Harper plays Mulcair … at our expense
If Stephen Harper is anything, he is a shrewd politician—always strategizing. He illustrated this yesterday starting off the new session of Parliament by accusing the NDP of supporting a carbon…
NDP
A Taxing Debate
The gloves came off yesterday on Parliament’s first day back after its summer break, with Stephen Harper dealing the NDP what he evidently considers a fatal insult. Her Majesty’s Loyal…
Harris-Decima Poll: Has Thomas Mulcair’s waffling cost NDP support?
Has Mulcair’s waffling caused voters to start a fresh appraisal of the Mulcair-led Dippers? That just might be the case according to the latest poll showing slippage: Waffling Thomas A…
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – If there’s anything missing from Mark Weidbrot’s musings about the possibility of a U.S. debt downgrade, it’s that the only significant threat…
The Folly of Balanced Budget Laws in BC
The news is out. Due to declining natural gas prices, the BC Liberal government is projecting a budget deficit of $1.14 billion this year — $173 million more than expected.…
New column day
Here, on the importance of substance over spin in politics – and the counterproductive effect of dedicating a party’s resources to the opposite effect. For further reading…– As I’ve previously…
In which Mulcair muddies the waters
This was NDP leader Tom Mulcair yesterday on the Harper government’s decision to cut off diplomatic relations with Iran: …it’s … becoming increasingly clear that there were serious concerns, we…
You Need to Set the Bar High This Time
For the Liberal Party this is no time to settle for a pretty face or a familiar name. You’re already in the hole, neck deep to be honest, and one…
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Stephen Kimber makes the case for a financial transactions tax in Atlantic Business: (W)hat can supposedly sovereign nations do when individual governments…
On timelines
For the most part, I tend to be skeptical that annual caucus retreats should be seen as having any substantive impact on the political scene. But the NDP’s meeting last…
Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Dr. Dawg tears into the National Post’s gratuitous union-bashing: (W)hen it comes to unions, a careless disregard for facts seems to affect journos…
To know, know, know Mulcair, is to love, love, love him less
The tussle between the NDP, led by Thomas Mulcair, and the currently leaderless Liberal Party of Canada is heating up. And some Liberals are targeting the ambivalent positions of the…
End of Summer Polls: Trends
Polling is a long haul game. Jitters of points inside margins of errors don’t showcase who has different levels of support or who is the newest front runner in the…
Environics poll shows Tories in full flower, Wildrose withering on the vine
Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith with some of her party’s social conservative supporters, who came home to roost a few days before the April 23 provincial election … and stayed! Alberta…
Let’s Watch Where Quebec Leads Us All
Less than 12 after being elected to a minority government in Quebec, the PQ has announced it will cancel the socially and economically regressive tuition fee hikes and repeal the…
Poll Predicts A Comfortable Win For The NDP’s Catherine Fife In Kitchener-Waterloo
In a Forum Research poll, conducted Tues. Sept. 4, 2012, support for the NDP was at 42%, while the Liberal and Conservative support had dropped to 26% each. In their…
A wide open field
Others have already weighed in on Quebec’s election results. But let’s note that for all the drama of an election where it was an open question whether voters could stomach…
Post-Confederate Albertans in Ottawa, the PQ in Quebec: Can Canada afford a national leader with no national vision?
Prime Minister Stephen Harper takes note of Quebec’s aspirations. Alberta politicians may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Mr. Harper exhibiting the post-Confederation Alberta zeitgeist (Calgary Herald photo); PQ Leader…
NDP’s Thomas Mulcair bamboozles media on Quebec referendum
Showing adept footwork (almost as good as that of Justin Trudeau in the boxing ring a short while ago), Thomas Mulcair has succeeded in persuading the media that he not…