Taking Attendance
An interesting pattern began emerging during the Federal Election this past spring. At forums, debates, and all-candidates meetings across the country, Conservative Party candidates were simply not showing up.There was…
democracy
Public poll on the state of democracy: please respond – your views and your voice matter!
Please answer the following question below, share this poll with friends, and leave your comments as well if you wish. (Naturally, of course you can only vote once! This poll…
My solution to the Edmonton arena debate | #yegarena
Ugh, this arena debate just isn’t going away. Now it appears the city wants to preemptively buy the land for 25million (on top of the arena’s tag price, and infrastructure…
Put-in in and Medvedev out as the president of Russia
Vladimir Put-in is going to be put back in as the President and caretaker Dmitry Medvedev will continue to serve Putin as a Prime Minister now. Putin is not much…
My deflating optimism about the NDP leadership race
For a while, I was feeling very energized about the NDP leadership race. We on the left were going to get six months or so to have a real and…
Liberal incumbent for Kitchener-center, John Milloy, shines in local all candidates debate
The Waterloo Record, our local newspaper, hosted an all candidates debate for the Kitchener, Waterloo, Conestoga and Cambridge voting districts this past week. Yesterday, it was the candidates from Kitchener-Center…
Why even conservatives are worried about rising inequality
This essay was commissioned by the National Post. It was published in today’s edition under the headline “A Problem for Everyone“. In the print edition, the overline - a large…
Federation of Labour files legal argument in massive law suit against Sask. Party government
Over the summer months, the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour and 25 additional plaintiffs (SFL et al) filed their legal argument in the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench related to the…
Democracy week Sept 12-18
The United Nations has declared September 15th the International Day of Democracy. Fair Vote Canada is expanding the day to Democracy Week, September 12th to the 18th. The week, according…
We have a choice – SFL Issues Campaign
Check out the newest SFL Labour Issues Campaign Booklet on the economy and the environment. (pdf): We have a choice
In a war of ideology, everyone loses
Not long ago a naive younger version of myself decided he would be ‘left-wing’. For many years I subscribed to this ideology. I amongst many others took part in partisan…
Looking Backward in the Year 2011
by matttbastard Der Spiegel runs down W’s “tragic legacy” in the long, long, looooong decade of U.S. decline that followed 9/11: America was trapped in Iraq for years, where a…
Another sleepless night
It’s 3:45am. For the past week I’ve had a churning in my stomach I can’t shake, and with it I can’t sleep. So much is on my mind, but so…
Politics, Re-Spun on Coop Radio, September 5, 2011
Spending Labour Day with Imtiaz Popat on “The Rational” on Vancouver’s COOP Radio, talking about Christy Clark’s revocation of a pre-2013 election date , the end of the HST, the…
Realigning Canada’s Political Spectrum
Canadians have traditionally held social democratic values while supporting centrist political parties. Canadians support universal single payer public health insurance, public pensions and a social safety net, all of which,…
Saskatchewan People Set to Celebrate Labour Day – 2011
News Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Saskatchewan People Set to Celebrate Labour Day On Monday, September 5th, people across Saskatchewan, of many backgrounds and traditions, spanning several generations, and representing a…
Democracy Watch: Duff’s guff #nlpoli
Let’s get it simply stated up front: Democracy Watch is the most inappropriately named organization on the planet, bar none. They don’t watch for one thing. And on the specific…
17 Federal NDP Leadership Possibilities
Jack Layton spent much time in his last days crafting his messages of hope, justice, optimism, equality and integrity: encouraging us to move on and build on the Orange Crush…
On democratic legitimacy of the courts
My last post talked about how judges work with each other’s decisions. Today, I’d like to take a bird’s eye look at the relationship between the judiciary and Parliament. Unelected…
The Geopolitics of the Open Government Partnership: the beginning of Open vs. Closed
There hasn't been a ton of press about the Open Government Partnership (OGP). This is hardly surprising. The press likes to talk about corruption and bad government, people getting together…