Most people will remember the massive crime against humanity perpetrated by Volkswagen when it used software to hide the amount of noxious emissions its diesel engines were actually spewing out. If you are a little rusty on the details, I posted about it over a year ago. For those who
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Politics and its Discontents: Give Me Your Frightened Masses
Run, children, run, to your polling stations!H/t Theo Moudakis Meanwhile, for those made of sterner stuff, there is an insightful analysis by Larry Kazdan of Vancouver of what should truly frighten all of us: Today’s unemployment rate of 5.5 per cent may be considered “rock bottom,” but unemployment after the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: If This Doesn’t Enrage You
… check for a pulse. Most people, I think, understand that proper taxation is essential to a viable society. All they ask is that the burden be shared equitably. However, the CRA does not appear to share that philosophy of fairness, if the following is any indication: Sometime in the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: In The Realm Of Canadian Political Whoredom
I nominate Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine Mckenna as Queen: And here is what she had to say after news of the Trudeau climate betrayal emerged: Prostitutes are renowned for weaving fantasies. In that regard, McKenna is clearly and most eminently qualified. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Speaking Of Neoliberal Tools
It is never nice to shatter someone’s illusions, but sometimes it is necessary. That is exactly what iPolitics is doing as it reports a not unexpected but nonetheless egregious betrayal of the environment and climate change mitigation as it dawns on our perfidious prime minister that an election is coming
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Nathan Cullen’s Peerless Takedown Of The Hapless Justin Trudeau
Enjoy (or not, depending upon your political/philosophical/environmental orientations): Meanwhile, Star letter-writers offer some much-needed reality checks about Trudeau’s betrayal: Your editorial highlights the political risks in the Justin Trudeau government’s decision to buy the Kinder Morgan pipeline, but there is also a major economic risk involved. If the government had
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Call Him By His Real Name
I hope Justin Trudeau has a vivid imagination and total recall. That way, he can revisit the fall of 2015, depicted above, a time, you may remember, when he was exultant, having won his a majority government after posing as a man who was going to bring Canada into the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Your Neo-liberal Government At Work
Included in the Trudeau sellout is the following: – Prepared to indemnify the project from any financial loss; -Is willing to offer this financial security to any company who wants to build the pipeline, should Kinder Morgan back out; -and, the financial backing must be fair, and beneficial to Canadians.
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Neoliberal Creep – Part 2
While Part 1 dealt with the neoliberal agenda influencing Bill Morneau’s retraction of his pharmacare promise, today’s post deals with that same influence, this time on Canada’s ‘evolving’ position on foreign aid. International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says she wants to use the new $2 billion in extra aid dollars
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Grand Plan of Obfuscation: A Guest Post
In response to Saturday’s post about the increasing momentum of the neoliberal creep evident in the Trudeau government, frequent commentator BM offered his detailed take on this sorry situation: It’s all part of the Grand Plan of Obfuscation. Put in a haphazard system of Pharmacare, so that no citizen knows
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Star Readers Are Not Impressed
Star readers can spot a corrupt policy process when they see one, an acuity they make known as they opine on Bill Morneau’s pharmacare plans: Morneau’s unwise decision to backtrack pharmacare, Walkom, March 2 Every parent knows this: If you aren’t really going to take your kids to the zoo,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Neoliberal Creep – An Update
I’m not sure what I find more offensive. Is it the fact that Bill Morneau, despite all that he has said about his limited vision regarding pharmacare, is apparently lying when he now says he is open to all ideas regarding a national drug-coverage program? Or is it that he
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Neoliberal Creep
The above title epitomizes both the entire Trudeau government and specific high-profile individuals within it, most notably Finance Minister Bill Morneau and International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau. The latter two are using their offices, not to promote the public good, but to do the bidding of their corporate masters. Let’s
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Bill C-27: A Followup
In yesterday’s post, I discussed Linda McQauig’s article about the purpose of Bill C-27, the Trudeau- Morneau pension bill that would eviscerate Defined Benefit Plans for those working for the federal government and those industries that are federally regulated, including the obscenely profitable banking sector. In today’s Star, readers express
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Secret Handshake
In her column in today’s Star (which does not yet appear to be available online), Linda McQuaig points out the remarkable similarities between the government of Justin Trudeau and that of Stephen Harper when it comes to facilitating the erosion of defined benefit pension plans. She observes that as a
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Creep Of Corporatism
Responding to my post on the secret study conducted by the Trudeau government on privatizing our major airports to raise much-needed cash, BM offered the following, which I am featuring as a guest post today: Well, this is the usual way corporatism works. Change a capital investment into an eternal
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Justin’s Secrecy
There will always be those unable to see beyond the obvious when it comes to Justin Trudeau. His sunny smile, his platitudinous assurances that we can have our pipelines and climate change remediation simultaneously, and his opaque insistence upon the necessity of an Infrastructure Bank seem to carry the day
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