Another day, another fatuous statement from Alberta United Conservative Party attacking the Trudeau Government. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). This time the news hook for the UCP’s fatuity was the ruling by a Federal Court of Canada justice that the Liberal Government’s use of the Emergencies Act on
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Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Larry Patriquin reviews Nancy Fraser’s Cannibal Capitalism, with a focus on explaining how we’ve been pushed into a system based on squeezing people and the planet alike in the name of greed. And Cory Doctorow discusses the six categories of corporate bullshit used to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Did the UCP just purport to change a law using only a cabinet order?
Hold it! Did Jobs, Economy and Northern Development Minister Brian Jean just purport to change an Alberta law using only a cabinet order? Along with today’s batch of Government of Alberta press releases is a routine notice of the day’s Orders in Council, which is just Parliamentary bureaucratese for cabinet
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: What is happening has happened Before – The Canadian Reactionary ‘Freedom’ Convoy/Protests
It certainly seems like the religious, libertarian hard right fringe has made its way from the US to Canada. The illegal occupation of Ottawa and border crossings are prime examples of the profoundly undemocratic/reactionary roots of this ‘movement’. The police are reacting with a glacial slowness that is exacerbating the
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Does Canada Need a Head of State
From Twitter Adrian Harewood @CBCAdrianH 23 Jan Why in 2021 is a Canadian Prime Minister, the leader of a #G7 nation, still reporting to a #Queen who doesn’t live in his country and has never lived in his country? #JuliePayette #JustinTrudeau
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: A tale of two presidents and the rule of law
We can draw an interesting comparison between two politicians currently concerned that the long arm of the law may catch up to them upon leaving the sanctuary of the presidency. One has little to worry about. As an autocrat, he can manipulate both the people and the legislature to his
Continue readingAlberta Politics: 10 months in the life of Jason Kenney: from bitter foe of illegal protests to fierce defender of protesters’ rights, or something
What a difference a year makes! Not even a year: Ten months in the life of Jason Kenney. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Ten months ago, blockades in support of opposition by members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation to pipeline construction on ancestral lands in north-central British
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Why did China’s government pluck the Two Michaels from among 300,000 Canadians in China?
Soon after Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Vancouver two years ago at the behest of U.S. authorities, Chinese state security officers arrested two Canadian men, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. It was clear from the get-go the arrest on Dec.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP still covets CPP grubstake, so one way or another AIMCo CEO’s walk in the snow was inevitable
Did Kevin Uebelein jump or was he, ever so gently, shoved? Albertans can be confident we’ll never, ever get a straight answer about what led to the low-key announcement the day before yesterday that the CEO of the Alberta Investment Management Corp., better known as AIMCo, had decided to take
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Unconstitutional anyone? If Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell is doing her job, she’ll refuse to sign Bill 1 into law
Bill 1 is a breathtakingly terrible piece of legislation. The bill, given first reading in the Alberta Legislature on Tuesday, is called the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act. Edmonton lawyer Simon Renouf (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Just for starters, in case you missed it, Bill 1 appears to be intended to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Progress Alberta wins injunction against Kenney Government, which tried to ban progressive news site from budget lockup
Progress Alberta has been granted an emergency injunction by a judge of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench ordering the Alberta Government to permit the news site’s representative to attend the provincial pre-budget lockup in Edmonton tomorrow. The Edmonton-based progressive news and advocacy organization sought the emergency injunction after it
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: The Wet’suwet’en, Aboriginal Title, and the Rule of Law: An Explainer
Finally a clear explanation-Wet’suwet’en, Aboriginal Title, and the Rule of Law By Kate Gunn & Bruce McIvor The RCMP’s enforcement of the Coastal GasLink injunction against the Wet’suwet’en has ignited a national debate about the Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Premier Horgan- I strongly suggest you go yourself to meet with Gitxsan and Wet’suet’en chiefs.
Dear Mr. Horgan, I strongly suggest you go yourself to meet with Gitxsan and Wet’suet’en chiefs. You are the premier of this province, our highest ranking leader. Sending Scott Fraser after you already sent Nathan Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: First test of UNDRIP Act and BC Premier Horgan fails-Miserably
BC Premier John Horgan was blanketed last December at the AFN Assembly, lauded for Bill 41, which give legal effect to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Photo from AFN Read more…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Savage attack: There’s nothing like the United Nations putting its oar in to make the locals go loco in Alberta!
If we ever do form the Western Wepublic of Wexit out here in Wild Rose Country, I guess we won’t be able to join the United Nations. Too triggering. There’s just something about the UN putting its oar into our affairs that sends Alberta politicians over the edge. Guilty conscience?
Continue readingIs Universal Suffrage Logical? Is it Moral?
Not everyone is a fan of democracy. Other than those who outright prefer dictatorship of one kind or another, some critics simply don’t trust all citizens having equal power over their governors. Jason Brennan, a Georgetown University political philosopher, expresses just such a view in his book Against Democracy. Brennan
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Another week in the Annals of Diplomacy: in stormy times, half a loaf is better than none
From the sublime to the ridiculous, it would appear, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government will do anything to keep Donald Trump sweet. Consider the dissimilar cases of Meng Wanzhou and Stephanie Clifford. The first we won’t allow to leave Canada, the second we won’t allow to visit. Both, obviously, because
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Canada’s PM Trudeau has learned nothing from the rule of law crisis
After devastating testimony from his former attorney general, Justin Trudeau stood before the cameras and said the same thing his former senior advisor had said: We done nuthing wrong; no crisis for the rule of law in Canada; move along now, nothing to see here … And there you go.
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Canada’s rule of law crisis: Telling truth to Power
Here is the nub of the problem facing PM Trudeau and his advisors: his claim of huge job losses for SNC if it is convicted of criminal misdoings is based on wild estimates, not founded on fact, and nonsense. Here is one view of it: The government that likes to
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Canada’s rule of law crisis and why Jobs Jobs Jobs is illegal defence
Tristin Hopper Finally, someone has put their finger on the crux of the matter in the rule of law crisis: that the reason chosen by the Trudeau government for pressuring the former attorney general is illegal. Thanks to Tristin Hopper in the National Post article: “When 9,000 people’s jobs are
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