New Report: Return to PST Will Create 12 Million Jobs in BC Alone
I’m happy to announce new findings that show that if BC returns to the old Provincial Sales Tax (PST) following the referendum, probably as many as 12 million jobs will…
Sixth Estate
Thoughts on the Clement Pic and the Parliament Hill Farce
If you haven’t seen it yet, there is no reason to read about the media’s self-created ridiculous prefab controversy over whether corrupt Treasury Board president Tony Clement should or shouldn’t…
Fraser Institute on Poor People’s Health Insurance: “Let Them Eat Cake!”
Yesterday I reported on a new Fraser Institute study by Brett Skinner and Mark Rovere, noting that the existing government drug system does not serve poor people well and claiming…
Fraser Institute Tries New Ethical Disclosure Tack in Bid to Promote Private Healthcare, Fails Miserably
The Fraser Institute’s latest propaganda piece is Access Delayed, Access Denied, an attempt to solve the very real problem of delayed access to important new medications in Canada by bogus…
New Documents: A Record of Abandoned Promises: Election Platforms Since 2000
This week’s Sixth Estate Document Collection update is a record of futile and abandoned promises: the major political parties’ election platforms of the past ten years. Election platforms are not,…
Government of Canada Issues Statement Opposing the Alphabet
Or so I’m forced to conclude from this press release, in which new foreign affairs minister John Baird appears to express surprise and dismay at the “appointment” of North Korea…
Sixth Estate Returns as Conservatives Reward Ridings
I apologize for dropping off the face of the planet over the past week. I’ve been swamped with work on a research contract and, even for crazy left-wing loonies like…
Postmedia Attempts to Spin Asbestos Controversy
Here’s a strategy question for would-be journalists: given that the Mulroney government was pro-asbestos, should you attempt to cover the current asbestos controversy by pointing out that Conservatives have a…
William Watson Says Scrap Public Programs — Even When They Work Well
Sometimes the right-wing columnists which populate our supposedly left-wing mainstream media get truly bizarre. Witness, for instance, today’s asinine free-marketeering in the Ottawa Citizen by William Watson, who offer the…
Harper Cabinet Minister Opposes Asbestos Policy… But Only After He Retires
The declaration by former Harper regime Cabinet minister Chuck Strahl that he agrees the government should list asbestos as a carcinogen is a welcome one, but it’s also a highly…
National Post-Endorsed Journal Recognizes Threat of Climate Change and Sea Level Rise
Last week, the National Post said that the journal Climatic Change was an important and valid source for information on the climate change “scare.” They said this because of literally…
Media Misses New Report from Information Commissioner: Nearly Half of Information Requests Processed Illegally
Appallingly, all but CTV appears to have missed this week’s tabling of the annual report of the Information Commissioner, which makes for disturbing if characteristically dry reading. I’ll admit, I…
When You Don’t Know Your History, You’re Bound to Make Up S@@t
“God give our land a Conservative majority…” Every time I read the press’s lamentable suggestions that left-wing anarchists caused the Vancouver Riot this week (a talking point they loyally picked…
The Rule of Law and the Harper Regime Forced Labor Laws
Apparently what the Conservatives meant by “small government” during this spring’s election was “government so small it can dictate terms of employment to people even when they are not government…
National Post’s “Junk Science” Week Disgraceful
Normally, I’m all for Junk Science critiques. I even do them myself from time to time — when the Government of Canada sees fit to promote homeopathy, for instance. But…
Lobbyist Watch 2: Ministers for Sale
A couple weeks ago I started tracking new registrations by lobbyists, professional political activists who make their living attempting to make sure that politicians and top bureaucrats are at the…
Former Harper Minister Monte Solberg Calls Layton “The Ax-Weilding Loon Who Lives Below”
The Conservatives, at their recent convention Blue Party, apparently played the “media hates us” card, something the Sixth Estate Media Bias Project conclusively disproved last month. More proof arrived today…
Pork Barrel 2: Liberals, Conservatives Come Out Ahead
My last post in this series was published May 30. Since then, there have been 15 new spending announcements on News.gc.ca. Of those, 60% of announcements, but 94% of funding,…