I haven’t written much myself on the NDP’s relationship to the growing casserole protest movement (which in recent weeks has expanded well beyond its Quebec origins). But I’ll take some time to highlight a few key points. First of all, the themes behind the protest represent almost a perfect match
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Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Erika Shaker points out how Quebec’s student protests are a natural and justified reaction to the policy choice to saddle young workers with debt: (T)he effects of student debt are not exactly “character building”. Postponement of owning a home or starting a family.
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Harper Conservative response to NDP seems delusional – and apparently ineffective
The Conservative Party’s Parliamentary brain trust figures out how to respond to Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair during Question Period. Below: Nik Nanos. No one should be particularly shocked that yelps of protest by western premiers and Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in Ottawa have failed to dent support for the
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: May Another Man Win
The Libs have decided to let Bob Rae run for the LPoC leadership. Which is OK by me because I basically think he’s served the party well, is not some kind of 5th columnist and etc., and really ought to be treated fairly and with respect. I also don’t think
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: The Harper Phenomenon is explained to Perfesser Dave
Perfesser Dave, left, with W. L. “Willy” Mackenzie King, centre, and Pat, right. Some Canadian prime ministers are exactly as illustrated. Below: Several shots of Willy and Pat. Some stories are just too complicated for ordinary bloggers to explain. That’s when we turn to the expert knowledge offered by Perfesser
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Lana Payne weighs in on the Cons’ goal of reducing wages for Canadian workers: As an economist, Stephen Harper must know what his government’s changes to employment insurance (EI), the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), the elimination of the Fair Wage Act
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Lee Richardson: Alberta Ambassador to the Mulcair Government? Or what?
Alberta Premier Alison Redford speaks with Principal Secretary Lee Richardson while Chief of Staff Farouk Adatia looks on. Alberta officials, elected and not so elected, may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Mr. Richardson and Mr. Adatia. So what exactly is a principal secretary, anyway? And why does Alberta Premier
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Calgary Centre By-Election
As David Wilks reminded us last week, Conservative backbenchers are “not going to make a difference”. So it’s not at all surprising that Lee Richardson has turned his back on Ottawa to take a job as Alison Redford’s principal secretary. This gives Stephen Harper six months to call a by-election
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Since the Cons don’t seem to have much else in their quiver at the moment, I’m sure they’ll keep trying to pretend that it’s monstrous of Thomas Mulcair to suggest that all industries (including those in Alberta) pay the cost of their real
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alison redford attends the bilderberg. thomas mulcair visits the oilsands.
Tweet Premier Alison Redford is attending the 2012 Bilderberg Group conference. There are no shortage of internet conspiracy theories about the mysterious Bilderberg Group conference, but now Alberta Premier Alison Redford will know the truth about the invite-only private annual meeting of the world’s top neo-liberal financial, business, and political
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Thomas Walkom makes the point that the hysterical response from Brad Wall and others can’t mask the fact that Thomas Mulcair is right in his analysis of the effect of a high, resource-driven dollar: Mulcair’s solution is hardly radical. He argues that
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: When The Left Is Right
Although one wouldn’t know it by listening to the predictable, hysterical, and politically-motivated campaign Harper Inc. is mounting against Thomas Mulcair for his ‘Dutch disease’ comments, there is a growing view amongst analysts and think tanks that the NDP leader is correct to an extent in his assessments of the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On trade-offs
Much of the recent discussion as to how to develop a strong and sustainable Canadian economy has included absolutely no challenge to the theory that natural resource development is somehow a driver of increased jobs. So let’s take a closer look at the relative economic contributions of the natural resource
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Thomas Walkom criticizes the Cons’ war on labour at the federal level – though John Ivison notes that the Cons’ habit of interfering in every federal labour dispute looks to help the NDP all the more. And Pat Atkinson worries that the Sask
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Casseroles Night in Canada: Working its way into our consciousness with no media help
A scene from the casseroles video by Montreal videographer Jeremie Battaglia that has gone viral worldwide, telling the story of Quebec’s dignified and powerful protest as the Western Canadian media refuses to do. It is still largely unmentioned and unseen here in the West. If tonight is “Casseroles Night in
Continue readingTattered Sleeve: The Inconvenient Truth about Thomas Mulcair’s "Four-Car" Garage Swiftboating
So my dad and “Tom” (Thomas Mulcair) met up at Briarwood Park in Beaconsfield the other day. Yeah, really. Two grandfathers laughing it up with a couple of toddlers. They didn’t know each other beforehand, but my dad can still spot a pol with a national profile, and the wily
Continue readingTattered Sleeve: The Inconvenient Truth about Thomas Mulcair’s "Four-Car" Garage Swiftboating
So my dad and “Tom” (Thomas Mulcair) met up at Briarwood Park in Beaconsfield the other day. Yeah, really. Two grandfathers laughing it up with a couple of toddlers. They didn’t know each other beforehand, but my dad can still spot a pol with a nationa…
Continue readingTattered Sleeve: The Inconvenient Truth about Thomas Mulcair’s "Four-Car" Garage Swiftboating
So my dad and “Tom” (Thomas Mulcair) met up at Briarwood Park in Beaconsfield the other day. Yeah, really. Two grandfathers laughing it up with a couple of toddlers. They didn’t know each other beforehand, but my dad can still spot a pol with a national profile, and the wily
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Thomas Mulcair: Wastrel or Canny Investor?
Given the widespread support that the the NDP Leader of the The Official Opposition is enjoying these days, it is hardly surprising to see a public campaign to erode that support getting underway. The latest, of course, is the non-story of Thomas Mulcair remortgaging his house 11 times; as the
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: The Next Wave Of Tory Ads?
It has also been rumoured that the Tories are going to be going on an advertising blitz which will promote the benefits of the oil sands to the rest of the country. Spending Ontario, Que, and B.C. money to tell us all why we should have Alta. pipelines shoved down
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