“(In)visible Dialogue”. Installation by Wang King Road. 2011. Wikipedia Commons. (This post was written by Alex and Jordan Himelfarb; an abridged version appeared in the Star here.) We don’t like paying taxes. This is not big news: we don’t much like paying any bills, and there’s probably never been a
Continue readingTag: Stephane Dion
Alex's Blog: Canada’s Dangerously Distorted Tax Conversation
“(In)visible Dialogue”. Installation by Wang King Road. 2011. Wikipedia Commons. (This post was written by Alex and Jordan Himelfarb; an abridged version appeared in the Star here.) We don’t like paying taxes. This is not big news: we don’t much like paying any bills, and there’s probably never been a
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Longtime NDP MLA Corky Evans On Todays BC NDP
Richard Hub Hughes-Political Blogger The BC Liberals scored a surprise upset and were re-elected as the government of BC on May 14th, 2013 Since that time members, supporters and pundits along with some current and former MLA’s have been speaking up questioning the so called middle of the road positioning,
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Stéphane Dion: Let our MPs take a pocketful of votes to Parliament
A pocketful of votes Dion gave an interesting talk at Joyce Murray’s meeting in Vancouver this morning, dealing with the different kinds of electoral reform that we could adopt. One new idea that he dropped on the table is interesting, and, I believe, novel: that our MPs votes in Parliament
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Normalizing secrecy
I haven’t commented yet on the story surrounding Tom Mulcair’s request for basic investigation into back-channel information between the Trudeau government and the Supreme Court of Canada – which seems best classified as a minor but reasonable request which has been blown out of proportion. But I’ll take a moment
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Justin Trudeau: Too Sexy For His Shirt, Too Sexy For Canada?
The only thing more predictable than Justin Trudeau’s win in the Liberal leadership race was that it would be followed by Conservative attack ads. For those curious what the sequel to “Not a Leader” and “Just Visiting” would look like, the wait is over: It should come as no surprise
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Rae’s Day
Every political commentator loves to say “timing is everything in politics”, and every Canadian political commentator loves to say that Bob Rae never had good timing. He had the misfortune of becoming Premier before he was ready to govern, and had the misfortune of governing during a recession. His “second
Continue readingThe Adventures of Diva Rachel: Buh-bye Mark Carney, So Long Ethnic-Friendly Promises -OR- Proof Carney Behaves Like a Liberal
Yesterday, it was announced that Bank of Canada boss Mark Carney was leaving his position at the head of Canada’s central bank for a position across the pond. This came after much speculation as to whether Carney would ascend to the political arena. There was some fodder as to which
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Canada’s Greatest Losers
Last week, Martha Hall Findlay and Karen McCrimmon declared their candidacies for the Liberal leadership race. This week, George Takach has taken the plunge. I’ve posted one blog interview with David Merner, and will have others with David Bertschi and Alex Burton next week. Deborah Coyne, meanwhile, has already released more fresh ideas than we’ve seen from Stephen Harper during his entire tenure as Prime Minister. These are seven very different candidates with seven very different messages, but the one … →
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Newsflash: Canadian PM’s American Idol supports Stephane Dion-esque carbon tax shift
Note: for non-Canadian readers (or, indeed for Canadian readers who don’t follow politics) Stephane Dion was the milquetoast who led the Liberal Party of Canada to its then-worst-ever federal election result in 2008. He ran on a campaign of a carbon tax shift (“The Green Shift“), for which the Conservative Party mocked and savaged him. We’ll […]
The Equivocator: The PHP Liberals are hosting an Oxford Style Debate on Electoral Reform on November 15th
When?: Thursday, November 15th, 2012. 7pm – 9pm Where?: Bishop Marrocco-Thomas Merton (1515 Bloor St W, Toronto) Who?: Hosted by the Parkdale–High Park Federal Liberal Riding Association and Fair Vote Canada. The motion: “Be It Resolved That Canada Should Adopt … Continue reading →
Calgary Grit: Charest’s Loss May Be Harper’s Gain
It was hard for Harper to say no to “the most federalist Premier in my lifetime”…and the one man who laughed at his jokes. Although the federal leaders executed Cirque Du Soleil worthy backflips to stay out of the Quebec election, the repercussions of this vote will be far reaching.
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: what happens after prime minister harper? prime minister redford? prime minister mulcair?
TweetWith the start of Stampede season came the latest round of gossip and predictions about what the future might hold for Calgary MLA and Alberta’s Premier Alison Redford. Earlier this week in a column in the Edmonton Journal, Graham Thomson speculated that Premier Redford’s next political challenge could be the
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Politics ain’t beanbag: Stephen Harper is attacking the most vulnerable Canadians
Politics ain’t beanbag, people, and it’s not NERF ball either. But Liberal leaders Michael Ignatieff and Stephane Dion both played it that way, so it was easy for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Reform Party bullyboys to walk all over them. As for Paul Martin, that guy’s own Liberal
Continue readingAlberta Diary: How far will Prime Minister Stephen Harper go with separatists to hang onto power?
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, left, with Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois … or something very much like that. The politicians pictured above may not be exactly as illustrated in real life. Below: Thomas Mulcair, Jack Layton. Now that our sullen neo-conservative prime minister is on speaking terms once again with
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: Great event with Stephane Dion in Toronto on Saturday
If you’re in Toronto on Saturday (May 26th) this is where you should be, as the Edward Blake Society presents a pub night and discussion on Canadian democracy and reform with former Liberal leader (and still number one in my heart) Stephane Dion. It begins at 6pm at Pauper’s Pub,
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The McCarthyite Cons and the Dutch Disease
OK. So I was wrong. When Christy Clark became the latest Con stooge to denounce Thomas Mulcair, for simply pointing out that the Dutch Disease is killing our manufacturing sector, I said it could only mean one thing. Big Oil and its Con puppets were scraping the bottom of the
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Stephane Dion’s Shiny New Voting System
Did I read that right? Did Stephane Dion, former head of the Liberal Party of Canada, just come out in favour of proportional representation? Better late than never! Well, that’s not entirely fair. Dion has shown a willingness to consider electoral reform in the past, as he did by backing
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: Liberals need to rethink their Quebec approach
Since the election of former Quebec cabinet minister Thomas “Tom” Mulcair as leader of the NDP last month, much attention has been paid to the political situation in Quebec and the consensus seems to be the Liberals are screwed in the province. Consolidating NDP gains in Quebec is certainly a
Continue readingcenterandleft: Mulcair’s Center Squeeze
Most New Democrats – probably all New Democrats – genuinely dislike Steven Harper. With good reason, he’s muzzled scientists, bullied unions, abandoned the impoverished, given tax breaks to the largest corporations, all things that stir up democratic socialists. Yet, their newly minted leader was not only represented the Quebec Liberal Party in the Quebec National […]