The Debate about the Debate has started!
With the Conservatives quietly considering a proposal to hold up to five regional televised debates in the upcoming federal election to contrast Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s experience with rookie Liberal…
Political Partys
Balancing Act Important For Democracy
A guest artile by Jared Milne I’m currently reading Brent Rathgeber’s excellent book “Irresponsible Government: the Decline of Parliamentary Democracy in Canada”, which describes the methods that Canadian prime ministers…
An Open Letter to Tom Mulcair.
Dear Sir I am in receipt of you self congratulatory email boasting of how you have just signed the Fair Vote Canada’s Politicians’ Pledge,I congratulate you on doing so and…
Vitriolic nastiness does not breed respect.
Stephen Lewis , the former Ontario NDP leader, United Nations ambassador and lifelong human rights advocate recently took aim at the “pre-paleolithic Neanderthals” in office and their role in the…
Electoral Reform – The Parties Position
Its sometimes hard to see where the parties stand on any particular issue given the hype, bafflegab and spin that issues from almost all of them at times and the…
Its Silly Season in Ontario
With advanced polls opening for the Ontario Election today its definitely silly season in Ontario, we are inundated with totally meaningless TV ads from 3 of the Partys telling us…
This and That – Distractions and Obfuscations
The ongoing Elections act cluster fk has successfully distracted from the latest omnibus budget from the Harper Regime, hardy a word has been seen about the 350 page “Harper Government…
Winning at All Costs.
I think we are all sick of the win at all cost mentality of our political parties and their leaders, this mentality is not restricted to just the Harper Regime,…
Political Participation and Perception
In their latest report “By Invitation Only:Canadians’ Perceptions of Political Parties”Samara, the measuring democracy people, identified six key roles of political parties’ functions in three main areas. In a survey…
Best of Both Worlds
A guest article by Jared Milne. Politically, 2013 wasn’t much different than previous years. In Toronto, Rob Ford accused his opponents of wanting to keep the “gravy train” going, while…
Response to Minister of Democratic Reform
Just two days before Christmas the GPC received a letter requesting a response on their ideas for electoral reform to be received before Jan 4th. The timing of the letter…
Dysfunctional Legislatures
Is there any such thing as a fully “functional” legislature in Canada? I am starting to wonder. I do not follow all the various provincial maneuverings but it seems to…
Electoral Fraud Occurred!
But no results overturned……… Just hours ago the long-awaited Federal Court ruling on election fraud was released…In a clear and bold statement, Judge Richard Mosley wrote: “I find that electoral…
Take Your Shirt Off for Democracy.
I am not sure that any of the major political parties gets it, but Harper definitely does not, attacking the leader of a party as if he and he alone…
An exercise in futility?
I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that my efforts in these pages to shed some light upon the various attacks upon our democracy, the ever increasing centralization of power…
Political Stereotypes
A guest article by Jared Milne. Right-wing Conservatives are hardworking entrepreneurs who stop at Tim Horton’s for a double-double on their way to work, get up early on Saturday to…
Let the Games Begin …… Again!
With our Federal MP’s now back in the House and the Ontario Legislature about to resume under a new leader I am not optimistic that we will see any change…
Cooperation between Political Partys
There has been much talk of‘cooperation’ between partys since the close results in recent byelections and whilst I have in these pages urged such ‘cooperation not confrontation’ in the HoC…
Elizabeth May: Parliamentarian of the Year.
When it comes to choosing MP’s who have earned special recognition for their contributions in the House the choices, in my opinion, are somewhat limited however that Elisabeth May has…
A Western Point of View
A guest post by Jared Milne.When the federal Liberals governed Canada, Albertans were often frustrated by what they saw as pork-barrelling, a lack of transparency in government, few checks on…