Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Dan Gardner writes that the COVID-19 pandemic is exactly the type of rare but severe event which should be the subject of thorough public preparation. And Eric Neudorf explains why so many governments failed to appreciate and act on the severity of the
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Accidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Gerard Di Trolio discusses the need for an active labour movement to respond to the contempt for collective action shared by the Libs and the Cons. And Nicole Goodkind reports on the Trump administration’s plan to deprive workers of billions in wages by
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On settled issues
As Dan Gardner points out, Stephen Harper is continuing to misrepresent the nature of Canada’s system of government. But he’s nonetheless made a noteworthy concession in doing so: PM: HERE’S THE QUESTION THOUGH. UM IS IT A CORRECT ASSUMPTION TO MAKE THAT WHICHEVER PARTY ENDS UP, IF WE’RE IN A
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on the Cons’ attempt to spin an election narrative out of a fictional bogeyman rather than protecting or helping Canadians. For further reading…– The National Academy of Sciences offers a comparison of death rates from multiple causes in Canada and elsewhere, while Statistics Canada has more detailed data. And
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Tories On Dope
Justice Minister Peter MacKay is hinting that the government might take steps to “modernize” Canada’s marijuana laws: Fining pot smokers for possession of small amounts is one policy the government will likely consider.“That doesn’t mean decriminalizing or legalizing, but it does mean giving police options, for example, to issue fines
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Tavia Grant reports on the most recent world happiness report from the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. And David Doorey points out a rather striking similarity among the countries at the top of the list, while Dan Gardner highlights Stephen Harper’s longstanding
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: The citizen as consumer, as a mere "marketing target."
http://tinyurl.com/9nu7j9c Under a neoliberal regime such as ours, anything – including your very soul – can be commodified. (Ask those members of the evangelical church to which OGL apparently belongs.) The very concept of consumer assumes a market. Yet we’ve naturalized the concept so unconsciously no one questions the term
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Michelle Ervin discusses Ed Broadbent’s ideas to start closing Canada’s yawning income gap: Broadbent outlined four broad prescriptions for bridging this gap, and ultimately, for creating a fairer society: investing in good jobs, strengthening income supports, increasing access to public services and reforming
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Friday reading. – The Cons’ latest line of talking-point addiction isn’t passing without some substantial comment from Canada’s political press. Today, Jeffrey Simpson lambastes Stephen Harper and his party for trying to wipe out their own history and promises, while Dan Gardner considers the Cons to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Tim Harper weighs in on the Cons’ latest campaign of coordinated lies, and notes that the NDP looks to have learned one important lesson in how to respond: The NDP may be here at the federal level for the first time, but they
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Kady points out that despite the Cons’ best efforts to stonewall, the Robocon investigation in Guelph looks to have locked in on the source of their fraudulent robocalls. And while it’s indeed somewhat concerning that Elections Canada hasn’t reached anywhere near the same
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Vaughn Palmer discusses the unfortunate gap between the outrages that may lead to a government being pushed out of power, and a new government’s ability to actually reverse what’s been done. Which, a propos of nothing, makes it rather important to push
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Assorted content to end your week. – Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer theorize that we should discuss the economy as a garden rather than a machine: A well-designed tax system — in which everyone contributes and benefits — ensures that nutrients are circulated widely to fertilize and foster growth. Reducing
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Miscellaneous material to end your week. – Dan Gardner nicely sums up how any Con cabinet shuffles are utterly irrelevant since Stephen Harper prefers ciphers to functional ministers in any event: In the past, parties in power always had factions, and ministers with their own political clout, and these provided
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Assorted content to end your week. – Dan Gardner rightly notes that we should be encouraging more public advocacy from charities and other groups with useful input to offer into policy debates – not shutting it down as the Cons are doing: “Many charities have acquired a wealth of knowledge
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Assorted content to end your week. – I wouldn’t want to take Dan Gardner’s conclusion as to the effects of power as an immutable truth – as he himself notes in pointing out means of minimizing its risks. But it’s certainly an apt description of what’s happened since the Harper
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Dan Gardner draws some parallels between the Cons’ attacks on Europe and the well-worn (and entirely false) Reagan-era “welfare queen” line of spin. But I wonder whether the Cons are making matters somewhat more difficult for themselves by trying to negotiate a free
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Friday reading. – Michael Harris neatly sums up the Harper Cons’ legacy: In many ways, the Harper legacy will come down to this: how much can he get away with? Incumbency furnishes a speedy getaway car. From a legislative perspective, Harper might as well be King
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Robert Cross and Glen McGregor point out how “Pierre Poutine” covered his tracks in the course of sending out fraudulent robocalls to direct voters away from the correct polls. And it’s particularly worth noting how blatantly the entire scheme was planned to conceal
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading. – Lana Payne tears into the Cons for being interested solely in developing a junk labour market where both work safety and income security are sorely lacking. And Chris Selley offers his own rebuttal to the “no such thing as a bad job” mentality:
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