Beth and Expenses #nlpoli #cdnpoli
All this talk of Senator Beth Marshall and her hefty annual stipend for chairing a committee that has met once in two years brings to mind the good senator’s role…
Patronage
On corrupted institutions
Plenty of others have had loads to say about the scandal surrounding Stephen Harper, Nigel Wright, Mike Duffy and the Senate generally – with Wright’s resignation today serving as just…
Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Paul Krugman draws a much-needed connection between austerity politics and Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine: What Smith didn’t note, somewhat surprisingly, is that his…
Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Duncan Cameron is the latest to weigh in on the Cons’ distorted sense of priorities in directing public research money toward private…
Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Thomas Walkom offers an insider’s look at outsourcing: Arlene says any outsourcing scheme begins with the institution’s senior management. Usually, she says, the…
Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Jason Fekete reports on the growing recognition that tax evasion and avoidance are serious global problems – and the Cons’ attempt to be…
New column day
Here, on how the current controversy over residency requirements only helps to show how Canada’s Senate is beyond fixing. For further reading…– Again, Andrew Coyne similarly points out how abolition…
Monday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your Family Day. – Gerald Caplan comments that it’s long past time to put the Senate out of its misery: Who knew that when well-known Canadians…
Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Tabatha Southey rightly turns Brad Trost into a poster boy for the Harper Cons’ deliberate aversion to critical self-evaluation: We shouldn’t be too…
Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday morning reading. – Sixth Estate is the latest to weigh in on Statistics Canada’s findings about inequality: Progressive taxes are based on the idea that…
Last week in Tory patronage
Catching up here! It’s hard to keep up with these porkers after all! Let’s see…“Natural Resources Ministers Announce Appointments to the Canada–Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board.” You know, I…
Verbiage Growth Strategy #nlpoli
Right on cue in the controversy over the population growth “strategy”, a provincial cabinet minister issued a news release late on Monday and assured us that everything will be all…
High-Value Delivery #nlpoli
Two cabinet ministers trekked up the Southern Shore on Wednesday to hand over a cheque for some government cash to a local group of seniors. Of course, they dragged their…
Kathy Dunderdale, give-aways, and the resource curse #nlpoli
Ontario has been interested in Gull Island since at least the 1990s. We didn’t need Kathy Dunderdale to say that again as part of the advertising show she is mounting…
Benchquest: The what to do with Vic Toews saga rolls on
Just reading Tim Harper’s latest, hot off the internets: “Vic Toews and his quest for the bench.” This part jumped out: The Court of Appeal post is a federal appointment…
Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Andrew Jackson thoroughly demolishes the argument that after three decades of wage stagnation and soaring corporate profits, Canada’s economy somehow needs to see…
Something stinks on the Oshawa waterfront: Let’s ask Flaherty
Jim Flaherty is Minister Responsible for the GTA. Also happens to be the MP for Oshawa-Whitby. His wife, Christine Elliott is the MPP for Whitby-Oshawa. And there were big goings…
Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Rick Salutin discusses the link between parity of wealth and democratic participation, while pointing out why there’s reason for people to engage much…