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By The Mound of Sound, on October 26, 2015, at 12:15 pm Veteran Canadian journalist, Geoffrey Stevens, argues that it’s time to shut down the trials (and tribulations) of senator Michael Dennis Duffy.
As Stevens sees it there are two trials underway – one for public consumption, the other for the now redundant betterment of Shifty Steve Harper. A criminal trial and a political trial. Of the two, he contends, the criminal trial has already collapsed and the defence hasn’t even gotten its chance at bat yet.
To put it charitably, the Crown’s case has been less than overwhelming. It has done more to help the defence than the prosecution. We have (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on October 26, 2015, at 11:30 am As mentioned here, I’ll be adding over the next little while to an already-substantial set of views on the NDP’s choices which led to last week’s federal election results. But I’ll start by expanding on a point which I made briefly earlier in the campaign (at a time when it was far from clear how the choice would play out).
I noted then the dangers of playing it “safe” by limiting the number and type of debates early in the campaign – particularly for a party with a well-liked leader, but relatively few mouthpieces in the media to carry (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on October 26, 2015, at 10:50 am Miscellaneous material to start your week.
- Steven Klees notes that there’s no reason at all to think that corporatist policies labeled as “pro-growth” will do anything to help the poor – and indeed ample reason for doubt they actually encourage growth anywhere other than for the already-wealthy. And the Economist finds that GDP growth in Africa has been almost entirely top-heavy, leaving many of the world’s poorest people behind.
- Ehab Lotayek makes the case for a proportional electoral system where voters’ actual preferences lead to representation, rather than one designed to spit out artificial majorities.
- Carol Goar (Read more…)
By Christy Knockleby, on October 26, 2015, at 10:23 am The election is over and I am trying to think again about how I can be involved in making change in the world. I would like to be involved in one of the local organizations but I cannot see that happening right now. I withdrew from the anti-poverty organization I used to be involved with some time ago because it moved in a direction I didn’t like. I am teaching minecraft math on Monday evenings and I don’t want to take more than the one evening a week away from my family. So I am left trying to think of (Read more…)
By Owen Gray, on October 26, 2015, at 9:26 am
http://blogs.rosemont78.org/
It didn’t take long for cracks to show in the Harper party. The divisions are essentially three. Michael Harris writes:
There are three factions left in the rudderless ghost ship that is the CPC – the lineal descendants of the Reform Party, led by Jason Kenney; the angry and so far leaderless Ontario Conservatives who got shellacked by Team Trudeau in their former strongholds in Toronto; and the (Read more…)
By Emily Dee, on October 26, 2015, at 8:51 am “The party got off to a bad start with its election promise to balance the budget without raising taxes. That promise, difficult to honour during a period of general economic turmoil, would seriously limit its policy options.”
That quote, though fitting, was not about the last federal election, but was written about the Nova Scotia NDP, that got trounced after just one mandate. The author, Howard Epstein, was a long serving NDP MLA who wrote the book: Hope betrayed? The Nova Scotia NDP’s rocky fall from power.
Epstein asks: ”If the NDP can’t differentiate itself from other (Read more…)
By Peter Lowry, on October 26, 2015, at 8:33 am Dan Gagnier of Justin Trudeau’s election team was the only person in the federal election campaign without the political smarts to stay away from pipeline questions. And the TransCanada people who asked Gagnier how to lobby a new government must have been impatiently stupid. There is plenty of time during the transition to the new government for questions such as that.
What is also stupid is the basic question of pipelines themselves. Canadian experience with pipelines for transmitting gas and crude oil long distances has been good. Sure, we have had some spills but gas and crude oil are known (Read more…)
By Adam Clare, on October 26, 2015, at 8:14 am Cities that are designed for cars now have the problem of switching from the traffic-causing polluting machines. Most places can’t build more roads so they need to use what they have more effiencetly. This means repurposing some roads or only having roads used for efficient transit solutions instead of old-school inefficient automobiles. Here are nine cities that are in the process of getting rid of cars.
1. MADRID, SPAIN
THE PLAN: The boundaries of Madrid’s current car-free zone are continuously expanding outwards, reaching a square mile earlier this year. While those who live within the zone are allowed (Read more…)
By Warren, on October 26, 2015, at 8:11 am The Conservative Party’s leadership race is underway, whether official or not.
Because I am a student of politics, and because I am unselfishly devoted to my readers and the greater good, I have helpfully put together a Conservative Party leadership poll, below. It is accurate 19 times out twiddley, which is about how accurate most of the real polling agencies are, these days.
Personally, I do not see the Conservative Party dead, at all. They remain a threat, and smart Liberals won’t forget that. In 2015, the CPC dropped just 50,000 votes from their 2011 total – which represents less than (Read more…)
By Simon, on October 26, 2015, at 7:59 am
It was just another traffic accident in downtown Toronto, where everyone is always in a hurry, and time is money, and sometimes bloody.And Godzilla knows I've seen enough of them.But as I watched them try to figure out what happened, and who was to blame?I couldn't help thinking those are exactly the same questions we need to ask about the catastrophic disaster, and the years of democratic darkness, that Stephen Harper and his monstrous Cons inflicted on this country.Read more »
By brian gibb, on October 26, 2015, at 6:24 am Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best. (Otto von Bismarck)
I never though that I would see this day come. We have a newly elected Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, who stated publically that this election would be last using the first-past-the-post voting system, which is quite something considering he now governs Canada with a majority government although the Liberal Party only garnered 39% of the vote.
Scrapping the present voting system and putting another one in place, especially since it hasn’t been decided what that new system will be for the next election, (Read more…)
By Norman Farrell, on October 26, 2015, at 5:44 am The legal processes may be slow but that provides years of opportunity for people devoid of morality and ethics to speculate in stockholdings of the merchants of death.
In the 1990s, the Government of British Columbia began legal action against tobacco manufacturers, seeking recovery of damages and costs arising from wrongful conduct of the tobacco industry, including deceptive promotion of their products. In 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the right of government to sue the tobacco industry and, almost four years ago, BC partnered with other provinces to “expedite moving these cases to trial.” No hearing dates (Read more…)
By Ed Hollett, on October 26, 2015, at 4:30 am The province’s largest public sector union met last week in St. John’s for its annual convention. They started out their first day with a speech from recently-elected boss Jerry Earle. The militant guy promised the union would militantly oppose any plan to turn public sector services over to the private sector.
The province’s NDP leader – Earle McCurdy – spoke to delegates on Thursday. McCurdy said for umpteen thousandth time this year, that he and his friends in the union party would also steadfastly resist any effort to privatize public services.
Friday was the day the union let the other two provincial party leaders say a few words. What happened next was amazing..
(Read more…)
By The Intransigent One, on October 26, 2015, at 2:00 am This shit is all linked, it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. I have no words.
Highway of Tears email deletion referred to RCMP by B.C. privacy watchdog
Women, mainly Aboriginal, go missing, and government emails about it get not just deleted, but deliberately deleted from backups.
Eight Quebec police officers suspended in wake of sexual-assault allegations on aboriginal women: Thériault
Quebec provincial police are alleged to have been sexually abusing Aboriginal women, going back years.
Filed under: Canada Tagged: Bitter Feminist Rage, Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women, Patriarchy, Racism
. . . → Read More: Dead Wild Roses: Two headlines trending on my Facebook on the same day
By Dave Cournoyer, on October 26, 2015, at 12:57 am With the excitement of the 2015 federal election one week behind us, now is a good time to take a look at how the results of the election could impact Edmonton and Alberta. The reality of a majority Liberal government in Ottawa… Continue Reading →
By David Climenhaga, on October 26, 2015, at 12:13 am PHOTOS: The São Bento Palace, home of the Assembly of the Republic, in Lisbon. Was it just the site of a constitutional coup with implications for Canada? You’d never know from the local media. Below: Portuguese President Aníbal Cavaco Silva; Portugal’s national flag. Did you know a coalition of the left has been denied the […]
The post Was there just a coup in Portugal? Why did Canada’s media ignore the story? appeared first on Alberta Politics.
By The Canadian Progressive, on October 25, 2015, at 11:29 pm Law professor and copyright expert Michael Geist suggests that the new Liberal government may wait until 2017 before implementing significant change to Canada’s telecom, broadcast, copyright, and privacy policies.
The post Michael Geist: Real Change on Digital Policy May Take Time Under New Liberal Government appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By James Petras, on October 25, 2015, at 7:14 pm
The Rosariazo in 1969. The worsening economy and the onset of dictatorship led to waves of protests, strikes and riots. • Photo by Carlos Saldi
Introduction
Democratic critics of military seizures of power commonly refer to them as military coups. They adopt a very narrow and misleading conception of what is taking place.
Likewise, human rights activists and progressive analysts who conceptualize the reign of violence which follows, a ‘coup’ as state terror fail to take account of the systemic forces – the capitalist social order and class relations – which determine the classes which wield state power. They ignore (Read more…)
By Michael Lerner, on October 25, 2015, at 7:04 pm
Photo by cyrillelala
Editor’s Note: The sad reality of racism in Israel has been known to many of us for decades–a tragedy for a people which has suffered so much from the racism directed against us. Its first manifestation was in the scorn and discrimination with which Sepahrdic/Mizrachi Jews escaping from Arab countries were treated by Ashkenazi Jews who shaped the Yishuv (the pre-1948 Jewish settlements in Palestine). It has reached monumental proportions in contemporary Israel, yet most Israelis pretend that it is only a reaction to the the insecurity that they feel in relationship to the Palestinians, denying (Read more…)
By susanonthesoapbox, on October 25, 2015, at 6:46 pm “If it were in my power I would try the sunny way…Do you not believe that there is more to be gained by appealing to the heart and soul of men rather than to compel them to do a thing?”—Sir Wilfrid Laurier
“Sunny ways my friends, sunny ways.” When Justin Trudeau quoted Sir Wilfrid Laurier on election night he unleashed a sunnier, more optimistic way of doing politics…the Conservatives were all over it in a heartbeat.
Justin Trudeau on election night
They jettisoned their cloudy ways like moths emerging from their cocoons. New and old-stock Conservatives alike hit (Read more…)
By Marie Snyder, on October 25, 2015, at 3:55 pm I teach grade 12 university-level philosophy, and I teach it as a university prep-course. So we read primary sources, and we write essays longer and more complex than the standard five paragraphs. And then I brace myself for the complaints.
Why do we have to read about other philosophers? Why can’t we just explore our own philosophy?
I heard this one in art courses too, back when I actually taught art: “Why can’t we just discover our own style?” And I don’t just get it from the students but from parents too. “School should be about self-discovery,” they argue. (Read more…)
By pale, on October 25, 2015, at 3:10 pm
There are lots of pundits telling us that the difference between Harper and Trudeau will be listening skills, delegation, and respect.
I like all of that as well. (These last ten years the chain of command has been the PMO making decisions, and then some memos telling every ministry how to behave. )
But. And there is always a huge BUT.
Remember when Obama was elected in the US, and he was gonna listen to all ideas and come to a consensus with all sides represented?
“If the tone I set is that we bring [enough] (Read more…)
. . . → Read More: A Creative Revolution: Consensus. Being reasonable, and Harpers "tea party"
By Don Maroc, on October 25, 2015, at 1:38 pm Don Maroc
It is likely the Liberal government under Justin Trudeau will like the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) almost as much as the Conservatives under What’s His Name.
So it’s probably a waste
Read more…
By Graeme Decarie, on October 25, 2015, at 1:35 pm And the day when I kick myself for not connecting the dots on Trudeau and the election. A friend sent me an article on Trudeau. I thought it excessively cruel to Trudeau. But it was also full of information I already knew – but which I had not thought about. Harper came to power because the Liberal party had collapsed. Paul Martin had been a lacklustre prime minister – to put it kindly. Then came Dion and Ignatieff who were worse. The Liberal party had lost any sense of direction, of purpose, of image. And there seemed no-one of talent (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on October 25, 2015, at 1:24 pm This and that for your Sunday reading.
- Les Leopold takes a look at the underpinnings of Bernie Sanders’ unexpectedly strong run for the Democratic presidential nomination. And Sean McElwee discusses the type of politics U.S. voters are rightly motivated to change, as big donors have been successful in dictating policy to both major parties.
- The Edmonton Journal comments on the unfairness of first-past-the-post electoral politics both in allocating power across a political system, and in determining regional representation within it.
- Murray Mandryk calls out the Wall government for its contempt for public money when it comes (Read more…)
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