Rachel Notley’s Cabinet
Later today at a public celebration on the legislature grounds, Alberta’s new NDP government will be sworn in. With a large number of inexperienced MLAs elected, many are suggesting that…
Government
Reflections on McChesney: Problematics of Media Self-Regulation
FULL DISCLOSURE: I worked as a mainstream news reporter between 2003 and 2012. News media goes where many cannot or will not. It infiltrates the halls of power, the courtrooms,…
Reflections on McChesney: Problematics of Media Self-Regulation
FULL DISCLOSURE: I worked as a mainstream news reporter between 2003 and 2012. News media goes where many cannot or will not. It infiltrates the halls of power, the courtrooms,…
Podcast: What’s next for Alberta?
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/podcast150515-alberta-election.mp3 This episode focuses on what else but the recent Alberta provincial election that saw the social democratic NDP sweep into power after 44 consecutive years of Conservative rule. To…
Canada’s Austerity Consensus
I have a longer piece out in Jacobin today on tracing the roots of today’s austerity consensus in Canada to the 1990s. In a way, it’s me coming to terms…
Budget 2015: A tale of austerity past, present and future
I’ve been banging the drum of “slow-motion austerity” for a while and little in the 2015 federal budget suggests any change from the pattern of death by a thousand cuts.…
The Conservatives’ balanced budget legislation: Silly economics, smart politics
I wrote up the Conservatives’ new balanced budget law for Ricochet. In short, the law is really silly in terms of economics, but simply pointing out its economic stupidity is…
Relocate Victims of Communism Memorial or Cancel Project
An online petition and prominent Canadian voices demand that the proposed Memorial to the Victims of Communism be relocated, or the project entirely. The post Relocate Victims of Communism Memorial…
British Colombia: Illiterate “cutthroat psychopaths” in the Harper PMO
Embarrassing typos as the illiterate “cutthroat psychopaths” in the Stephen Harper PMO change British Columbia to “British Colombia”. The post British Colombia: Illiterate “cutthroat psychopaths” in the Harper PMO appeared…
Reflections on David Harvey: Neoliberalism and The State
For three decades, neoliberalism has dominated the political and economic landscape. Following David Harvey, I contend that neoliberalism depends on the manufacturing of consent to a neoliberal agenda and the…
Reflections on David Harvey: Neoliberalism and The State
For three decades, neoliberalism has dominated the political and economic landscape. Following David Harvey, I contend that neoliberalism depends on the manufacturing of consent to a neoliberal agenda and the…
Be Careful What You Don’t Ask For
Not even three full years after enacting moderately sexist “Frat House Legislation“, Premier Brad Wall announced that his government had “reversed our mistake to allow strip clubs in SK.” With…
Ex-Conservative Senator Wallin committed “breach of trust and fraud”: RCMP
The RCMP announced Monday that ex-Conservative Senator Pamela Wallin, a Harper appointee, “committed the offences of breach of trust and fraud.” The post Ex-Conservative Senator Wallin committed “breach of trust…
Same same?
TL:DR version – learn your history before you shoot off at the mouth.
Jason Kenney gets a growth portfolio
Jason Kenney has long been one of Stephen Harper’s trusted lieutenants and after yesterday’s cabinet reshuffle, he is now Minister of National Defence. In Harperland, this is a decisive promotion:…
Political Eh-conomy Radio: the left in Greece and Poland
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/podcast-150123-poland-greece1.mp3 I’ve been visiting family in Poland for the past few weeks so, fittingly, this week’s podcast deals with the situation of the left at two opposite ends of the…
9 ways Alberta should manage resources better
Sometime toward the end of November, the Alberta government will release their 2nd quarter fiscal update. Finance Minister Robin Campbell will likely tell us that the second quarter was another…
9 WAYS ALBERTA SHOULD MANAGE RESOURCES BETTER
Sometime toward the end of November, the Alberta government will release their 2nd quarter fiscal update. Finance Minister Robin Campbell will likely tell us that the second quarter was another…