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…
democracy
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…
Guess Who Said It
Most people do not have deep values. One person one vote, that is how Hitler was able to define his laws. Special points if you can parse it so it…
Liberal Party Petition: No More Omnibus Bills, Harper
The just-concluded Parliamentary session witnessed “serious abuses of power by the Harper Conservatives” through the use of two omnibus bills “that are radically changing Canada”: crime Bill C-10 and Budget…
Friday RoboCon
News goes to die, on Fridays. So today it is appropriate to talk about the biggest news story in the country that doesn’t get the respect or urgent coverage it…
Looking for Democracy
I am sure that like me, many despair over the state of democracy in Canada. Not only is it under continuous assault by a federal government that has repeatedly and…
Taking Back Our Democracy: Bridging the Generational Divide
These are tough days for Canada’s parliamentary democracy. Having endured years of steady erosion, it is now under frontal attack. Journalists and public leaders, across the political spectrum, have begun…