Let us get this straight: Apparently will be only one by-election in Alberta before the next general election. Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Michaela Frey (Photo: Facebook/.Michaela Frey). That election will take place in a rural electoral district handpicked to make it easy for premier designate Danielle Smith to win a seat
Continue readingTag: parliamentary democracy
Cowichan Conversations: RAFE: ‘Responsible Government’ and how it blocks democracy – Pt.1
Rafe is revealing what some will be surprised to learn. Jaded blogger types and other seasoned politicos have understood the party control aspect for years but somehow it still flies under the radar. Not Read more…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Was there just a coup in Portugal? Why did Canada’s media ignore the story?
PHOTOS: The São Bento Palace, home of the Assembly of the Republic, in Lisbon. Was it just the site of a constitutional coup with implications for Canada? You’d never know from the local media. Below: Portuguese President Aníbal Cavaco Silva; Portugal’s national flag. Did you know a coalition of the
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Prentice term-limit idea is gimmicky and probably unconstitutional
TweetYou are Jim Prentice. You have the podium and the attention of Alberta’s media. You are the next Premier of Alberta. You can dream big. You could promise to replace all of Alberta’s aging hospitals by 2020, to build a high-speed railway from Calgary to Edmonton, to forge a new relationship with municipalities through Big
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Back To Earth
I had planned this to be my first piece post-holiday, but Nelson Mandela’s passing yesterday prompted my post about that giant who walked among us. I purposely kept it brief, since thousands upon thousands of words will be written about him in the days to come, a testament not only
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Some Inspiration From Kevin Page
There is an excellent piece in this morning’s Star by outgoing Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page. In it, he talks about how his son’s death was the catalyst for his abandoning a natural desire for job security and his subsequent pursuit of the job which has incurred so much Harper
Continue readingcalgaryliberal.com: Budget 2013: Petty Politics in the PCs
The Conservatives, in a grand act of pettiness, have punted the Canadian Taxpayers Federation from the budget lockup on the 7th. It is likely in response to the organization holding the government’s feet to the fire. The budget lockup is a long tradition of the province that invites politicians from the
Continue readingImpolitical: Only in Britain?
Only in Britain, you say. Pity: I only ask because a few days ago the government released a transparently self-serving “response” to a request from its own MPs, showing that it costs as much as $150,000 to respond to a question tabled by an opposition politician in Parliament, and therefore
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: The Agonizing Challenge of Voting in 2015
“If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.” – Emma Goldman There’s been much talk of late about uniting the main opposition parties in some sort of delusional effort to defeat the Harper Regime come the next faux election either as a one-time strategic plan or by way of a
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Over 120 Lawyers Ask for Proposed Environmental Changes to be Removed from Bill C-38
You would think that such a significant resistance from the law community might have an effect on the Regime’s thinking, but don’t count on it. The goal is the full implementation of a neoliberal agenda in the belief that it will be next to impossible to reverse – even were
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: The Bill That Couldn’t Happen Here
Back when I worked for the House of Commons, every time an Omnibus Bill was proposed (and the usual discussions and negotiations around splitting it were occurring) we would joke about the ultimate Omnibus Bill – An Act for the Government of Canada, with everything a government wanted to do
Continue readingImpolitical: C-38 Speaker’s ruling reaction
Key point on Scheer’s ruling and the ongoing discussion over C-38, the government’s monstrous omnibus bill that jams unrelated and consequential bills into the budget process: “It’s something that clearly means we’re going to have to change the way Parliament does business,” Rae said. “If we can’t succeed in doing
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Andrew Coyne On The Decline Of Parliament Under Harper
Despite his right-wing orientation, there has been unmistakable evidence in the work of Andrew Coyne this past year or so that conveys a clear disenchantment with the Harper regime. Using the sad spectacle of David Wilk’s public humiliation, today in the National Post Coyne offers the re-education of the Kootenay-Columbia
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Repressive Tactics Smack of History
Of course the so-called budget bill, stuffed to the gills with non-budgetary items as such, has multiple political purposes, but one of them is clearly to limit dissenting voices within parliament itself and to usurp parliamentary power and transfer it to cabinet – as can be seen, for example, in
Continue readingImpolitical: There’s open government & then there’s not so open government
So Tony Clement was on the Twitter this late afternoon, having his picture taken while at the keyboard, tweeting on the #opengovchat stream during a Treasury Board Secretariat sponsored chat on open government. Open government to the datafiles has a specific meaning, where the objective is to enable open access
Continue readingImpolitical: In Camera government
Beyond all the excitement on the Hill today, there is an important development that Kady O’Malley has noted at the parliamentary committee level that is worth a look. Apparently Conservative MP Mike Wallace of Burlington has put forth a motion at the Government Operations Committee that would mean that all
Continue readingRunesmith's Canadian Content: Occupy: Why Voting Isn’t Enough
Overhead view of the Occupy Toronto encampment, St. James Park (from Torontoist)Al Gore’s book, “The Assault on Reason” is one of the best treatises on American democracy I’ve ever read. Written almost five years ago, the book goes into great detail ab…
Continue readingRunesmith's Canadian Content: Occupy: Why Voting Isn’t Enough
Overhead view of the Occupy Toronto encampment, St. James Park (from Torontoist) Al Gore’s book, “The Assault on Reason” is one of the best treatises on American democracy I’ve ever read. Written almost five years ago, the book goes into great detail about the many ways in which that democracy
Continue readingRunesmith's Canadian Content: Occupy: Why Voting Isn’t Enough
Overhead view of the Occupy Toronto encampment, St. James Park (from Torontoist) Al Gore’s book, “The Assault on Reason” is one of the best treatises on American democracy I’ve ever read. Written almost five years ago, the book goes into great detail about the many ways in which that democracy
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Minority Governments for Dummies (and Tory PMs)
the voters elect the House of Commons to governthe leader of the current government (the government before the election) has the right to meet the House and attempt to gain its confidence, however usually the party with the most seats gets the first op…
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