UPDATE-1: Chinada
China’s state oil company is offering $15 billion for Calgary’s Nexen. At this point I’ve really lost count of how many Chinese acquisitions have been made in the last few…
democracy
Referendums: The Perils and the Possibilities
Direct democracy is to representative democracy what extra-virgin olive oil is to refined olive oil. The latter is more cost effective and, perhaps according to some, just as good. But…
A Defence of Regularized Public Policy Referendum
I think Governments should consult with the people. The amount of public involvement with our federal democracy is essentially voting in a general election once every four years. We call…
Harper Conservatives Lose Robocalls Fraud Court Challenge
The Federal Court has nuked the Conservatives effort to stop the courts from hearing a legal challenge to some of the results of the 2011 federal election. With the support…
ConCalls: Gone Dismissing
So, new Elections Canada commish, what’s up? I know you’re new on the job, but you seemed to have been able to get a confident handle on things enough by…
Rick Salutin on Democracy, Parties, and Electoral Reform
“Democracy,” as Winston Churchill famously stated, “is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Somewhat less famously, he also…
A CLASSE act for Quebec’s next provincial election
Should an election be called, the more militant group of the Quebec student protest movement will mobilze students against ideology and neo-liberal politics. That’s according to CLASSE’s new manifesto, recently…
Quebec Student Protest Movement Begins Tour Of Ontario Universities
While the pots and pans are on a summer hiatus, the ground-breaking Quebec student protest movement is visiting an Ontario university near you. Representatives of CLASSE, Quebec’s largest student federation,…
Defining Democracy
Just back from a very brief holiday in western New York, I’m still feeling a bit too relaxed to post anything lengthy, but I do have a reading recommendation for…
ConCalls: Cutbacks
Investigating election crimes is hard work, but someone has to do it. Elections Canada in particular has to do it, and in theory they are conducting an investigation into illegal…
A more realistic approach to limiting the influence of money in politics
Cenk Ugyur, host of the popular The Young Turks (a progressive, internet-based US politics show), frequently like to deride the pervasive and damaging influence of Big Money in US politics,…
Canadians Should Envy Greeks
Canadians aren’t too envious of Greeks, Italians, and Egyptians right now, but maybe they should be. Though Canada has a relatively better economy and a stable political system, the other…
ConCalls: Delayed Justice, Swift Dismissal
The day after the new Elections Canada commissioner took over the duties of the suddenly retired previous commish Corbett, he’d had his office dismiss photographic evidence of Americans not living…
The National Park Shuffle
Whenever the federal government says “budget deficit’s are no excuse for not spending on X” you should probably be at least a little suspicious. Naturally, I was, but I’m always…
In Ottawa, scientists to mourn the death of Canadian evidence
Canadian scientists gather in Ottawa today to stage a funeral procession to protest the Harper government’s draconian cuts to federal scientific programs and systematic muzzling of Canadian scientists. The protest…
Bob Rae’s Exporting Democracy
When Michael Ignatief was the leader of the Liberal Party, I lamented that someone whose pre-politics life was as an expert on foreign affairs and had written several books on…
The Economist Insulted Progressive Canadians’ Intelligence
Earlier, I gloated over the influential right-leaning British magazine’s criticism of Harper’s burgeoning elected dictatorship. I’ve a second sober take on the issue. See, I failed to read between the…