While I wrote today’s column before word came out about the Harper Cons’ meddling in the negotiations between Canada Post and CUPW, it looks like the Cons’ desire to provoke a war with workers extended even further than I’d thought – including through …
Continue readingTag: stephen harper
Accidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, expanding on the hostile labour environment that’s developing as federal and provincial governments alike use back-to-work legislation as a pre-emptive attack on workers. For further reading (which should be familiar to those who read the blog re…
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Conservatives give away Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd and pay the new owners $60 million
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. sold to SNC-Lavalin Group for $15 million – Winnipeg Free PressYesterday, the federal government sold crown corporation, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., to the Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin Group. The price tag was $15 million. …
Continue readingArt Threat: Toronto theatre fest gets funding pulled – A conversation with Artistic Producer Michael Rubenfeld
Toronto’s indie theatre festival SummerWorks has recently reported that core funding from Heritage Canada has been pulled at the last minute. Given the ire the festival drew from the government over last year’s play about terrorism in Canada, those of us working in the arts are feeling a sudden chill in the collective national room. […]
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: CUPW will challenge the back-to-work legislation
Canada Post union to challenge back-to-work legislation in court – thestar.comAs I was pointing out, the legislation is illegal, and the union is going to challenge it in court. Now the decision will depend on if Harper has stacked the Supreme Court wi…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: the Real News Asks Some Important Questions About The G20 Secret Law
Although hardly the best interview I have seen, the following is worth viewing inasmuch it raises real questions about credibility regarding who the driving force was behind requesting the Public Works Protection Act invoked during the G20 Summit. Was …
Continue readingDid John Lennon Sell Out Before His Death?
At the time of his death, apparently so. According to his personal assistant, Fred Seaman, Lennon was a ‘closet’ Rethuglican and fan of Ronald Ray-gun. Mr. Seaman also says that Lennon was also a tad embarrassed over his ‘former radicalism’ and apparently, in 79 and 80, not the same guy who wrote “Imagine”. . . . → Read More: Did John Lennon Sell Out Before His Death?
Continue readingRedBedHead: Finance Minister Jim Flaherty Is An Asshole
Hey, sometimes you want to be all intellectual and stuff; analyze underlying trend and put it in its proper context to provoke scholarly debate. But some shit just deserves to be called by its regular name.This guy was all for spending $1 billion on a …
Continue readingRedBedHead: The Tories Sneaky Social Engineering
I often thought that the right wing canard directed against the left that we were interested in “social engineering” was one of the more banal and pathetic insults that they tossed around. It presumed a “natural” state of human nature, any deviation fr…
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Alberta Conservative MP takes surprising swipe at Canada Post back-to-work law
Your blogger with Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber, in agreement for once … sort of.With locked-out postal workers being forced back to their jobs last night by the Harper Conservatives, I was surprised and interested to learn that Brent Rathge…
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 readingHow Bill C-6 Can Set a Dangerous Precedent For All Working Canadians, Including Non-Unionized Workers
Assuming Stevie Spiteful stays in power, that is, and after watching both the NDP and the Liberals, this week-end, along with Stevie Spiteful’s spin machine in his media, it looks like it could well be for a very, very long time to come. Only a very sleep deprived Lizzy May seemed to have . . . → Read More: How Bill C-6 Can Set a Dangerous Precedent For All Working Canadians, Including Non-Unionized Workers
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Kept on track
Impolitical rightly points out that the Harper Cons are well on their way to implementing every single odious policy that was rightly labeled as unacceptable overreach when included in Deficit Jim Flaherty’s 2008 fiscal update. Now if only somebody had…
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: It’s Not About the Life Jackets Dammit
Chris Selley writes a column for the National Post this week about mandatory life jackets, coming soon to a lake near you.He brings up a story in the Toronto Star two years ago, suggesting that mandatory life jackets might not be a bad thing, given the…
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Trust us, says Wildrose Alliance Leader Danielle Smith… uh… that’s it
Wildrose Alliance supporters form a line as they wait to rejoin the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. Some will make the trip several times, carrying bags of votes and money. Actual Alberta Tory voters may not be exactly as illustrated. Below:…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On private opportunities
Last week, I noted that the Harper Cons’ generally opaque austerity plans include one cause for alarm, as they’re looking to turn public services into sources of corporate profit. And via Digby, the L.A. Times offers an example of how that type of stra…
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: The Conrad Chronicle continues: Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Then go to Canada and make a nuisance of yourself…
Go directly to jail! Former Canadian press barons convicted of criminal offences in allied democracies may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The actual Lord Black, mugged.Amid all the courtroom histrionics yesterday when Chicago Judge Amy St. E…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On self-defeating strategies
I’ve made the point when it comes to other issues. But apparently there’s a need to make a more general statement for the benefit of the Libs. So here goes:You won’t find an inch of viable political ground by proposing right-wing policies that Stephen …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week.- Plenty of observers have noted the Cons’ complete lack of a reasonable explanation for standing in the way of a global consensus to at least ensure that asbestos is accurately labeled as a hazardous substance. But yo…
Continue readingStevie Spends La Fete Nationale In, You Guessed It! Thetford Mines! Heart of Cancer Industries!
Yep! Stevie is celebrating that the folks around l’Arrondissement de l’Amiante can all rest easy so they can now continue to get cancer and sell cancer for profit! Yay! Chrissy! Stevie! Ain’t that special? Stevie and Chrissy saved their precious chrysotile asbestos from the big bad Rotterdam Convention, yet again. Three cheers . . . → Read More: Stevie Spends La Fete Nationale In, You Guessed It! Thetford Mines! Heart of Cancer Industries!
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