The Crisis of Extreme Capitalism
Our current incarnation of capitalism — variously referred to as savage capitalism, extreme capitalism or euphemistically as the “free market” (free of any constraints) — is in one of its…
Murray Dobbin
The Crisis of Extreme Capitalism
Our current incarnation of capitalism — variously referred to as savage capitalism, extreme capitalism or euphemistically as the “free market” (free of any constraints) — is in one of its…
Reinventing Progressive Politics
We are so accustomed to the connection between political parties and democracy that to question the relationship between the two might seem absurd. But for those who recognize the multiple…
Reinventing Progressive Politics
We are so accustomed to the connection between political parties and democracy that to question the relationship between the two might seem absurd. But for those who recognize the multiple…
BC’s Election Stunner: Five Lessons for the Left
The NDP’s stunning loss in B.C. is being deconstructed, dissected, analyzed and mourned over not only here but across the country. Every pundit and political junkie, including me, thought the…
Justin Trudeau, Boy King
There is no accounting for political judgment when it gets caught up in irrational euphoria. The overwhelming victory of Justin Trudeau in the Liberal Party’s leadership race demonstrates just how…
Brazeau, Harper and Idle No More
The Brazeau affair — sad, repugnant and bizarre all at the same time — shines a light on two aspects of Canadian politics that desperately need some exposure. One is…
2013: The year of the democracy coalition
When historians write the chapter on the current period of social democracy in Canada they might well conclude that the worst thing that happened to it was the 2011 election…
The Power of Idle No More’s Resurgent Radicalism
The remarkable Idle No More movement is the biggest and most important national outpouring of grassroots aboriginal anger ever seen in Canada. Not since the late 1960s when Indians (as…
Time for an Adult Conversation on Taxes
The suggestion that we need to raise taxes in this country has become so taboo in the nation’s politics that even talking about it is seen as tantamount to political…
Is the NDP becoming Liberal Lite?
A couple of polls showing the NDP losing support to the Liberals pose some pretty fundamental questions for the party and its small ‘l’ liberal leader Thomas Mulcair. Does the…
Tax cheaters: Give us back our money
There is a class of people and corporations in this country whose illicit financial practices have an enormous negative impact on the country and its citizens. Yet the law and…
How big ideas become government policy
Thirty-five years ago the policies that now define democratic governance — or rather anti-democratic — in Canada were literally unthinkable. Voluntarily giving up, through reckless tax cuts, hundreds of billions…
Huge Chavez confronts (neo) liberal democracy
There has been much written about the erosion of democracy in Canada under the Liberals but even more egregiously under the Harper Conservatives (and PLEASE don’t call these libertarians “Tories”).…
Justin Trudeau and political amnesia
You would think that federal Liberals would by now have immunized themselves against the affliction that almost did them in: the kind of delusional giddiness at the prospect of a…
CETA: Can Harper’s Trojan horse be stopped?
Stephen Harper’s no-longer-secret agenda to implement a revolution from the right and dismantle Canada has one major impediment that must really stick in his craw. He is constrained in what…
Beyond Harper: Rebuilding community
Of all the appalling abuses of democracy and ruthless dismantling of the country represented by Bill C-38 one stands out of as representative of the right wing dystopia that Stephen…
Time for big ideas: Imagine Canada after Harper
Stephen Harper, too, shall pass into history, recorded as one of the most destructive, personally malignant personalities ever to have soiled the Canadian political landscape. But in the meantime, Canadians…
Expect more from your government
Something is happening in Canada that seems, in the context of a majority Harper government, counter-intuitive. Harper continues implementing his right-wing revolution by fiat, and Preston Manning’s “democracy” institute says…
Mourning Mulcair’s Win
There will be lots of soul searching and head scratching going on this week about what happened with the NDP leadership race. The mechanics of the convention, the interesting lack…