I am not one of those who chortles when political parties fall into embarrassments or controversy; such events only serve as fodder for opposing parties eagerly driven to earn more political street cred. Those antics do not benefit democracy. I speak first as an Ontario voter, despondent at the meagre
Continue readingTag: failure of political leadership
Politics and its Discontents: If The Shoe Fits
For some strange reason, this resonates with me: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: … Your Young Men Will See Visions, Your Old Men Will Dream Dreams.
Although far from a biblical scholar, I find the above line, taken from the Book of Acts, to be an apt title. Even though I am taking it out of context, it encapsulates for me a capacity that the world in general, and Canada in particular, has lost: the capacity
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Response To Russell Brand
Yesterday, I posted a video of Russell Brand excoriating the absence of any real choice when it comes to the vision offered by various political parties. His argument is that they are all essentially cut from the same cloth. A theme close to The Mound of Sound’s heart, he offered
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Russell Brand’s Latest
This one is for my friend The Mound of Sound who, I think, would agree with the sentiments expressed. One thing you can say about Russell Brand – whether or not you agree with everything he says, he always gives us something to think about. Post by Educateinspirechange.org. Recommend this
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: With An Eye To The Future
It is to state the obvious that all progressives long for the day that the Harper regime is ousted from office. What is not so obvious, however, is what shape our country will take once that happens. There are those who place their faith in Justin Trudeau. Others look with
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Is That The Pitter Patter Of Little Feet I Hear?
Sorry. False alarm. Turns out it was the sound of Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath doing a fancy dance as she practices her routine for the November leadership review she is facing. In Toronto this past Saturday, more than 200 members of the party’s provincial council were witness to the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Hail Mary Pass From Andrea?
Some might interpret it thus, in that Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath, desperate to retain her job under increasing demands for her resignation, thinks she has found something to distinguish herself from the Liberals. She is launching a campaign against government sell-offs of public assets in as she works to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On The Training of Marine Mammals (a.k.a. MPs)
As I mentioned in a blog post the other day, I am currently reading Tragedy in the Commons, a book that examines the gross deficits to be found in Canadian parliamentary democracy. One of the recurring complaints of the former MPs interviewed for the book is the lack of independence
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: In Pursuit Of Andrea
My post yesterday on Andrea Horwath’s leadership shortcomings provoked a series of thoughtful responses that I am reproducing below, on the assumption that the majority of blog readers don’t necessarily return to a post to see the ensuing commentary. I hope you enjoy reading the reactions as much as I
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Is Andrea’s Day Of Reckoning Drawing Nigh?
Andrea Horwath, the current leader of the Ontario NDP, about whom I have written the odd past post, may indeed soon be facing the consequences of her recent decision to force an Ontario election that ran the risk, happily averted, of the election of a right-wing Progressive Conservative Party under
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Cowardly Leadership: We All Pay A Price
As I have written in the past, poor leadership costs all of us dearly. Whether looking at local provincial, federal or international politics, the price we pay for leadership that has too high a regard for itself and too little for the people is moral, social, economic and military disarray.
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Justin Trudeau Speaks
But, unfortunately, says nothing. As I have noted elsewhere in this blog and in comments on others’, I have grave misgivings about the Liberal Party under the leadership of Justin Trudeau. Despite the latest EKOS poll showing the party with a commanding lead while the Conservatives continue to sink under
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Our Politicians Serve Nothing But Their Own Ambitions
Given the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza, many in Canada have been dismayed, not by the predictable and uncritical enthusiasm for all things Israeli from the Harper regime, but by the relative silence or complicity demonstrated by the two major opposition leaders, Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair; both have amply
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: It’s Getting Worse, Fast, and We’re Not Getting Ready
“It” refers to severe storm events of the type that flooded Toronto and Calgary in 2013 and that deluged Burlington just days ago. Environment Canada’s senior climatologist David Phillips warns that governments need to plan for a lot more of these wild weather events. “These [once in] 50-year floods are
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Canada’s Searing Moment of Clarity
I hope you didn’t miss it. The events of the past month in that distant corner of the world, the mid-east, shone a light of fierce brilliance on our own Canada that exposed an ugly side of our country for all to see who would not look the other way.
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Harper’s Policy On Gaza: The Canadian Toll
While the cost of the Israeli invasion of Gaza is almost incalculable in turns of human suffering and loss of life, there is another casualty in all of this, one that is far less obvious and, in the eternal scheme of things, I suppose, of lesser consequence: Canada’s psyche and
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Harper, Trudeau and Mulcair – Soft on Terrorism
Let’s begin with the definition of “terrorism.” Merriam-Webster offers up a fairly standard definition: “the use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal.” That sounds exactly like what is going on in Gaza right now. That is
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Climate Change Debate Lives On
The science on the theory of climate change is not settled. There is a powerful, scientific consensus that anthropogenic or man-made climate change is real, here now and worsening. There is a powerful, scientific consensus that man-made climate change is already triggering natural feedback mechanisms that eventually can become “tipping
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Our Monochromatic Political Leadership
The images are graphic and heartbreaking – buildings reduced to rubble, maimed and dead children strewn among that rubble, families fractured, lives broken beyond repair. Were it not for the distancing effect that television news inevitably brings, the pictures would be overwhelming, leaving room for nothing but despair. Thus is
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