Justin Trudeau has proclaimed Canada the “first post-national state.” In fact, we’re not the first country to be smeared with that label. In fact we may be the last. Justin’s world view is hopelessly outdated. …one of the paradoxes of globalization has been that, as cross-border travel, migration, and trade
Continue readingTag: Trudeau
Babel-on-the-Bay: “Well here’s another nice mess, Ollie!”
Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are probably too young to remember the 1920s to 1950s Hollywood comedy team of Laurel and Hardy but they seem to have a comparable act. It was Monsef’s turn on Thursday to dismiss the work of her own committee on
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: An Impassioned Plea to Tear Down the Walls of Inequality from Stephen Hawking.
The neoliberals who have driven the western world into the ditch over the past three decades need to decide whether to rehabilitate liberal democracy or allow themselves to be erased from memory by generations of strongman rule. Yeah, Justin – you too. First up, theoretical physicist extraordinaire, Stephen Hawking. In
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: This Is Trudeau’s Idea of a Bitumen Supertanker Route
“In this recent government-commissioned risk-analysis report on tanker traffic safety in Canada, figure 3 shows in vivid red the “very high risk zone on Southern Vancouver Island. Within that area lie 17 of the province’s 33 Ecological Reserves which have a marine component within their boundaries. The report indicates that
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Monbiot Tackles Neoliberalism’s Death Grip on the West
Neoliberalism has been the default operating system of western governments, Canada included, since it was ushered in during the Thatcher/Reagan/Mulroney era. Justin Trudeau is a neoliberal as were his predecessors over the last three decades. Canada remains in the clutches of neoliberalism and no one, no leader, no party is
Continue readingPop The Stack: Don’t Throw Away Our Shot
For the first time, we find ourselves not as a reflection of another power. Our politics is not a derivation of Westminster or Washington anymore. Our politics is specific to us, not a derivation from a distant metropolis. — “Canada in the Age of Donald Trump” — Stephen Marche, The
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Encouraging Noises from the Dauphin
He’s saying some of the right things. It’s a start. Prime minister Trudeau has announced a 5-year, 1.5 billion dollar programme to upgrade responses to tanker and oil spills on all three of our coasts. Trudeau said the funding over five years will include creating a marine safety system, restoring
Continue readingMichal Rozworski: Trudeau’s economic model is clear and it is not good
Last week gave us a good idea of the economic model that Trudeau’s Liberals are gradually putting forward and it is business-friendly to the core. The infrastructure bank privatization scheme was the big news item in the fall fiscal upate (see my post from last week), but there are far
Continue readingMichal Rozworski: The great rentier give-away
With today’s fiscal update, the Trudeau government has really shown itself to be at the forefront of global left neoliberalism. Taking nearly all his cues from his business-dominated Advisory Council on Economic Growth, the Finance Minister announced a new Canada Infrastructure Bank as the centerpiece of the fiscal update and the Liberal’s economic
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The silence of Trudeau’s lambs.
You wonder what a writer such as Thomas Harris (The Silence of the Lambs) would make of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s most recent elitist appointments to the Senate of Canada. What is really different in this circumstance is that these people are reported to have actually applied to be appointed.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trudeau tests veto on vote reform.
This scenario has taken place before. He does it in Quebec thinking nobody in the rest of Canada is going to hear about it. Justin Trudeau is hardly the first politician to test the waters before diving into the deep end of the pool. In this case the prime minister
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What’s in it for us?
That is not a selfish question. It came up the other day when reading another boring presentation to the House of Commons special committee on electoral reform. “What is in it for us” is likely to be the cri de coeur of Canadians when they see what the months of
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The one shouting loudest tells the truth.
What? You do not believe that? Why just the other day, we received a large envelope from the Liberal Party of Canada. In big capitol letters across one side of the mailing were the words “Transparent. Open.” and “Real.” And if you believed that you were deluding yourself. Inside the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Patience: Elites at work.
It seems we might be seeing more of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s elitist senate. A committee of senators think they should have their own television channel. It is just a recommendation at the moment but you never know with these things. After all, who would have believed a TV channel
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: How green is my gas?
There has been another example of how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau can suck and blow at the same time. It took three federal cabinet members to burst the environmental bubble in B.C. They travelled from Ottawa unnecessarily to provide word that the government would allow the building of a gas
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Oh, what wimps these Liberals be!
This would have run sooner if we had not written the weekend’s commentaries earlier last week. Have these Liberals learned nothing from watching former Prime Minister Harper over the years? Those hypocrites on the Conservative benches ridiculed the new and experimental House Leader who gamely tried to stick her fingers in the dike. The neophyte […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What does electoral reform solve?
With one of the least experienced ministers in the government responsible for democratic institutions, you sometimes wonder what this special committee on electoral reform is supposed to solve. It seems to be a distraction. If there was a list prepared of the 100 most serious problems facing Canada’s democracy, it is likely that how we […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Watching the Prime Minister suck and blow.
One of these days, our dear prime minister is going to have to make some decisions. Watching him doing selfies while trying for an even higher approval rating is getting boring. Some time, soon, he will have to take a stand. There are too many moves on hold. It is best exemplified by the pipelines […]
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Murder for $10,000
“How does a person charged with murder get bail for $10,000?” There are some people in Saskatchewan who think* like this: ““In my mind his only mistake was leaving witnesses,” is one troubling post that appeared online. ” *Racism is not thinking, it’s a feeling like fear and anger. He’s another theory about the bail. […]
Babel-on-the-Bay: Who owns this party anyway?
It has always seemed a Canute-like task of denying the tides to defend the Liberal Party. There just seem to be too many of the elements aligned against us. A party leader can work at destroying his or her party on whims and the rest of us are left with the pieces on which to […]
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