I really don’t think it is a stretch to say that only a conservative could come up with something this brazenly evil and stupid and then try to sell it as a way to save taxpayers’ money. That it is a member of the Canadian senate proposing it just proves
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Canadian Progressive World: Occupy Ottawa to protest Crime Bill C-10 on Parliament Hill
Hundreds of activists are expected on Parliament Hill at noon on Tuesday, January 31, to protest the Harper Conservative government’s widely condemned omnibus crime Bill C-10. The protest is being organized by the Political Action …Read More
Continue readingOccupy Ottawa: Occupy Ottawa to protest Crime Bill C-10 on Parliament Hill
Hundreds of activists are expected on Parliament Hill at noon on Tuesday, January 31, to protest the Harper Conservative government’s widely condemned omnibus crime Bill C-10. The protest is being organized by the Political Action …Read More
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: State of the Canadian Union
When Americans want to know the direction their country is taking they watch their President’s State of the Union address. When Canadians want to know the direction their country is taking they should look at how many of them watched that same address. Last night when Barack Obama spoke to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: November 22, 2011
Tuesday, November 22 saw the Cons’ refusal to debate their own government bills reach absurd levels, as Con MPs spent more time arguing against a single opposition private member’s bill than they did defending some of their supposed key priorities. The Big Issue But then, one can hardly blame the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Stephen Maher and Barbara Yaffe have learned to be duly skeptical of the Cons’ motives when it comes to Senate patronage. But John Ibbitson still has a ways to go – as he’s apparently still buying Con spin about new provinces holding
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to end your weekend. – Chris Selley rightly points out that for all the damage the Cons can do in a term of majority government, we shouldn’t overstate how much of it is irreversible. And more importantly, while it’s well worth putting time and effort into defending the
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Less Liberal, Less Canadian
In 2006 Howard Dean spoke at the Liberal Leadership convention. In 2008 many Liberal organizers went to the United States and worked for the Democrats. In that same year many Liberals attempted to draw similarities between Liberal Leadership candidate and longtime American resident Michael Ignatieff with Barack Obama. In 2009
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Why Canadians Want The Worst Politics Of America
Canadians would support our own political institutions if we didn’t idealize worse ones. The last few years have offered an incredible contrast in politics between what interests Canadians and what is best for Canadians. In looking at what has attracted support recently it is undeniably clear that pervasive American values
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Links and Policy Roundup 3
Assorted policy and punditry from the NDP leadership campaign. – On the policy front, it’s looking like time to give Nathan Cullen full credit for being well ahead of the pack with a well-rounded and detailed set of policies. I missed his democratic reform proposal in my last policy roundup
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: November 14, 2011
Monday, November 14 saw MPs return to the House of Commons from a week’s break. But if anybody thought the time away would lead to less contentious debate, the day instead saw one of the more fundamental debates we can expect to see out of our elected officials – with
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On top priorities
I’ve already linked to Postmedia’s story setting out Brian Topp’s first set of democratic reform priorities. But let’s take a look at a couple of the proposals in a bit more detail. To start off, I’m not sure anybody else has pointed out the significance of Topp’s plan to “introduce
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Quote of the year: “We are the 99 per cent”
Fred Shapiro, associate librarian at Yale Law School has declared “We are the 99 per cent”, the political slogan of the Global Occupy movement, the heavy weight champ of the quotes for 2011. It’s another unavoidable …Read More
Continue readingImpolitical: High times in Canadian politics
This quote from a Liberal Senator goes to a key question with this government: Liberal Senator Robert Peterson said he thinks the closure motion was brought in because the Tories feared an extended debate over the court ruling. But he saw no practical way to derail the bill. “If they’re
Continue readingAlex's Blog: A Bad Day: What Now?
C10, the omnibus crime bill, passed third reading and is now over to the Senate for what is supposed to be sober second thought. The vote could only have been a depressing anticlimax for the many Canadians who were fighting to stop or amend this legislation. And the implacable inevitability
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Greg Weston nicely chronicles Peter MacKay’s flat-out lies about how he came to take a $30,000 helicopter ride. And while Weston despairs about the likelihood that MacKay will pay any price, he does point out why we shouldn’t accept anything less: Few things
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On political efficiencies
Susan Delacourt rightly points out a trend toward limiting or even reducing the number of elected representatives as a means of cutting costs. But it’s hard to escape pointing out the obvious opportunity for what should be more obvious savings on the federal level: wouldn’t it make more sense to
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Senate Hearing Confirms Natural Gas Export Plans Will Raise Prices For Americans
RonWydenLNGhearing-300×188.jpg Considering the rate at which natural gas resources are being developed, and the sudden push from industry to export the product, it might come as a surprise that the Senate’s Energy Committee hadn’t had a hearing on liquified natural gas (LNG) since 2005. Last Tuesday, for the first time in
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: New Lake Michigan Coal Ash Spill Raises Old Concerns
coal ash spill.jpg
On Monday, a bluff surrounding a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based power plant collapsed, sending a cascade of debris and coal ash waste from the power plant into Lake Michigan. No in…
Continue readingBlunt Objects: Senate Committees: How The Other Place Can Redeem Itself
I’m watching a very interesting Senate committee with two admirals from the Canadian Forces, talking about the capacity and organization, as well as the future mandate of, the Reserve Forces, especially given the winding-down of the Afghanistan mission…
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