Like the dotty uncle no one wants to invite to family dinners anymore because of his wildly inappropriate comments, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver is fast becoming an international persona non grata. With the passion of a senescent zealot, Oliver has drawn unfavorable attention to Canada in recent weeks over
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Politics and its Discontents: The Synchronous Decline of Peter Mansbridge and The CBC
I admit that I stopped being a regular viewer of the CBC years ago; I think the catalyst for my disaffection was its transparent policy of appeasement (under the pretext of balanced reporting) of the Harper regime which, of course, holds its funding strings. Especially evident in its flagship news
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – Ian Lovett reports on the use of “capital appreciation bonds” in California to ensure that future generations pay an inflated price to private-sector developers for infrastructure today. – Justin Ling’s review of Joyce Murray’s message about electoral non-competition pacts is well worth a
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: CBC’s Peter Mansbridge coulda bin a contender: Salutin
CBC’s Peter Mansbridge coulda bin a contender: Salutin: As a follow-up to my post about former fluff broadcaster and current fraud artist Mike Duffy, here is a link to a Rick Salutin column about the fluffy news reader Peter Mansbridge, and about the decline of CBC news in general. As
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: ”Twere to consider too curiously, to consider so.’
The title of my post today, taken from Act Five of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, occurs in a graveyard. Hamlet begins musing on what may become of one’s earthly remains, as even those of the most exalted in life, once their remains have fully decayed, may wind up as little more than
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week.- Rick Salutin offers an important take on the U.S. election by pointing out that the Occupy movement and its focus on inequality laid the groundwork for Barack Obama’s re-election:The aftermath to the bailouts was the…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jeffrey Simpson marks Peter Lougheed’s passing by discussing what he brought to Alberta’s political scene that’s been sorely lacking ever since: Mr. Lougheed, defending Alberta’s jurisdictional turf in conflicts with Liberal and Conservative governments in Ottawa, navigated his province through these shoals. The
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Rick Salutin On Teacher Unions
We seem to be in the constant throes of anti-union sentiment during a time they are most needed. The right wing, including Ontario Conservative leader young Tim Hudak, seems to be especially enamored of the phrases “union bosses” and “workplace democracy,” both thinly-disguised anti-union euphemisms. And now that teachers are
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Rick Salutin discusses the link between parity of wealth and democratic participation, while pointing out why there’s reason for people to engage much more in the latter (W)hy didn’t the majority ever vote to expropriate the rich and take all their stuff? Perhaps
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Referendums: The Perils and the Possibilities
Direct democracy is to representative democracy what extra-virgin olive oil is to refined olive oil. The latter is more cost effective and, perhaps according to some, just as good. But to the connoisseur, there is no substitute for the real stuff. In the fourth article of his ongoing series on
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Rick Salutin on Democracy, Parties, and Electoral Reform
“Democracy,” as Winston Churchill famously stated, “is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Somewhat less famously, he also remarked that “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” Notwithstanding this somewhat anemic endorsement,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Rick Salutin on Proportional Representation
The problem with parties is they don’t exist to represent the views of the public, or even sections of it, or even their own members. Maybe they once did, or maybe not. But now they exist to win elections. They’re “election-day organizations,” to quote political scientist Donald Savoie. They take
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Defining Democracy
Just back from a very brief holiday in western New York, I’m still feeling a bit too relaxed to post anything lengthy, but I do have a reading recommendation for anyone concerned about democracy in its various forms. Earlier this year, The Star’s Rick Salutin took time off from his
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Rick Salutin Today
While the CBC’s Peter Mansbridge may often pronounce ponderously and authoritatively on issues, there is another source of information that should, in many ways, be taken more seriously, says Rick Salutin in his column today. Well worth the read. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Rick Salutin On Happiness
Our self-absorbed society could do worse than read Rick Salutin’s thoughts on the pursuit of happiness found in today’s Star. Recommend this Post
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup
News and notes from the last few days as the deadline to sign up looms just a week away in advance of a convention that’s set to far exceed the turnout the NDP expected. – Niki Ashton responded to questions about whether she’d stay in the race with a strong
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading. – Trish Hennessy points out that Rob Ford’s contemptuous attack on the idea of secure employment may offer an ideal contrast between the right-wing view of the economy and the stability citizens actually want for themselves: Remember when holding down a job for life
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jeffrey Simpson manages to write an entire column on important political developments he managed to miss in 2011 without uttering the words “NDP” (or any member thereof). Which surely looks like an early nominee as a continued blind spot in 2012. – Peter
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Rick Salutin on The Decline of Deference to Authority
As is so frequently the case, The Star’s Rick Salutin has written a thoughtful and original piece, this time on some of the factors involved in our increasingly dynamic resistance to traditional sources of authority. Thanks to the arrogance of the financial world, even after receiving massive taxpayer bailouts for
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Rick Salutin on Democracy
We live in time when the Harper government seems to be doing everything in its power to persuade Canadians that democracy is meaningless and that we, the citizens, have no power. In my view, the increasing invocation of closure on debate, sending more and more Parliamentary committees to meet behind
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