Connect the dots, Mr. Prime Minister! That newspaper industry bailout package you’re foolishly planning in the name of preserving democracy is principally designed to keep a corporation afloat that will do anything, no matter how unethical, to destroy your government. If you want proof, look no further than Postmedia’s astonishing
Continue readingTag: Rob Ford
Alberta Politics: Uh-oh! Look for unhappy campers: Premier Kenney has vowed to end ‘the War on Fun’
Hey, who can be against ending Canada’s War on Fun? Not me, and not Jason Kenney either by the sound of it. You have to admit, though, the Alberta premier’s announcement yesterday that he plans to end what he calls “the War on Fun” by allowing the booze to flow
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Call For Leadership
Jason Kenney’s UCP has achieved a majority in Alberta. Proclaiming that Alberta is open for business and that “[h]ope is on the horizon,” he joins Ontario’s Doug Ford both in identical sloganeering and rabid contempt for all measures related to carbon taxes or anything else that would discourage the consumption
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Could This Be The End Of The Con War On The Carbon Tax?
As we all know Andrew Scheer is on a creepy crusade to destroy Justin Trudeau.And he was counting on the federal government's carbon tax to help him do that.The plan was he would attack the tax like a rabid hyena. Trudeau would defend it. The mob would scream for money, or blood.Until
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The furious denunciations of Tzeporah Berman in Alberta are unprecedented, hypocritical and dangerous
Orthodoxy means not thinking – not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness. — George Orwell, 1984 + + + The stream of vituperation directed at B.C. environmentalist Tzeporah Berman for her consistent opposition to Alberta’s pipeline demands is unprecedented, hypocritical and dangerous. I am not just talking about the death threats
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Notwithstanding common sense, no one should be surprised by Doug Ford’s use of Section 33 to shore up his lousy law
No one should be astonished Ontario Premier Doug Ford plans to use the Canadian Constitution’s Notwithstanding Clause to wiggle out of a judge’s scathing ruling declaring his hurried and sloppy legislation to cut Toronto City Council from 47 to 25 members to be unconstitutional. Mr. Ford and a lot of
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Is Doug Ford Already Going Over the Deep End?
As I'm sure you know, I never believed that Doug Ford was anywhere near qualified to be the Premier of Ontario.And I always knew it was only a matter of time before his inner ape emerged..But who knew he'd be riding the crazy train so soon?Read more »
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Surely it’s time for us in the reality based community to act on our convictions as decisively as conservatives do
Surely it’s time for the reality based community – that’s us, my progressive friends – to start making some new democratic realities! In 2015, as you will recall, many of us overcame our reservations and voted for Justin Trudeau’s Liberals on the basis of his firm, clear, unequivocal promise to
Continue readingMind Bending Politics: Ford Nation Gets Sued by Ford Nation
The widow of PC leader Doug Ford’s brother Rob is suing Doug for $16.5 million. Doug Ford is the trustee of the estate of his late brother Rob Ford. In a statement of claim filed Friday in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Renata Ford (Rob’s widow) alleges that former
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Andrea Horwath is going to win Ontario on June 7 – that’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it!
Happy Victoria Day! I’m feeling good about my prediction that the next Premier of Ontario will be Andrea Horwath. When I made that prediction back on Feb. 27, scads of commenters on social media and quite a few on this blog and at Rabble.ca said I was crazy. This being
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Unity at all costs? Ontario PC choice of Doug Ford as leader shows need for principled conservative division
PHOTOS: Doug Ford in 2014 (Photo: Bruce Reeve, Creative Commons). Below: Toronto’s calamitous mayor Rob Ford, who died in 2016; second-place Ontario PC candidate Christine Elliott, who has not yet conceded the victory to Doug Ford; Alberta Opposition Leader Jason Kenney; and U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photos: All from the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Chill the champagne! Market-fundamentalist newspaper owners primed for infusion of taxpayer cash!
PHOTOS: The Canadian newspaper industry celebrates the coming of tax subsidies from the federal government. Actual Canadian newspaper publishers may not appear exactly as illustrated – in this case, by Jean-Francois le Troy in 1735 – but readers will get the general idea. Below: Federal Heritage Minister Melanie Joy (Photo:
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Sitting through a three-hour candidates’ forum: painful, but a civic duty just the same
PHOTOS: All or part of 14 of the 25 candidates who took part in the City of St. Albert’s city council candidates’ forum last night. Below: Author Darryl Raymaker and the cover of his just-published book. ST. ALBERT, Alberta What’s worse than sitting through a three-hour city council candidates’ forum
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Guest Post: With friends like these … Jason Kenney’s biggest challenge may come from his political allies
PHOTOS: Jason Kenney at the centre of a media scrum a few days before his victory in the Progressive Conservative Party leadership race. Expect to see him in this situation a lot more often now, even though he holds no formal elected political office. Below: Post author Chanchal Bhattacharya, Alberta
Continue readingThe Wandering Joe: Keeping up with the Torys
It’s been a few years since I’ve written anything about John Tory, so I figured I would take a break from stressing over the decline of Civilization into anarchy and check in on him. Before we look at Toronto of today, lets look at what I last had to say
Continue readingThe Wandering Joe: Keeping up with the Torys
It’s been a few years since I’ve written anything about John Tory, so I figured I would take a break from stressing over the decline of Civilization into anarchy and check in on him. Before we look at Toronto of today, lets look at what I last had to say
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Whistling Past The Graveyard-Michael Harris
Michael Harris is an established journalist with purpose and clarity. This important piece tells it like it is. It is well worth a read. The comments that follow are a chilling reminder of the state Read more…
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Apotheosis, Canonization, and Hagiography of Rob Ford
I feel sympathy for former Toronto mayor Rob Ford and his family, but watching a few minutes of the CBC news coverage of his funeral (it was on in the cafe where I had a coffee, and could not be avoided), I have to think, this man was, by all indicatio…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Why Rob Ford Does Not Deserve to be Honoured With a Statue
I don't really mind that Rob Ford's body has been lying in state at Toronto's City Hall for the last two days.Even if he did so much to dishonour his city and his country.He was once the mayor, and it did give his so-called Ford Nation a c…
Continue readingAutonomy For All: A Forgotten Rob Ford: The Machine Maker
I greatly appreciate the efforts of many of Toronto’s better writers and activists to push back against the ghastly effort to recast Rob Ford as some kind of civic champion. In particular, I recommend this by Richard Feren, the author of Ford’s most infamous parody account, Rob Frod, and this
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