Meaningful Changes or Lipstick on the Pig?
In the unholy rush to jam their Unfair Elections Act through before the majority of Canadians realise just how bad and self-serving piece of legislation it is the Harper regieme…
Rural
Prerequisites for Democratic Legitimacy
Anita Vandenbeld author of an article called ‘Imposing Legitimacy: The Dilemma of International Democratic Development’for LawNow magazine and former director of parliamentary affairs for Jacques Saada, the first minister of…
Winning at All Costs.
I think we are all sick of the win at all cost mentality of our political parties and their leaders, this mentality is not restricted to just the Harper Regime,…
Citizens Protest Unfair Election Act
Many of my reader will be aware that last Tuesday a number of citizens gathered in front of Conservative MP’s Offices across the country to show their opposition to the…
Electoral Integrity of Act Questioned.
When 19 international Scholars from six democracy’s across the world add their voice to the over 150 Canadian scholars and almost universal condemnation of the Harper Regime’s attempt to introduce…
Undemocratic Democratic Reform
Are changes to an electoral system in a democracy valid if they are brought in by a less than democratic process, are they in fact valid if the very ‘independent’…
Harpers Orwellian Regime
Arising from George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four published in 1949 the adjective Orwelliandescribes a totalitarian dystopia characterised by government control and subjugation of the people. Orwell’s invented language, Newspeak, satirises…
Five Years of Frustration
Five years ago this week I started Democracy Under Fire due to concern of the way in which the new Conservative Government was ignoring democratic and parliamentary conventions. This was…
Political Participation and Perception
In their latest report “By Invitation Only:Canadians’ Perceptions of Political Parties”Samara, the measuring democracy people, identified six key roles of political parties’ functions in three main areas. In a survey…
The Undemocratic Election Act
“The things in it that are good could have been so much better, but the things that are bad are unforgivable in a democracy.” Recently Green Party Leader Elizabeth May…
The (UN)Fair Elections Act
As is usual with so many of the Bills proposed by the Harper Regime the ‘Fair’ Elections Act has so many changes buried in the fine print that it is…
The Fair Elections Act
The Conservative government will introduce changes to the Elections Act this week that caucus members expect to restructure the office in charge of investigating violations. “It’s the Fair Elections Act,”…
An Independent Senate – We can but hope!
“I call upon the Prime Minister to publicly commit, as I have today, to be guided in all future Senate appointments by an open, transparent, non-partisan process, and once appointed,…
The War on Information Continues.
It has been revealed that in addition to the‘consolidation’ of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans libraries, where reports say that despite assurances that much of the material would be…
Best of Both Worlds
A guest article by Jared Milne. Politically, 2013 wasn’t much different than previous years. In Toronto, Rob Ford accused his opponents of wanting to keep the “gravy train” going, while…
Response to Minister of Democratic Reform
Just two days before Christmas the GPC received a letter requesting a response on their ideas for electoral reform to be received before Jan 4th. The timing of the letter…
Ministry of Propaganda and Disinformation
On Thursday the Prime Minister’s Office posted Thursday episode 1 of what it calls “24 Seven” — a weekly roundup of Harper’s events and announcements, and those of his government.…
Silence of the Labs
Silence of the Labs is the title given to the Fifth Estate presentation coming up on CBC this Friday which anyone concerned with the future of Canadian scientific research, indeed…
2014 – The year we ‘loose’ our democracy?
Whilst some say that it is already gone and that we are being subject to an Oligarchy well on its way to a Dictatorship, a view that I find it…
Quantity not Quality
Quantity not Quality is apparently the Harper regimes measure of ‘success’ Mr. Van Loan recently extolled the virtues of the 34-day fall session, which started late because of prorogation and…