|
|
By John Klein, on May 21, 2013, at 2:10 pm This whole Mike Duffy scandal isn’t new, but it is big news now, because further details came to light last week. We learned that Duffy was basically bribed by the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, so an audit wouldn’t continue or look so bad for the Duffster Fraduster senator.
Will the Conservatives survive the month intact? Sixth Estate assumes so, but I’m hoping this straw might finally break a little “Nasty Party” back. The Liberals eventually came down after people assumed they were so corrupt due to Adscam that anything would be better. Well, the (Read more…)
By Christine, on May 20, 2013, at 2:38 pm * We are living in interesting times, as the saying goes. Here in Canada, the house of cards that is the federal Conservative government of Stephen Harper is starting to self-destruct; the only surprising thing to me is that it took this long to happen. The Harper government is throwing bodies overboard as fast as […]
By The Arbourist, on May 18, 2013, at 12:47 pm What is democracy about these days? Looking to the North American model to the south of Canada, one begins to worry that idea of responsible, accountable government is a sadly antiquated notion. Bill Moyers and his guests detail what is happening in Washington. Revolving doors, “dark” money, influence peddling – a veritable laundry list of bad ethical practice is the norm, and the public good is but a memory.
Take the time, gain some insight and arm yourself with the knowledge of what is happening in what was once a great democratic nation.
Filed under: Politics Tagged: (Read more…)
By Stephen Elliott-Buckley, on May 14, 2013, at 6:22 pm Here we are: only hours to go until the polls close.
What will be the next BC government?
What are your hopes, fears, dreams, goals?
This page will refresh every 15 seconds, or you can manually reload it.
Please add in your comments below
What are your seat predictions? What do you think will be the final popular vote results? Will Christy Clark lose her seat? If the Liberals lose, will Christy Clark (a) resign tonight, (b) vow to rebuild the party, or (c) take time to reflect on her future?
/*< ![CDATA[ */ setTimeout(function(){live_blogging_poll("6029");}, 15000) /*]]>*/
15.49
OK, final popular vote:
NDP: (Read more…)
By EclecticLip, on May 14, 2013, at 2:54 pm Here’s to hoping that any and all British Columbians reading this, take their opportunity to vote.
In the broad sweep of history, with precious few examples, democracy is a fairly new phenomenon — not unlike the concept of retirement — so it would be a pity to waste the opportunity for political involvement, that almost none of one’s ancestors enjoyed. Unless they were royals, nobles or conniving courtiers — but how likely is that, really? Just once, I’d love to hear about a reincarnation party where everyone dressed up as subsistence farmers, existing tenuously on the precipitous (Read more…)
By The Mound of Sound, on May 11, 2013, at 10:38 am Guardian enviro-scribe, George Monbiot, took the arrival of a recrod, 400 ppm concentration of atmospheric CO2 to deliver a few thoughts on our losing battle against climate change and what really stands in the way of our hope for progress.
“The data go back 800,000 years: that’s the age of the oldest fossil air bubbles extracted from Dome C, an ice-bound summit in the high Antarctic. And throughout that time there has been nothing like this. At no point in the preindustrial record have concentrations of carbon dioxide in the air risen above 300 parts per million (ppm). 400ppm (Read more…)
By John Klein, on May 10, 2013, at 10:00 am Good news on the RoboCon front: A team of talented, non-political-party-aligned Canadians is working to notify masses of people of the piles of evidence detailing the largest election fraud scheme in Canadian history.
There are piles of evidence. I’ve collected some of the most important bits here for you to listen to, or look through.
==
“The Conservative Party can say absolutely definitively it has no role in any of this.” – Stephen Harper, PM, in the House of Commons, 2012. Now it’s 2013, and Conservative campaign worker Michael Sona is charged with illegal robocalling.
Guelph was Ground (Read more…)
By John Klein, on May 10, 2013, at 1:34 am I found a very worthwhile campaign to fight misinformation and apathy with robocalls and art by non-political-partiers, and hope you’ll assist with its crowdfunding. If you can’t make a PayPal payment, they’ll take Interac email money also if you ask.
I’ll be talking more about this in the morning, along with a few quotes that help show the Prime Minister lied last year about Conservative Party involvement in RoboCon.
==
I was looking back at my early predictions for what the 2012 Robocalls scandal could wind up doing to Canadian politics. A set of scenarios for an early general election (Read more…)
By John Klein, on May 8, 2013, at 7:03 pm The verdict for the Robocalls Federal Court challenge is still not in, after the judge started deliberating and writing back in December. No rush, I guess. Why hurry when we’ve coped for 2 years already with a probably illegitimate government? They are willing to run a confessed election criminal in Labrador, and promise him a cabinet seat again should voters be stupid enough to vote for Penashue again. Fool them one, shame on the Cons; Fool them twice, it’s from working closely with Elections Canada and a compliant, docile media.
I’m pretty pissed off that it’s nearing the middle of (Read more…)
By Lorne, on May 5, 2013, at 1:57 pm
The other day I wrote a post on the decline of democracy under the Harper regime. Included was reference to Bob Hepburn’s recent piece on the same subject. Although I am not quite as cynical as the letter-writer, Star reader Al Dunn of Kingston, in responding to Hepburn, expresses the view that democracy is, in fact only a mirage. See what you think. Here is his letter from today’s edition:
Growing disconnect between Canadians and Parliament, Column, May 2
David Herle is supposedly deep in thought about our fading democracy, looking for answers to fix the status quo. He (Read more…)
By Lorne, on May 2, 2013, at 3:37 pm
What is one of the chief effects of the Harper regime’s preference for an ideologically-based policy model over one premised on logic, facts and empirical evidence, as explored in my earlier post? The decline, perhaps even the demise, of a healthy democracy in which citizens are engaged and informed participants, thereby allowing an ideologically-driven government to pursue its agenda largely unimpeded.
In today’s Toronto Star, columnist Bob Hepburn writes about the state of our democracy and the growing gap between Parliament and Canadians. An interview with David Herle, former Paul Martin campaign strategist and principal partner at The Gandalf (Read more…)
By Lorne, on May 2, 2013, at 3:37 pm
What is one of the chief effects of the Harper regime’s preference for an ideologically-based policy model over one premised on logic, facts and empirical evidence, as explored in my earlier post? The decline, perhaps even the demise, of a healthy democracy in which citizens are engaged and informed participants, thereby allowing an ideologically-driven government to pursue its agenda largely unimpeded.
In today’s Toronto Star, columnist Bob Hepburn writes about the state of our democracy and the growing gap between Parliament and Canadians. An interview with David Herle, former Paul Martin campaign strategist and principal partner at The Gandalf (Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on April 22, 2013, at 4:32 pm By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: The Federal Court of Canada has dismissed a request by former Parliamentary Budget Officer, Kevin Page, to clarify the office’s mandate. In his application, Page had also sought ”judgment affirming he has the jurisdiction to seek the information” relating to the $5.2 billion in fiscal savings outlined in [...]
The post Federal Court dismisses former PBO Kevin Page’s application appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By neath, on April 18, 2013, at 8:28 pm The Dufala Brothers have been selected to be part of the Hidden City Festival in 2013. Their installation will be at Globe Dye Works, and will feature materials sourced through RAIR. Check out their video!
We have the dormant, yet exciting Canada Malt Plant along the Lachine Canal in Montreal that would make an excellent art meets urban exploration cooperative.
It certainly falling in line with my concept of gentrification which is community based as opposed to just individuals making real estate investments. There is room for everyone and everything in a truly democratic city!
By John Klein, on April 18, 2013, at 5:33 pm One of the companies involved in defending the Conservative MPs who are having their riding wins challenged by the Council of Canadians and citizens of six ridings affected by fraudulent Elections Canada robocalls, is in financial difficulty.
Cash-strapped Tory fundraising company owes federal government $1 million in unpaid taxes. canada.com/news/Cash%2Bst… @stphnmaher— Glen McGregor (@glen_mcgregor) April 18, 2013
In documents filed in U.S. bankruptcy court, iMarketing Solutions Group Inc. (IMSGI) lists the Canada Revenue Agency as well as the governments of Quebec, Nova Scotia and Manitoba among its creditors.
The company, through its subsidiary Responsive Marketing Group,
. . . → Read More: Saskboy’s Abandoned Stuff: ConCalls: Con-Friendly RMG and Debts to Canada #RoboCon #cdnpoli
By Obert Madondo, on April 14, 2013, at 10:23 pm By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: A big announcement from the Adrian Dix and the BC New Democrats today. If elected, an NDP government will institute several measures to reduce the corroding influence of big money on our democracy. First of such progressive measures will be a ban on union and corporate donations. [...]
The post In BC, Dix and NDP will ban union and corporate donations if elected appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By Guest Blog, on April 12, 2013, at 6:20 am Council of Canadians celebrates vote for transparency and democracy By: Council of Canadians | Press Release: NANAIMO, B.C. – The Council of Canadians and its Mid Island chapter are celebrating a decision by City Council last night to demand a permanent exemption for the City from the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and [...]
The post City of Nanaimo asks to be excluded from CETA appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By Paul S. Graham, on April 11, 2013, at 6:38 pm March 14, 2013: The Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, in partnership with OURS Winnipeg, For the Love of Winnipeg and Planners’ Network Manitoba, held a well attended public forum at the Millennium Library to discuss how decisions about land use are made in Winnipeg.
In a wide ranging discussion, Winnipeg’s civic government was criticized for lacking vision, accountability and transparency, along with a tendency to favor the private interests of developers over those of citizens and communities.
Topics included the Armstrong Point Residents Association fight to prevent private school expansion, the OURS group fight to preserve green (Read more…)
By The Mound of Sound, on April 10, 2013, at 1:30 am So writes former U.S. deputy treasury secretary, Paul Craig Roberts, in his column for CounterPunch, America, Land of the Lost.
Roberts recently published the e-book, The Failure of Laissez-Faire Capitalism, reviewed on this blog three weeks ago. Plenty of offensive truth-telling there. Now, Roberts confronts the shrill unacceptability of being both honest and open in modern Western culture.
Throughout history truth tellers have suffered and court historians have prospered. It is the same today.
If you tell readers what is really going on, they want to know why you can’t be positive. Why are
. . . → Read More: The Disaffected Lib: "In America truth is offensive, If you tell the truth, you are offensive."
By Thor, on April 9, 2013, at 1:51 am People Aren’t Smart Enough For Democracy To Flourish, Scientists Say
This article touches on a core problem for democracy. But add to this the fact that the corporate media and the corporate parties (Conservatives and Liberals in Canada) prey on this weakness of the populace in order to sway the people to vote against the people’s own interests. This makes anything that improves the democratic process, like proportional representation (or even procedures that take baby steps toward P.R.), critical to helping make democracy work better for the people. Better education and less corporate control of the media (Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on April 8, 2013, at 11:35 am By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: We’re invited to join the Hupacasath First Nation’s ongoing fight to delay the ratification of the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) Via WeStandTogetherCanada on YouTube: To learn more about what the Hupacasath First Nation is doing to delay ratification of the China Canada Trade [...]
The post FIPA: The Greatest Threat to Canada’s Future (VIDEO) appeared first on The Canadian Progressive | News & Analysis.
By John Klein, on April 2, 2013, at 5:55 pm It’s been more than 701 days since Elections Canada first became aware of a nation wide malicious robocalling scheme to misdirect non-Conservative voters away from legitimate polling stations for the May 2, 2011 election where Stephen Harper swept to power as a majority government.
I don’t think Michael Sona, who has been charged by Elections Canada, can be fully responsible for the robocalls made in Guelph on behalf of Conservative supporters, nor could he have had sole access to phone numbers used in other parts of the country. I’ve documented the technical reasons behind these beliefs, over the past 13
. . . → Read More: Saskboy’s Abandoned Stuff: ConCalls: 701 days, 1 charge, 234 ridings #RoboCon
By The Mound of Sound, on April 2, 2013, at 10:41 am He writes of the plight of Britons but he could as easily be speaking to you.
Most of the world’s people are decent, honest and kind. Most of those who dominate us are inveterate bastards…
“With a most inhuman cruelty, they who have put out the people’s eyes reproach them of their blindness.” This government, whose mismanagement of the economy has forced so many into the arms of the state, blames the sick, the unemployed, the underpaid for a crisis caused by the feral elite – and punishes them accordingly. Most of those affected by the bedroom tax
. . . → Read More: The Disaffected Lib: Monbiot on the "Inveterate Bastards" Who Have Hijacked Our Democracy
By Larry Hubich, on March 25, 2013, at 10:06 am
By John Klein, on March 20, 2013, at 11:20 am Kady at CBC learned that Peter Penashue’s campaign started while he was still a Minister, suggesting the Conservatives calculated at least one last photo-op before he stepped down as Minister and an MP for Labrador.
Yesterday I sent an email to Elections Canada and three MPs, regarding the startling lack of charges laid against Penashue. I suspect Elections Canada is seeking a way to justify ordering only a “compliance agreement” where they will make him spend less than his limit in his upcoming election campaign, even though he blew past the last limit with impunity and tens of thousands
. . . → Read More: Saskboy’s Abandoned Stuff: ConCalls: Penashue Campaigns Early #cdnpoli
|
|
