Senate Wars V: The Harper Empire Strikes Back
“But surely,” said the Senate apologist, “even if an undemocratic upper chamber is utterly useless in actually reviewing legislation, we can still pretend it has value based on its willingness…
Senate
Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Armine Yalnizyan writes that reliance on temporary and disposable labour is utterly incompatible with long-term economic development. And Joey Hartman and Adrienne Montani…
Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jerry Dias sees the forced passage of an unamended Bill C-377 as a definitive answer in the negative to the question of whether…
On rewriting
There’s plenty of justified outrage over Stephen Harper’s unelected Senate lapdogs choosing to tear up the Parliamentary rule book to force through an attack on unions in the form of…
Conservative Senate Overthrows Speaker #cdnpoli #SenCA
Whoa, whoa… chaos reigns…. they might have just overthrown the speaker… — Paul McLeod (@pdmcleod) June 26, 2015 Housakos rules the government’s attempt “violates a fundamental distinction in our rules…
Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Mark Anderson reports on the Change Readiness Index’ findings that the growing concentration and inequality of wealth is making it more and…
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Guy Standing discusses the political and social importance of Canada’s growing precariat, as well as the broader definition of inequality needed to…
New column day
Here, on how the Senate’s failure to provide any second thought on C-51 may serve as the ultimate signal that it has nothing useful to offer Canadians. For further reading…–…
Saving Canada $90,000,000/year not worth Wall’s “effort”
“The Senate is never going to run properly and it’s never going to be worth the money we put into it. So it should be scrapped.” .@PremierBradWall Couldn't SK start…
Bill C-51—a chance for the Senate to redeem itself
In the words of Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, the Senate was created as a place of “sober second thought.” In the eyes of most Canadians today,…
Mike Duffy Saga
Harper sure knows how to appoint Senators, Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau, and the notorious Mike Duffy. Harper campaigned against an appointed Senate, against privilege and corruption, in 2006, only to…
On powers of appointment
Andrew Coyne has rightly pointed out the gall the Senate is showing in nixing Michael Chong’s watered-down Reform Act (even if there’s something to a few of the criticisms). But…
Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Peter Ladner discusses why our tax and fiscal policies should be designed to reduce inequality – rather than exacerbating it as the…
What you know in the PMO
Obviously, the revelation that Mike Duffy saw his job in the Senate as including a role as a publicly-funded lobbyist for the climate denial movement raises a whole new set…
From beyond the grave
Andrew Coyne wants to pretend we shouldn’t worry what legislation gets passed by the Harper Cons on the theory that there’s absolutely nothing stopping a future elected government from reversing…
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – PressProgress documents how the Cons are driving Canada’s economy into the ditch. And Michael Babad reports that economists with a better grounding…
Always Join a Club of Which You Weren’t a Member: Mike Duffy and the Senate
Abstract: Whatever happens in the Mike Duffy trial, let’s not forget one thing: Duffy watched the Senate for decades, and he wanted a part of it. Whatever might be said…