Accidental Deliberations: History repeating

2008, pre-election: Liberal bigwigs make a ridiculous spectacle of themselves proclaiming that they’ll never deign to cooperate with the likes of the NDP. 2008, post-election: Having spent the campaign echoing Stephen Harper’s desperate message that a coalition would be illegitimate, the Liberals conclude that they’re willing to cooperate after all,

Continue reading

The Canadian Progressive: Rehtaeh Parsons: Top Liberal strategist asked Anonymous to intervene

By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: On Friday, hactivist collective Anonymous announced it had a confession from one of the boys who gang-raped Rehtaeh Parsons, the 17-year old Canadian girl who committed suicide last week. Anonymous’ involvement in the case undoubtedly pressured the RCMP, politicians and other authorities to get serious about

Continue reading

Calgary 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 reading

Women in politics: the “squeeze” factor

As any student of Canadian politics knows, Ellen Fairclough was Canada’s first female cabinet minister, appointed by Diefenbaker in 1957 and serving until her defeat as MP for Hamilton West in 1963. I have mixed feelings about Fairclough’s politics: she did good work on the immigration file, but she was

Continue reading