Conservative-appointed Senator Patrick Brazeau Early this morning, Harper-appointed Senator Patrick Brazeau was expelled from the Conservative Caucus after being taking into police custody. Rumours are circulating about charges of domestic abuse, but nothing is entirely confused. This did not surprise most Canadians who were already familiar with Brazeau. He’s had
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The Canadian Progressive: US Immigration Reform Should Uphold Rights: Human Rights Watch
White House, Senate Proposals a Good Start by Human Rights Watch, Feb. 1, 2013 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The US government should urgently reform its unfair immigration system to uphold the basic rights of non-citizens and provide a path to legal status for the country’s unauthorized immigrants, Human Rights Watch said in a policy briefing
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday morning reading. – Sixth Estate is the latest to weigh in on Statistics Canada’s findings about inequality: Progressive taxes are based on the idea that the more money you earn, the more you spend on unnecessary luxuries. Poor people therefore have very low tax rates
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Sex and the Senate
Winston Churchill is credited with an exchange that when adapted illustrates, not only the similarities between prostitution and politics, but current inconsistencies in the popular view of our Canadian government. Churchill: “Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds?” Socialite: “My goodness, Mr. Churchill… Well, I suppose… we
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on the danger that Stephen Harper’s long-term plan for Canada includes unelected Senators taking a page out of the Republicans’ obstructionist playbook to keep elected officials from doing their jobs. For further reading, see Charles Pierce and Michael Cohen on the Republicans’ destructive template. And I’ve previously pointed out
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Idle No More: Canadian Citizen Writes to the Governor General
A Canadian citizen writes to the Governor General, declaring fierce opposition to numerous pieces of legislation recently passed by the Harper Government. The bills the writer has issue with seek to further exploit, disempower, control and marginalize First Nations. They include Bill C-45, which is at the heart of both the
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: U.S.: Cutting through the indefinite detention and NDAA controversy
by Cora Currier | ProPublica: Last Tuesday, the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, a yearly military spending bill. Last year, the bill affirmed the U.S.’s authority to hold suspected terrorists indefinitely and without charges. The provision had generated plenty of controversy, particularly about whether U.S. citizens could be detained indefinitely. This year, the Senate bill says that citizens
Continue readingCanadian Progressive: Conservative Senator Mike Duffy’s $33,000 allowance is daylight robbery
Senator Mike Duffy has reportedly claimed more than $33,000 in “living allowances intended to defray senators’ costs of maintaining a second home in the National Capital Region”. The trouble is: the Conservative senator and Harper appointee has been an Ottawa resident since the 1970s. He has a home in Kanata, a
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: America’s Broken Senate
There might not be a more persuasive argument against an elected senate than the American example. From filibustering to partisan deadlock to disproportionate representation, this broken institution south of our border is largely responsible for the lo…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- David Macdonald takes a closer look at a Fraser Institute study on income mobility, and finds strong evidence that there’s a significant lack of mobility at both the bottom and the top of Canada’s inco…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On executive decisions
My post yesterday on the Senate’s choice to remind Canadians of its existence by blocking a bill passed by the House of Commons has sparked plenty of discussion. But I’ll highlight one of the more stunning arguments being made in favour of the Senate’s…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On bad bets
It’s been glaringly obvious to those of us paying attention that the Cons have set up plenty of means to keep dictating the terms of Canadian politics from beyond the political grave – with the most obvious being their continued stacking of the Senate …
Continue readingTrashy's World: Yes, there are wackos on the left as well as the right, but…
… those on the right sure as hell seem to be coming out of the woodwork more often these days. We in Canada have the pride of Saskatchewan, Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott who thinks that rewarding and praising women who are clearly part of the lunatic fringe and even more
Continue readingLeft Over: Shaking Hands with the Devil You Think You Know….
While the Cons huff and puff and try to simply blow our House of Parliament down, let me play devil’s advocate here and rant about something that no one else (that I’ve been aware of) seems to be mentioning, in all the foofaraw about increasing the golden handshake contributions…
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: An Open Letter to Stephen Harper Regarding Senate Reform
Dear Prime Minister Stephen Harper: I am writing today in response to reports that you will seek a Supreme Court reference on the constitutionality of your proposals for Senate reform. In a way, I can understand this. You would like clarity on a politically tricky issue, one that would otherwise
Continue readingeaves.ca: What do I think of the Canadian Senate?
Read Jennifer Ditchburn in the Globe and Mail – Senate stubborn on making information about chamber more accessible. It is laughable about how hard the Canadian Senate makes it to access information about it. The lower house – which has made good progress in the last few years on this
Continue readingTrashy's World: This is one instance…
… where I support the stance of the NDP – abolish the Senate. Or at least gut it and start over. I say this not only in the context of the Senator Brazeau attendance controversy, but does anyone seriously believe that the Senate has become anything more than a soft
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Canada’s Worst Senator Patrick Brazeau Disappears From Twitter
No comment yet from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who appointed Brazeau to the Senate in 2008. On Wednesday, I blogged about the Conservative Senator, who called Canadian Press reporter Jennifer Ditchburn a “bitch” on Twitter. Senator Brazeau was mad that the reporter had highlighted his poor performance record in Canada’s appointed
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Worst Canadian in The World: Senator Patrick Brazeau
Meet Patrick Brazeau (pictured), the sexist Canadian senator who called Ottawa-based reporter, Jennifer Ditchburn, a bitch yesterday. Her crime: she’d done her job by highlighting his poor attendance record in Canada’s appointed upper house of Parliament. He immediately issued a “reluctant” apology. Why did Brazeau call the reporter a bitch?
Continue readingIn defence of 14-year-old girls
So it was that MP Charlie Angus, the NDP’s self-appointed guardian of civility, has declared that Twitter has “turned us all into 14-year-olds in a cafeteria” where “[e]verybody gets to be a Grade 9 girl.” Yesterday’s context, of course, was Patrick Brazeau’s calling reporter Jen Ditchburn a “bitch” because she
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