Quebec election: What Francois Legault should do
Now that the dust is settling, a PQ minority government will take over in Quebec with roughly one-third of the vote, while the Legault Coalition party will end up with…
Democratic Deficit
The first robocalls victim – again
The Ottawa Citizen published an op-ed by former Saanich-Gulf Islands Liberal candidate Briony Penn on Tuesday: “I was the first robocalls victim.” It tells the story of the 2008 federal…
Premier McGuinty tries a fast one with his questionable budget
Just like Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Dalton McGuinty is cramming major changes into a bloated budget document, hoping to force the NDP into supporting his budget rather than risk another…
Collins beats Kazakhstan #nlpoli
From a second rebuttal to justice minister Felix Collins, right (not exactly as illustrated) from the Center for Law and Democracy: In a speech to the House of Assembly on…
C-38 Speaker’s ruling reaction
Key point on Scheer’s ruling and the ongoing discussion over C-38, the government’s monstrous omnibus bill that jams unrelated and consequential bills into the budget process: “It’s something that clearly…
Opposition Budget Tactics probably will be frustrated
Kudos to all the non-Tory MPs in the House for fighting to preserve our democratic traditions, by tabling amendments to the draconian Budget bill. The Harper government clearly does not…
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A winning essay on national media coverage of the 2011 federal election
This is a brilliant piece of writing by Mark Brister: “National media coverage of the 2011 federal election was a failure.” Not sure if it’s getting much coverage but there’s…
Today in secret deliberations
Something to watch for today as the Conservatives keep digging their democratic deficit, the Commons public accounts committee meets to decide the future of the F-35 hearings. Not in public,…
Harper’s extra-Parliamentary internet surveillance committee
This news is a new low in the Harper government’s ongoing debasement of Parliament’s role in Canadian democracy: In the months leading up to the introduction Bill C-30, Canada’s telecom…
Harper’s government is finding out that if you mess with our Parliament, you mess with Canadians
The inner core of Stephen Harper and his Reform-factioned Conservative Party revolves around an authoritarian streak a mile wide, and a distaste for our democratic institutions (Parliament, the civil service,…
One good reason to vote NDP in 2015
Perhaps Leonard Cohen has something to say to those Canadians who look with dismay upon our broken, undemocratic, first past the post electoral system, and wonder that a man who…
Bonus seats: Maybe our Parliament should use this Greek innovation?
I was surprised to read this today about the Greek ruleswhich gift an extra lift to the party that wins the most seats in an elec tion: ND came first…
Why Canada will have a new government in 2015
Andrew Coyne has put his journalistic finger on the Achilles Heel of the ‘Harper Government’ – its inherent untrustworthiness: Stealth PM Harper But while the public might have been inclined…
My shortlist for permanent leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
Speculation swirls around Bob Rae and his rumoured resignation as interim leader in order to throw his hat into the ring for permanent leader. Journalists give their views of which…
Bob Dylan’s Ladder of the Law and Rupert Murdoch
The bombshell findings of the UK Parliamentary Committee that heard the two Murdochs testify about their role and their innocence in the phone hacking case, gave rise to Bob Dylan…
Abortion: The Liberal Party should respond with a boycott
Stephen Harper promised before the election not to reopen the abortion debate if he was re-elected. Now one of his MPs is tabling a motion to reopen the debate. Harper…
Democratic deficit: Undemocratic result in Alberta penalizes Wildrose Party
Hot from the press, we have yet another example of how the archaic, undemocratic First Past The Post (FPTP) system of selecting representatives of our Parliament and Legislatures leads to…
The Liberal Party and the role of Quebec in Canada: Bob Rae’s Views
With the possibility that Bob Rae will soon step down as interim leader of the LPC and so trigger the beginning of the race to select the next permanent leader…
Alberta NDP should bargain for modified proportional representation
As their price for propping up either the Wildrose or PC parties. The race has tightened, with 308indicating neither the PCs nor the Wildroses gaining a majority of seats, and…