridled Capitalism
Mark Carney said the following to a group of the world’s elites last week: “Just like any revolution eats its children,” Carney told the audience of global power brokers, “unchecked market fundamentalism can devour the social capital essential for the long-term dynamism of capitalism itself.” “All ideologies are prone to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Don’t Worry; Be Happy
Apparently those of us who fret about the ever-growing magnitude of climate change effects are just not grasping the truth. As The National Post’s Peter Foster recently explained at a gathering of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the oil industry just isn’t adequately communicating why climate change skeptics are
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Revelation CAPP paid Mansbridge, defender of Murphy’s speaking fees, brings simmering controversy back to boil
CBC Chief Correspondent Peter Mansbridge, back in the day before he could seriously contemplate receiving a $28,000 speaking fee just for flapping his gums over dinner. (Photo found on the Internet.) Below: Similarly compensated CBC commentator Rex Murphy, presumably at about the same moment in history. Below that: Wildrose Party
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Future bleak for Brent Rathgeber’s CBC disclosure bill; perhaps less so for Rex Murphy’s commentaries
Your blogger with CBC commentator Rex Murphy, quite possibly on his way to a speaking engagement with the oil industry. Below: the same blogger with Edmonton-St. Albert Member of Parliament Brent Rathgeber, who has a date with history next week; the controversial Press Progress Rex Murphy info-graphic. ST. ALBERT, Alberta
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Leading Exemplar of The CBC’s Policy Of Conservative Appeasement
Thanks to Montreal Simon, DESMOG CANADA, Press Progress and others for alerting us to the true extent of Rex Murphy’s egregious conflict of interest in his role as CBC commentator. Murphy is yet another sad but solid indication of the policy of appeasement the Corporation has adopted toward the Harper
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