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By Greg Fingas, on March 8, 2013, at 8:54 am I’ve already pointed out the absurdity of Gordon Campbell anti-NDP acolyte Joyce Murray pretending to run as a pan-progressive candidate in the Libs’ leadership race. But if we needed any more indication that she can’t be taken seriously, Tim Harper provides it by looking at the fine print of her “cooperation” plan: Under the Murray plan, seats held by the Conservatives in which the governing party received less than 50 per cent of the vote would be targeted for co-operation.
She would blend the 2008 and 2011 results, to eliminate any onetime anomalies. One such anomaly, she said, was the
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: On poison pills
By Greg Fingas, on February 1, 2013, at 8:21 pm Miscellaneous material to end your week.
- Lawrence Martin questions the media’s obsession with fabricating stories out of imagined motivations and insignificant shifts in poll numbers: In the year before an election, the media’s heavy focus on tiny political twists and turns is understandable. Here in Canada, a federal campaign is likely a long way off, the Conservatives’ numbers are stable and so are those of the NDP. But it doesn’t prevent the rash of pollster and media speculation about who is up and who is down and who might be headed in either direction.
A headline the other day
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Friday Evening Links
By Greg Fingas, on January 4, 2013, at 10:26 am Jon Worth’s post on the distinction between partisan politics (as generally understood) and movement-based activism is well worth a read, particularly in pointing out how the latter may better express what people actually want to see out of politics: Since first reading Mary Kaldor’s piece at the LSE EUROPP blog this autumn about alternative social movements I’ve been fascinated by the practical meaning of the term “prefigurative action” that she mentions. Her description of the term is “the attempt to practice the kind of democracy that the participants imagine” – i.e. to behave in politics in the
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: On open invitations
By Greg Fingas, on June 26, 2012, at 9:17 am This and that for your Tuesday reading.
- Dr. Dawg highlights Peter Russell’s take on the Cons’ 2008 efforts to prevent a Parliamentary majority from actually exercising its right to vote down a government which had lost the confidence of the House of Commons. And Steven Chase follows up by noting the role that the Cons’ smear machine may have played in subverting Canadian democracy.
- Meanwhile, Bruce Cox discusses how a longstanding democratic crisis has led us to the verge of environmental disaster. And as Scott points out, there’s plenty of room for matters to get worse when
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
By Greg Fingas, on April 15, 2012, at 2:51 pm Somehow most of the discussion of Thomas Mulcair’s Question Period appearance this morning seems to have missed what strikes me as the most important point. So let’s take a closer look at how his message has evolved from the leadership campaign – and how it figures to position the NDP to form government in 2015.
At first glance, Mulcair’s answer in response to a question focused on the possibility of a coalition government in 2015 might not seem like a particularly strong one: Mulcair said the party will be running candidates in all 338 federal ridings (adjusted with new additions)
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: On speculative advances
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