If you were wondering about that inquiry by the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association into inaccurate polling that marred the October 2017 Calgary civic election, don’t hold your breath. Publication of the inquiry by three panelists engaged by the national standards association for public opinion research companies was expected soon
Continue readingTag: ipolitics
Alberta Politics: The full-court press is now under way to get Canadians ship their tax dollars to right-wing ‘legacy’ media
PHOTOS: Canada’s newspaper publishers are finally getting a grip on how to deal with this new-fangled technology stuff, like that Internet thing. Just pick up the phone and get the federal government to give you money! Below: Postmedia columnist Andrew Coyne, Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey, former Globe and CBC journalist
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Why Canadians are lucky Rona Ambrose was hanging around the Caribbean with a billionaire
PHOTOS: The scene abroad N. Murray Edwards’ yacht imagined. Actual Canadian bitumen billionaires and their onboard guests may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real N. Murray Edwards, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau aboard a helicopter, although not the Aga Khan’s, Opposition Leader Rona Ambrose in a yacht harbor, and
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Harper’s Message Control
Some might call it extortion. Others, a gag order. Some would perhaps be more comfortable with the term loyalty oath. Whatever the label, however, one thing is clear: in Harperland, those who vie to carry the party’s electoral banner must agree to give up some basic freedoms or pay a
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Openness And Transparency: Not In Harperland
The gulf between the open and reasonable persona Stephen Harper tried to convey during last week’s debate and the Nixonian truth about the man is a yawning one indeed. Until and unless Canadians become widely aware of that reality, there is still very much a chance that he could win
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta shows why there will be no NDP-Liberal entente, Nathan Cullen’s mistimed musing notwithstanding
PHOTOS: Loose-lipped New Democrat Nathan Cullen – whatever was he thinking? Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, former Alberta Liberal leader Raj Sherman, federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and NDP strategist Ian Capstick. Whatever Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen was thinking when he flapped his lips to the delight of the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Rick Mercer Assesses Andrew Scheer’s Job Performance
Unsurprisingly, the House Speaker gets a failing grade. My two favourite lines: “Show me one person who believes he’s done a good job on the decorum front. 308 meth addicts on the dance floor have better manners.” “We [should] replace the Speaker with a bag of flour with a smiley
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The CBC Ombudsman Makes Her Ruling
As reported by Andrew Mitrovica on iPolitiics, the CBC ombudsman, Esther Enkin, has finally reached her decision on the many conflict of interest complaints lodged against Rex Murphy and Peter Mansbridge. Briefly, here is what she said: “Given that Journalistic Standards and Practices spells out a commitment to independence, and
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Future bleak for Brent Rathgeber’s CBC disclosure bill; perhaps less so for Rex Murphy’s commentaries
Your blogger with CBC commentator Rex Murphy, quite possibly on his way to a speaking engagement with the oil industry. Below: the same blogger with Edmonton-St. Albert Member of Parliament Brent Rathgeber, who has a date with history next week; the controversial Press Progress Rex Murphy info-graphic. ST. ALBERT, Alberta
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: An Incoherent Message From Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird
Richard Hub Hughes-Political Blogger Few could argue that the UN couldn’t be improved. They often are tangled up in their own structures that seem to handcuff them when facing real problems such as the the current mess in Syria, but Canada has just been humiliated and downgraded once again by the
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Conservative MP Rob Anders: Thomas Mulcair Hastened Jack Layton’s Death
Conservative MP Rob Anders is “a politician who isn’t afraid to speak his mind”. Supposedly. He once called South African anti-apartheid icon, Nelson Mandela, a “terrorist“. But this time, the Calgary West MP went too far. During an interview with iPolitics’ Laura Stone, Anders suggested that NDP Leader, Thomas Mulcair, helped push Jack Layton into
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Harper Government: Abuses Of A Nixonian Character
That is the description that Lawrence Martin applies to the Harper government in his latest column for iPolitics as he reflects on the vital and valiant role journalism played in uncovering the Watergate Scandal 40 years ago. However, while acknowledging some bright spots, Martin laments the unevenness of the contemporary
Continue reading