Pollsters tell us that Ontario’s New Democrats may double their seat total in next month’s provincial election. It’s also entirely conceivable that they could be part of a coalition government at Queen’s Park. But what’s actually in the party’s election platform? One central feature of the NDP’s proposals is to implement a tax credit for companies that hire new workers. The tax […]
Continue readingTag: Socialism
The Progressive Economics Forum: PSE in Newfoundland and Labrador
Last March, Keith Dunne and I wrote an opinion piece on Danny Williams’ post-secondary education (PSE) legacy in Newfoundland and Labrador. Among other things, we pointed out that average undergraduate tuition fees (for domestic students) in Newfoundland and Labrador are $2,624/yr., compared with $5,138 for Canada as a whole and $6,307 in Ontario. With a provincial election slated to take […]
Continue readingwmtc: what happens to a child who is hungry?
What happens to a child who is hungry?And here’s what I learned: being hungry makes me slow, stupid, and clumsy.It took me about four or five days of not being able to get enough solid food down my throat to come up with the glaringly obvious idea of g…
Continue readingwmtc: mcquaig: lewis’s masterful eulogy a stirring reminder that we will not go quietly
Linda McQuaig’s appraisal of Stephen Lewis’s beautiful eulogy of Jack Layton is worth reading.It will probably be a while before a Canadian prime minister again offers a state funeral to someone on the left.Of course, there aren’t many political lead…
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: Where do Observant Jews and Conservative Christians get their Morals, Theologically Speaking?
Theologically speaking, where do Jews and Conservative Christians get their values?
Continue readingRedBedHead: Jack Layton & Steve Jobs
I’m a tech nerd and a Mac Head, for sure. I have a Macbook Pro and an iPhone and we have an Apple TV. I’m almost embarrassed to say that I’m a little bit excited to see the new iPhone 5/4S and only pushing the limits of my common sense has prevented me…
Continue readingbastard.logic: How Dare Jack Layton Make Canadians Feel Hopeful Again!
by matttbastard David J. Climenhaga, responding to National Post columnist Christie Blatchford’s now-infamous cranky, contrarian reaction to Canada’s outpouring of love and admiration for Socialist cur Taliban Jack Layton (HISSSSSSS!): [T]he offending column is far from the worst piece Blatchford has written, … Continue reading →
Continue readingwmtc: jack layton memorials are more than grief: they’re an affirmation of the ndp’s vision
The enormous outpouring of emotion on Jack Layton’s passing continues unabated. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians are leaving messages and flowers, and making donations to the Broadbent Institute. Millions more are writing tributes online, through NDP…
Continue readingRedBedHead: I Owe Jack Layton $20,000
I’ve been a bit swamped with work in recent days and in my own world, so I was shocked to hear about the passing of Jack Layton. I must admit that it made me misty eyed. I won’t pretend that I agreed with everything Jack stood for but he was a principl…
Continue reading@cityslikr lights @SueAnnLevy up like a pinball machine
(With an apology to pinball machines everywhere.)That @cityslikr fella can be wonderfully succinct sometimes. I retweeted this earlier, but it deserves a whole blog post.Word. If you’re ever curious about why so many of our fellow citizens seem ruled b…
Continue readingwmtc: "we work to buy things that are built to die so that we must work to buy more things that will break"
Two weeks ago, my coffee maker broke. It was a electric percolator (I wrote about my preference for it here), made by Cuisinart. It’s the third such percolator I’ve had in a six-year span. One day they just stop working.I purchased this particular coff…
Continue readingwmtc: austerity: a survival guide
Brian McFadden, New York Times, August 6, 2011. Click to enlarge.
Continue readingRedBedHead: Libertarianism Is Not Paleo
What does supporting wars against people in far off
countries have to do with being paleo?
A couple of years ago I had put on about 20 pounds and was generally feeling pretty crappy. I remembered some pros at the tennis club where I once worked talki…
RedBedHead: Egypt, Revolution & Islamism
Secular protesters retake Tahrir Square after Islamist’s depart. They chant
for a secular state and against the military leadership.
While outside commentators have repeatedly suggested that Egypt’s revolution has stalled or gone backwards, it seem…
RedBedHead: Workers of Egypt: Strike! Occupy! Bring revolution to victory!
This is an awesome leaflet from a section of the Egyptian left on how to drive forward the revolution. It deserves wide distribution and is a taste of the ferment that is going on in Egypt at the moment. From here in Canada it can be hard to really und…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Greece: Bigger Than Lehman Brothers
What a frigging disaster. Back in 2008, the US Federal Reserve let the Lehman Brothers investment bank – which held more than a bellyful of toxic debt, go to the wall. It was meant to bring “calm” to increasingly panicked financial markets. That will p…
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Jack layton Needs to Spend the Summer Taking "Speech" Lessons
Matt Latimer, a former George Bush speechwriter, wrote a book on his experiences at the White House. Speechless: Tales of a White House Survivor.In it he speaks of how excited he was to be hired to write presidential speeches. Pearls of wisdom that wou…
Continue readingRedBedHead: China or Greece: Which Is The Next Lehman Brothers?
Back in 2007, when the US Fed let the 100-year old Lehman Brothers investment bank go belly up, it was like a blasting cap that blew apart the global economy. While there was some recover last year and early into 2011, the global economy – and the econ…
Continue readingthe reeves report: Layton swears allegiance to Marx, vows to crush capitalism: just kidding…
I think before any journalist sits down in front of their computer to write something, they must ask themselves the following question: will what I am about to write constructively improve the dialogue on that topic? Or dig deeper: will it speak rationally to those who disagree with me, and/or passionately to those who may … Continue reading »
Continue readingwmtc: history repeats itself as toronto censors subversive messages in public art
Did the City of Toronto paint over a mural because a figure in it resembled Stephen Harper? Or was the mural eradicated because it bears an anti-capitalist message? Or perhaps a little of both.
In early June, artist Joel Richardson said the City of T…
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