This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Nick Falvo points out the massive cost savings that come from investing in Housing First programming. And Keith Gerein writes that if it wanted to help people rather than merely looking to vilify those in need, the UCP would be investing in
Continue readingTag: Peggy Nash
Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Charles Smith and Larry Savage write that Justin Trudeau’s use of back-to-work legislation against postal workers may have far more significant consequences than he seems to have anticipated. And Christo Aivalis examines the next steps for Canada’s labour movement – as well
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Pipeline perceptions, percentages and past Parliamentary performance dog NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair in Alberta’s capital
PHOTOS: Thomas Mulcair in Edmonton … shortly before the disappointing federal election on Oct. 19, 2015. Below: Canadian Labour Congress President Hassan Yussuff, former NDP MP and leadership candidate Peggy Nash, and influential Alberta union leader…
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Why I Am Not Promoting ABC or Strategic Voting This Election. I Will Not Get Fooled Again
So as you know I took some time off from my blog. I was tired and needed a break, but knew that I’d start up again, when the election was near. I didn’t blog about any of the leadership races, but did have an opinion. I think the Liberals got
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Joe Fiorito discusses the spread of income inequality in Canada. And Doug Henwood reviews Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century, while wondering what will follow from the empirical observation that accumulated wealth tends to perpetuate itself to the detriment of most of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Donovan Vincent reports on the Institute for Social Research’s study showing Canadians are highly concerned about income inequality: “People think the income gap has gotten worse. What was surprising to me was the universality of this belief. Younger people, older, higher levels
Continue readingImpolitical: Restore our anthem politics
I support the “Restore our Anthem” initiative to replace the words “in all thy sons command” to the gender neutral “in all of us command.” The reactions early on to this latest initiative in the letters to the editor sections of the National Post and Globe were fairly supportive, sometimes
Continue readingImpolitical: Restore our anthem politics
I support the “Restore our Anthem” initiative to replace the words “in all thy sons command” to the gender neutral “in all of us command.”
The reactions early on to this latest initiative in the letters to the editor sections of the National Post and Globe were fairly supportive, sometimes a little silly but definitely not reflective of a major backlash of the variety that was seen in 2010 following the Harper government’s effort to take this step.
The Harper Throne Speech of early 2010 came following Harper’s second prorogation of Parliament, both viewed as illegitimate. The second was to avoid accountability on Afghanistan and torture allegations. Harper’s second prorogation was lengthy and provoked large street demonstrations that many of us attended. Harper justified that prorogation with the claim that he needed to “recalibrate” his government’s agenda. Yet what he brought forth, proposals such as Seniors Day and the national anthem lyric changes, wasn’t viewed as substantive enough to have shut down Parliament for the sake of his “recalibration.” This may have had something to do with the disapproval of the proposed lyric changes to the anthem expressed at that time. That and the Olympics buzz.
And who wants the Prime Minister, who is widely viewed as the lone gun leader of this government, re-writing the words of the national anthem in any event? Better that it come from a popular movement to test the waters and let support build. That’s what this new initiative is doing.
Flash forward to today, a political point. Peggy Nash’s office responded earlier today to someone I know on the anthem change with this email:
From:
Date: October 9, 2013 at 3:07:30 PM EDT
To:
Subject: RE: Attention: This issue is important to me as a CanadianThank you for contacting our office to share your opinion on our national anthem. We welcome the debate, and as NDP leader Tom Mulcair has said, we feel that the anthem can always be improved.
Unfortunately, under the Conservatives gender equality in Canada has significantly eroded. They shut down Status of Women Canada offices, weakened its mandate and flatly ignored the Pay Equity Task Force’s recommendations to promote fairness in Canadian workplaces. They also made no improvement to programs that can best support women’s equality—such as affordable child care, Employment Insurance, home care for loved ones and affordable housing.
Once again, thank you for your sharing your view on gender inclusive language in the national anthem. New Democrats will continue to support and push for gender equality.
Peggy Nash
Member of Parliament – Députée | Parkdale – High Park (emphasis added)
Except, that is not what Tom Mulcair said at all. He did not leave any doors open to improve the words of the anthem:
“We seem to have agreed on the English and French versions as they are and I think that’s probably a good thing.”
I searched but could not find any modification of the Mulcair statement in any subsequent comments by him.
2013 is not 2010. And this movement to change the words comes from a multi-partisan group of individuals who seek to garner support. They should be encouraged to do so by those who care about gender equality.
Continue readingImpolitical: Restore our anthem politics
I support the “Restore our Anthem” initiative to replace the words “in all thy sons command” to the gender neutral “in all of us command.” The reactions early on to this latest initiative in the letters to the editor sections of the National Post and Globe were fairly supportive, sometimes
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: WILL THE REAL GWYN MORGAN PLEASE STAND UP!
I have written this piece in an attempt to evaluate the actual contribution to society of a prominent Canadian who espouses extreme right-wing views. I feel it is important, from time to time, to compare actual performance to stated principles. If you find this critique of interest, please send the link
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Budget 2013: NDP Urges Harper To Change Course, Put Canadians First
Budget is an opportunity to start building a fairer, greener, more prosperous Canada By New Democrats (Press Release) |Feb. 21, 2013: OTTAWA – With our economy continuing to underperform and structural imbalances worsening, NDP Finance Critic Peggy Nash (Parkdale – High Park) is calling on the Conservative government to change course
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Aagh, Harper Conservatives Nuked Democratic NDP Motion On Role Of PBO
By Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive, Feb. 14, 2013: Showing their burgeoning disdain for accountability, transparency, financial oversight and the independence of federal watchdogs, the Harper Conservatives earlier this week nuked a progressive NDP motion on the role of the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO). The motion, tabled by the Official Opposition’s Finance critic, Peggy
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: NDP leadership election campaign debt
The NDP leadership campaign sparked considerable interest among Canadians and saw NDP membership soar, rising over 50% in six months to 128,351 on election day. Many of these first time members, such as myself, may well be interested in the NDP but may not be long term loyalists. After the campaign,
Continue readingcenterandleft: Free Riders and Dire Needers
Breaking news: bad jobs exist. In a classic case of Conservatives boiling down an issue to a wide-sweeping preposterous claim, Jim Flaherty claimed that “there is no bad job”. Yikes Flaherty is proposing reforms to the Employment Insurance program, making it harder for Canadians to remain on the program for
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: #ndpldr pics, video and a few thoughts
It was a very long Saturday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre — about 12 hours for me, longer for others — for the NDP to arrive at what, for many, was an inevitable result: the election of Thomas Mulcair as their new leader. With Mulcair set to take his
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Peggy Nash Survives Major Teleprmpter Malfunction
Suddenly, the text started zipping up the screen then it stopped, wound back, and then started zipping by again. Peggy stumbled a bit, improvised re her collective bargaining victories, and the wind-up music kicked. Peggy was ill-served on this one. And the two municipal pols she brought in flubbed their
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 – Policy Highlights
With the NDP’s leadership convention set to start tomorrow (and assorted hospitality suites already starting up tonight), I won’t be able to finish off my initial plan to put together full policy reviews for each of the candidates. But instead, I’ll take some time to highlight a few innovative ideas
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup
I didn’t think much could come along at this point in the NDP’s leadership campaign to significantly change my voting considerations [edit: other than the type of organizational problem discussed here]. But the CROP poll published in Le Soleil may well do just that. No, it isn’t a surprise to
Continue readingPop The Stack: For Once, I’m Glad I’m Not Voting
Democracy is the greatest sport on Earth. I feed on elections and leadership contests but I’m kind of glad I don’t have a vote this Saturday in the NDP leadership convention. Since I don’t have a vote I haven’t spent as much time researching all the leaders as I could
Continue readingPop The Stack: For Once, I’m Glad I’m Not Voting
Democracy is the greatest sport on Earth. I feed on elections and leadership contests but I’m kind of glad I don’t have a vote this Saturday in the NDP leadership convention. Since I don’t have a vote I haven’t spent as much time researching all the leaders as I could
Continue reading