Canada: A country in economic denial
Well the market since the S&P downgrade of U.S. debt has been a fun ride huh? Gold continues to set what seem like daily records while stocks are “only slightly…
Government
Canada’s Unenviable Royal RaceTo The Past
Where are Canadian progressives when you need them? Where were Canada’s anti-mornachists, pacifists and nationalists when Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative government were planning to return Canada to…
When It Comes Right Down to It, It’s Mainly a Con Game
Modern, consumer economies are essentially a confidence game. When confidence is high, money flows; goods are produced, sold and bought; and we all (sort of) enjoy the boom. When confidence…
Shared IT Services across the Canadian Government – three opportunities
Earlier this week the Canadian Federal Government announced it will be creating Shared Services Canada which will absorb the resources and functions associated with the delivery of email, data centres…
On the Green Party platform.
Finally -- for now, at least, until the Tories and NDP release the rest of their platforms, and the Libs release anything at all -- I'm going to take a…
On the Ontario PCs’ platform
So, here we go with the Ontario PC Platform, the Changebook (warning: PDF). Or is that the Change Book? ChangeBook? I don't know, and I don't think they do, either.According...
On the Ontario PCs’ platform.
So, here we go with the Ontario PC Platform, the Changebook. Or is that the Change Book? ChangeBook? I don't know, and I don't think they do, either.According to this,…
On the Ontario NDP’s 2011 platform.
Okay. The Ontario NDP's platform. The Plan for Affordable Change (warning: PDF). Jeez, focus-group that name much? I'm splitting this into the four areas that the ONDP did in the…
$16.8 million in arts funding goes to BC Arts Council
Last Thursday, July 7, BC’s Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, Ida Chong, announced $16.8 million in funding for the arts, to be administered through the BC Arts Council.…
Google got 38 user data requests from Ottawa in 6 months
Inspired by this story: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/07/08/pol-google-governments.html
Greek Sovereign Debt Crisis a Sovereignty Crisis
Greek Parliament, Syntagma Athens – by kouk News outlets around the world have focused heavily on the so-called Greek Sovereign debt crisis this week. The proposed solution–an IMF loan package…
Molly’sBlog 2011-07-03 01:45:00
HUMOUR:A QUICK AND EASY GUIDE TO FORMS OF GOVERNMENT:
On back to work legislation. Whoa, deja vu.
So, another conservative (note the small "c") government, another round of back to work legislation. Canada violates its international obligations yet again, and is again grouped with such shining lights…
On governance (4): The courts
Ah, the courts. Probably the only arm of the government that everyone has some contact with at some point or another. Sure, some people go to the House, or visit…
On governance (3): The Crown.
So, yeah. The Crown. This could be a really short post -- hell, by my standards, it probably will be.Here's the thing. Constitutionally, we need the Crown. We can't get…
On governance (2): Parliament
This one's going to be a little disconnected. The overarching thread, as said yesterday, is figuring out how to adjust our governing institutions to suit the importance of the principle…
On governance: (1) Principles
How should we govern ourselves? Since Locke's Second Treatise, the presumption has been in favour of self-government -- that is, each individual adult person has the natural right to govern…
On the Quebec question: (5) The Constitution
Final point I want to consider on this issue. Some objections to Quebec separatism or nationalism seem to turn on a fear of "opening up" -- that is, amending --…
Lost Open Data Opportunities
Even sometimes my home town of Vancouver gets it wrong. Reading Chad Skelton's blog (which I frequently regularly and recommend to my fellow Vancouverites) I was reminded of the great…
On the Quebec question: (4) Devolution
So far, I've argued that there are good reasons to favour Quebec's right to determine, on its own, whether to separate from Canada. One option that has come up under…