Ottawa lawyer Paul Champ filed a statement of claim in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice yesterday seeking $4.8 million damages for “private nuisance” and $5 million in punitive damages for the beleaguered residents of the national capital’s downtown core from the outlaw truckers occupying the city. The $9.8-million class
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Alberta Politics: Jason Kenney is Canada’s least popular premier
Jason Kenney is Canada’s least popular premier. When you add in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he’s also Canada’s least popular first minister. Chart showing Jason Kenney is Canada’s least popular premier (Image: Screenshot of Campaign Research Inc. slide show). I’m not going to belabour this point, but Jason Kenney is
Continue readingAlberta Politics: No way Conservatives will admit they look foolish for calls to legislate CN strikers back to work
Now that a tentative agreement in the national strike by 3,200 CN yard workers and train crew members has been reached in collective bargaining as God and the Canada Industrial Relations Board both intended, you’d think the Conservative politicians who were screeching for Ottawa to intervene and order the strikers
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What media mostly misses about the national rail strike by CN train crews and yard workers
Here in Alberta, what news coverage there has been about the strike for safer working conditions by Canadian National Railway train crews and rail yard workers has focused on the increasingly agitated calls by Conservative politicians for punitive back-to-work legislation. There is very little reporting on the issues behind the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Steven Greenhouse discusses how the U.S.’ economy is rigged against workers. And Eric Levitz writes that Donald Trump’s giveaway to the rich worked only as a scam against the rest of the country. – Matthew Townsend and Scott Lanman point out that minimum
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Quebec premier vows drive to slash oil use; Alberta premier calls climate worry ‘flavour of the month’
Over the weekend, Quebec Premier François Legault vowed to implement an ambitious electrification drive that would reduce the province’s use of oil by 40 per cent by 2030, which in case you’re not counting happens to be in only 11 years. Quebec will electrify transportation systems, buildings and businesses to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Bob Hepburn discusses how Doug Ford has turned a populist campaign into government solely for the benefit of the privileged few. And Paul Krugman rightly notes that it’s the Republicans who stoke resentment in the U.S.’ rust belt who actually express contempt for
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Has Trudeau committed treason?’ The answer is no and the question is completely bonkers!
Donna Kennedy-Glans, by all accounts an intelligent and accomplished Alberta Conservative, recently posted and pinned a Tweet asking, “Has Trudeau committed treason?” If her intention was to grab the attention of Alberta’s chattering classes, she succeeded. If she was out for attention, though, I’m not sure she really wanted the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Defeated in UCP nomination battle, Highwood MLA Wayne Anderson takes complaint to Elections Alberta
Is it just seasonal, or is this the new normal? No, I’m not talking about the weather and climate change. I’m talking about the daily stream of revelations about unsavoury goings on inside Alberta’s United Conservative Party under the leadership of Jason Kenney. Highwood MLA Wayne Anderson has filed a
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Day Stephen Harper Got Punked
Golly. I see Stephen Harper FINALLY got a chance to show why some weird religious organization, named him the Statesman of the Year.No. Not at this meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, the creator of the "Bibi Bomb" as inspired by the Road Runner.Because that was just man love.Read more »
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Quebec election: What Francois Legault should do
Now that the dust is settling, a PQ minority government will take over in Quebec with roughly one-third of the vote, while the Legault Coalition party will end up with far fewer seats than its roughly 27% of the votes should grant it. However, Legault’s Coalition party now holds the
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Quebec Votes
Pauline Marois, perhaps Quebec’s first female Premier, tells a young girl that she too could one day run for office…assuming she speaks French, of course. The polls have closed across the Nation of Quebec. The campaign started as a truly unpredictable three-way race. It wasn’t hard to imagine a scenario
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Why Quebec should give Charest the pink slip on Tuesday
Jean Charest and his Liberals have been a relatively good government for the past nine years, but it is time for that province to elect a new Premier with a new agenda. Charest has done many things that are positive. His Quebec North policy is the right thing for Quebec.
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Your Guess is as Good as Mine
Three parties entered the Quebec election with a chance to win, and while the PQ appears to be stumbling to victory, it’s nearly impossible to predict what will happen on Tuesday. Of course, that’s not stopping anyone. La Presse (thanks to CROP) projects a PQ minority, while the National Post
Continue readingImpolitical: Legault raises the notwithstanding clause
This may sow some sober second thoughts during the last week of this Quebec campaign: “Quebec party mulls notwithstanding clause to retain MDs.” One of CAQ leader Francois Legault’s major promises in the election campaign is to ensure that all Quebecers have a family doctor within a year of the
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Quebec Votes
Jean Charest has been around forever. He’s the longest serving Quebec Premier since Maurice Duplesis, and has been PLQ leader for over 14 years. Older Quebecers no doubt remember him from his role on the “Non” campaign in 1995, and his time as a curly haired Cabinet Minister in the
Continue readingBlunt Objects: Death of the CAQ, Return of the PQ?
That was certainly quick. A couple of months after François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) swallowed up the old Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ), and ended up with eight experienced members of l’Assemblée Nationale, the party has spent the last four polls from three different companies in third place, behind
Continue readingBlunt Objects: What do Quebec and the GOP Primary Have in Common?
There seems to be a new frontrunner every week. Well, maybe that’s not exactly what’s happening in Quebec, and no longer now with the GOP primary as conservative voters line up behind Rick “Don’t Go To College Kids” Santorum, but the situation is eerily similar. Like Newt Gingrich or Rick
Continue readingBlunt Objects: Quebec a la post-2011 and Equipe Autonomiste
Here at Blunt Objects we seek to provide lovely graphics wherever possible, such as now. Here’s what I’ve culminated so far for Quebec’s rapidly changing political environment (which now includes yet ANOTHER party, which I’ll get to in a bit here). Here’s where the parties stand at right now: You
Continue readingBlunt Objects: Four MNAs Become Caquistes; New By-Election for 2012
I love that title – “caquiste.” It works, doesn’t it? So four independent MNAs have joined François Legault’s Coaltion and have become its first sitting deputies before the merger deal with the ADQ is finalized. The four MNAs are former pequistes Daniel Ratthé and Benoît Charette, and former adequistes Éric
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