A short thought
Harper really needs to stay away from sporting events.
Canadian Politics
If the Prime Minister Wants Accountable Healthcare, let’s make it Transparent too
Over at the Beyond the Commons blog Aaron Wherry has a series of quotes from recent speeches on healthcare by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in which the one constant…
A little perspective on GDP growth or does policy matter?
These are odd times. Not one policy seems to get floated these days which does not include in the tag line that it will be good for economic growth. And…
why brigette depape’s actions were heroic in my eyes
The barrage of criticism being heaped on former Canadian Senate page Brigette DePape's lone act of civil disobedience comes as no surprise, nor does the vehemence of some of the…
How the War on Drugs Destabilized the Global Economy
This is truly, truly fantastic. If you haven't already read this stunning story from the Guardian: How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico's murderous drug gangs. This is,…
Prime Ministers of Canada & Their Wu-Tang Clan Names
1. John Alexander Macdonald – Amazing Specialist 2. Alexander Mackenzie – Insane Hunter 3. John Abbott – Respected Wizard 4. John Sparrow David Thompson – Dynamic Desperado 5. Mackenzie Bowell…
UBC economist Milligan throws cake at educated, unemployed youth
I tuned into a rebroadcast of this morning’s the CBC’s the Current while cleaning the kitchen this evening which had an unusually good documentary on the problem of youth unemployment;…
The Medium Is the Message: Brigette DePape and the NDP’s Ineffective Response To The Throne Speech
Some thoughts on Brigette DePape: I don’t like Stephen Harper or his government but I also think that what Ms. DePape did was stupid. What she did during the June…
michael moore: canadians need to get in touch with their inner hockey stick
Did you hear Michael Moore has offered our hero Brigette DePape a job? I hope she has many such excellent opportunities coming her way. A young woman with that much…
You keep saying this word. I don’t think this word means what you think it means.
I’d like to kiss the Senate page who launched a protest calling for someone – everyone – to stop Prime Minister Harper. First of all, she’s got chutzpah for doing…
The Throne Speech and the Country I Love
Well I watched most of the Throne Speech today, and all I want to say is that Disneyland would be lucky to be able to stage a show like that…
arash azizi and stephen james kerr: inexperienced ndp mps will be just fine
The media has had a jolly old time ragging on the new, young, inexperienced Members of Parliament in the NDP caucus. Even the most casual observer of mainstream Canadian news…
Speaker election first task for MPs
Inspired by this story: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/06/02/pol-speaker-election.html
as parliament returns, let cats be cats and mice be mice
A new Parliament opens tomorrow, and with it, we step into a great unknown. Will Stephen Harper's Conservative majority plunge us into chaos? Will the government impose a neoliberal austerity…
Killing the Senate requires the Constitution to be opened as well
My Premier, Dalton Mcguinty, has been long on the record that he is for killing the Senate, rather then reforming it, and he reinforced that with another statement to that…
Hudak’s Harris-like approach
In case you missed it, the Ontario Progressive Conservative party had a convention this weekend. There was a lot of, shall we say, extraneous stuff that was going on that…
The left needs to reconsider public funding of parties
With Harper's recent majority it was inevitable that his party would start pushing through policies that were not politically possible when they only had a minority. The first major example…
Let’s NOT Be Civil
There seems to be a very strong current within Canadian politics to "restore civility" within the House of Commons. This message was emphasized by Elizabeth May and the Green Party…
gq feature on stop-lossed iraq war resister phil mcdowell, and canadian press reaction
For several months, Wil Hylton, an excellent writer from GQ magazine, has been interviewing Phil McDowell, an Iraq War resister living in Canada, along with many other war resisters and…
Poll: majority of Canadians support constitutional talks to reform Senate
It seems a new poll is out that says Canadians are more then willing right now to re-open the Constitution to do such things as Senate reform: After almost two…