This and that for your Sunday reading. – The Globe and Mail’s editorial board reminds us of the continued choice between taking reasonable precautions to minimize the damage from continued waves of COVID-19, or letting wishful thinking lead us until avoidable harm to people’s health. And Shalini Saksena writes about
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Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Laura Spinney offers a reminder that the few places which actually made an effort at a COVID Zero strategy have fared far better than those trying to get a rightly-concerned public to accept COVID Unlimited. Nature points out the folly of eliminating the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Jill Lepore writes that the COVID pandemic has left no room for doubt that there is such a thing as society reflecting mutual obligations – and that its decay or subjugation to laissez-faire ideology produces disastrous results for everybody. And Randy Robinson discusses
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: #Elxn44 Roundup
The latest from Canada’s federal election campaign. – Charlie Pinkerton reminds us of the need to ensure that any party seeking power addresses the ongoing opioid crisis. – David Akin offers a comparison between the major national parties in addressing Indigenous inclusion and issues – with the NDP ranking head
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Patricia Treble discusses how the rise of the Delta COVID-19 variant is making it vital to hit higher vaccine targets than previously set. And the Star’s editorial board argues that any responsible government should be laying out a plan to get children
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Evening Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – David Dayen highlights a rare moment of honesty from the payday loan sharks in their recognition that fair wages would reduce the consumer desperation underpinning their business model. And Brendan Greeley discusses the wealth tax – the merits of which are only
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Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Robin Sears writes that it’s long past time for Canada’s wealthiest people and corporations to start paying their fair share of taxes. And Leo Gerard points out how the U.S. has gone in exactly the wrong direction by slashing its corporate tax rates
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This and that for your Sunday reading. – Riley Yesno rightly calls out the Libs for telling Canadians they have no choice but to settle for a slight variation in tone from Andrew Scheer: When we become comfortable with the idea that the best we can hope for is a
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Episode 19: Quashing Pipelines and Political Dreams
In this episode of the Daveberta Podcast, Dave Cournoyer and Ryan Hastman discuss the latest news in Alberta politics, including Premier Rachel Notley’s response to the quashing of approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, how rumours of an early federal election could impact Alberta’s 2019 election, and Ryan’s favourite topic, the Alberta Party. We
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Irreconcilable differences? Gulf between the Alberta and federal NDP is wide, and could grow wider
The rift between Premier Rachel Notley’s Alberta New Democrats and the federal NDP led by Jagmeet Singh over the Trans Mountain Pipeline is wide and deep, but it is not unbridgeable – yet. That could soon change, though, if two likely political scenarios unfold in tandem: an early federal election
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Who saw Donald Trump coming? Not Simon Reisman, that’s for sure, but maybe Ed Broadbent and John Turner
PHOTOS: Simon Reisman’s business card. Below: Mr. Reisman, chief Canadian negotiator of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement in a screenshot of a blurry CBC archival broadcast; a recent shot of Brian Mulroney (Photo: Mike Feraco); Toronto Star political columnist Thomas Walkom; and lobbyist Robin Sears. Circa 1986, I recognized Simon
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Ann Pettifor rightly questions the supposed gains from austerity in belatedly balancing budgets only at the expense of avoidable social devastation. And the CCPA documents the billions of dollars in lost assets and thousands of jobs slashed in Saskatchewan even when Brad Wall
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Is the decade-long Brian Mulroney rehabilitation project finally paying off … for his daughter?
PHOTOS: Caroline Mulroney (Photo: Wikimedia Commons). Below: Former Canadian Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney in his heyday (Photo: Wikimedia Commons), lobbyist Robin Sears, conservative godfather Preston Manning, and Ontario Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne. It’s now been more than a decade since Stephen Harper ordered all members of his government’s Parliamentary
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Matthew Sears writes that we would be much better off prioritizing more than just cutting short-term costs and prices in making choices: Are we really unwilling to pay more for our coffee as we are on our way to our well-paid and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2017 Links
The latest from the federal NDP’s leadership campaign as the first voting window closes. – Robin Sears frames the choice of members as being between a comfortable fit with Charlie Angus and a more ambitious option in Jagmeet Singh, while the Toronto Star’s editorial board offers its endorsement to Singh
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The latest from the NDP’s federal leadership campaign. – Kristy Kirkup reports on the release of Jagmeet Singh’s climate change policy statement.And Charlie Angus has offered his road map toward a transition to renewable energy, while the CP reports on his plan for a more fair relationship with Indigenous peoples.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – John Quiggin argues that public services and corporate control don’t mix – no matter how desperately the people seeking to exploit public money try to pretend otherwise: Market-oriented reforms, particularly in the provision of human services like health, education and public safety,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading.
– Andrew Jackson discusses how the rise of right-wing, prejudiced populism can be traced to the failures of global corporate governance. And Dani Rodrik argues that it’s time to develop an international political system to facilitate – rather than overriding – democratic action:
Some simple principles would reorient us in the right direction. First, there is no single way to prosperity. Countries make their own choices about the institutions that suit them best. Some, like Britain, may tolerate, say, greater inequality and financial instability in return for higher growth and more financial innovation. They will opt for lower taxes on capital and more freewheeling financial systems. Others, like Continental European nations, will go for greater equity and financial conservatism. International firms will complain that differences in rules and regulations raise the costs of doing business across borders, but their claims must be traded off against the benefits of diversity.Second, countries have the right to protect their institutional arrangements and safeguard the integrity of their regulations. Financial regulations or labor protections can be circumvented and undermined by moving operations to foreign countries with considerably lower standards. Countries should be able to prevent such “regulatory arbitrage” by placing restrictions on cross-border transactions — just as they can keep out toys or agricultural products that do not meet domestic health standards.…Third, the purpose of international economic negotiations should be to increase domestic policy autonomy, while being mindful of the possible harm to trade partners. The world’s trade regime is driven by a mercantilist logic: You lower your barriers in return for my lowering mine. But lack of openness is no longer the binding constraint on the world economy; lack of democratic legitimacy is.It is time to embrace a different logic, emphasizing the value of policy autonomy. Poor and rich countries alike need greater space for pursuing their objectives. The former need to restructure their economies and promote new industries, and the latter must address domestic concerns over inequality and distributive justice.
– William Lazonick and Matt Hopkins note that already-appalling estimates of the gap between CEOs and other workers may be severely underestimating the problem. And Iglika Ivanova laments British Columbia’s woefully insufficient changes to its minimum wage which will keep large numbers of workers in poverty.
– In one positive development for corporate accountability, Telesur reports that the International Criminal Court is now willing to take jurisdiction over land grabbing, environmental destruction and other corporate crime.
– Harry Stein writes that there are significant economic and social gains to be achieved by better funding social infrastructure.
– Finally, Jeremy Nuttall interviews Robert Fox, the NDP’s new national director, on the plan to building a more activist party – both in the sense of better engaging with existing activists, and developing a culture of ongoing action. And Robin Sears offers a long-term path for the NDP to once again lead Canada toward progressive policies.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.- Matthew Yglesias writes that The Big Short and other stories focused on the financial aspects of the 2008 economic meltdown miss by far the most important part of the picture in the real economic destruction wro…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Martin Whittaker reminds us that the American public is eager for a far more fair distribution of income than the one provided for by the U.S.’ current political and economic ground rules. But Christo Aivalis writes that there’s a difference between a
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