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By Greg Fingas, on May 17, 2013, at 9:38 am Assorted content to end your week.
- Paul Krugman draws a much-needed connection between austerity politics and Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine: What Smith didn’t note, somewhat surprisingly, is that his argument is very close to Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine, with its argument that elites systematically exploit disasters to push through neoliberal policies even if these policies are essentially irrelevant to the sources of disaster. I have to admit that I was predisposed to dislike Klein’s book when it came out, probably out of professional turf-defending and whatever — but her thesis really helps explain a lot about what’s going (Read more…)
By Lorne, on May 17, 2013, at 8:48 am
In his column this morning, Thomas Walkom suggests that Mike Duffy’s current scandal-plagued problems are representative of much deeper ones in the Senate, namely that our much-cossetted members of that ‘chamber of sober second thought’ are appointed, not because of their expertise (many of them have none), not because of intimate knowledge of a particular province (Duffy has none, having lived in Ottawa for over 30 years and not even legally qualified to represent P.E.I.), but because the Senate has become, under both Liberal and Conservative governments, a repository of party strategists and bagmen where they can (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on May 16, 2013, at 9:26 am Here, on how a narrow focus on pursuing a seemingly safe path to a bare majority government may have contributed to the B.C. NDP’s stunning election defeat this week.
Needless to say, there’s no lack of other commentary on the election, with Alice Funke, Sixth Estate, Michael Stewart, Paul Ramsey and Thomas Walkom all reaching conclusions relatively similar to my own. And while not a lot of observers can claim to have identified the problem in B.C., Dan Tan and Leftdog look to have earned at least partial credit.
[Update: Let's add David (Read more…)
By Lorne, on May 14, 2013, at 10:02 pm
Thomas Walkom explains why. Recommend this Post
By Greg Fingas, on May 12, 2013, at 11:52 am Miscellaneous material for your Sunday reading.
- Daniel Boffey catches one of David Cameron’s top aides saying what most Cons leave as an unstated assumption: that recession and depressed wages are good for business (as long as “business” is defined only to mean short-term profits based on exploitation): The prime minister’s adviser on enterprise has told the cabinet that the economic downturn is an excellent time for new businesses to boost profits and grow because labour is cheap, the Observer can reveal.
Lord Young, a cabinet minister under the late Baroness Thatcher, who is the only aide with his (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on May 1, 2013, at 9:43 am Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.
- Thomas Walkom writes that yesterday’s minor tinkering aside, the goal of the Cons’ temporary foreign worker program is still to drive down Canadian wages. And Miles Corak argues that the resulting distortion of employment markets shouldn’t be any more acceptable to a libertarian than a progressive: Flooding the market with workers from elsewhere, year in and year out – even during a major recession – is not about an acute labour shortage. It is nothing more than a wage subsidy to low-paying firms, a subsidy that stunts the reallocation of goods, capital, and (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on April 22, 2013, at 9:56 am Miscellaneous material to start your week.
- Paul Adams rightly points out that there’s no inherent value in centrism merely for the sake of centrism – especially when the spectrum of choices is itself shaped by decades of distorted assumptions: (T)he reality of modern politics is that the muddled middle is no answer at all to the issues facing us. On economic and social policy, what divides Canadians is their attitude towards three decades of market-liberating policies that have weakened our middle class, increased inequality, corroded social programs, undermined the ability of working people to negotiate a living wage, and (Read more…) us all more vulnerable and insecure.
There is certainly a discussion to be had about how quickly and by what means these policies should be moderated, revised or reversed — and issues of priority, pace and technique may divide the Liberals and the NDP.
But first, both parties . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
By Greg Fingas, on April 17, 2013, at 9:31 am Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.
- Thomas Walkom points out that banks are far from the only corporations who are conspicuously moving jobs offshore to the detriment of Canadian workers and citizens: Unions are being ground down; wages are being ground down. Jobs are being ground out of existence. With the economy so weak and foreign competition so fierce, domestic firms find it harder to expand.
For many, the only solution is to squeeze their workers.
Before the Great Recession, goods moved easily across borders. So did capital. But what’s new about this slump is that labour has become
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
By Greg Fingas, on April 13, 2013, at 7:56 am Assorted content for your weekend reading.
- Thomas Walkom offers an insider’s look at outsourcing: Arlene says any outsourcing scheme begins with the institution’s senior management. Usually, she says, the aim is to transfer about 60 per cent of the affected jobs — often in back-shop areas like information technology — to India where wages are a fraction of those paid in Canada.
The remaining 40 per cent, which generally require more local support, are outsourced to third-party firms in Canada. They in turn, subcontract the jobs to individual Canadians. The aim here, Arlene says, is to not only to . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
By Greg Fingas, on April 9, 2013, at 9:20 am This and that for your Tuesday reading.
- Linda McQuaig tears into the Cons for exacerbating the gap between the too-rich-to-pay-taxes class and the rest of us: Ordinary citizens diligently spend hours calculating their income and deductions and meticulously filling out forms, fearful of the probing eye and relentless reach of the tax man. At the same time, some of our richest citizens quietly park billions of dollars on faraway islands where the sun delightfully reaches but the tax man delightfully doesn’t.
The enormity of the scam that tax havens offer the tax-evading rich — and the horrendous hole they
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
By Lorne, on March 14, 2013, at 9:17 am
Those of a certain age will remember the much beloved 1970′s sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Set in a television newsroom in Minneapolis, the series chronicled life both inside and outside the studio of its many and varied employees, who ranged from the gruff but ultimately lovable Lou Grant, played by Ed Asner, to the vapid but ultimately harmless news anchor, Ted Baxter, played by the late Ted Knight. The handsome broadcaster was essentially a sendup of all those ‘pretty faces’ one sees on TV who in reality are as sharp as the proverbial bag of hammers.
Reading Thomas
. . . → Read More: Politics and its Discontents: Just Another Pretty Face
By Greg Fingas, on March 11, 2013, at 9:40 am Miscellaneous material to start your week.
- Bea Vongdouangchanh reports on Kevin Page’s concerns that the Cons are set to effectively destroy the PBO. And the Star’s editorial board slams Stephen Harper’s war against transparency and accountability in general: Stonewalling, foot-dragging and contempt for Parliament pay. At least that’s what the federal government appears to have concluded in the wake of the 2011 election. Toppled two years ago after being found in contempt of Parliament for failing to disclose fiscal information, the Conservatives were nonetheless rewarded in the polls with a majority government — a victory that has served as . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
By Lorne, on March 9, 2013, at 11:57 am Even though he only has a Master’s degree in economics, our Prime Minister likes to present himself as an economist. And, like the myriad other untruths propagated by his regime, perhaps the biggest lie is that resource extraction, especially tarsands oil, is the most prudent activity around which the Canadian economy shuld revolve. Indeed, the Harper propaganda machine is so powerful that when anyone dares question the wisdom of such a narrow approach, he or she is automatically labelled anti-Alberta, anti-growth, and profoundly un-Canadian. One doesn’t have to search to far back in memory for the pilloried Thomas Mulcair endured
. . . → Read More: Politics and its Discontents: The Strange Economics of Stephan Harper
By Greg Fingas, on March 2, 2013, at 11:13 am This and that for your weekend reading.
- Plenty more commentators are taking a turn duly mocking the Cons’ Senate shenanigans. Here’s Tabatha Southey: In fact, Mr. Duffy lives and votes in Kanata, a suburb of Ottawa, in a home he purchased five years before he was appointed to the Senate in 2008. He has a modest, seasonal cottage in Cavendish, PEI, which is reportedly seldom used.
There are signs there may be a number of these houses across the country – dark, lifeless, spooky places children rush by after sundown because some people say those houses have senators.
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
By Lorne, on March 2, 2013, at 10:03 am
The host of letters appearing in today’s Star attests to the ongoing public outrage over the Senate porkbarrellers. Although in many ways a mere sideshow to the endemic and systemic problems that face our governance, it nonetheless illustrates that Canadian anger, when it can be aroused, can be formidable.
I am taking the liberty of reproducing a few of the shorter missives below, and I also highly recommend Thomas Walkom’s column, in which he lambastes the almost jesuitical reasoning being propounded by defenders of this Senate malfeascence:
They preach austerity but secretly practice gluttony, stealing from the poorest of
. . . → Read More: Politics and its Discontents: Ongoing Outrage
By Greg Fingas, on February 28, 2013, at 8:52 am This and that for your Thursday reading.
- Molly Ball writes about the false assumptions underlying far too much political discussion – with one looming as particularly significant for Canadian purposes: 5. Campaign ads really, really, really don’t make much difference.
In this part of the paper, Fiorina’s exasperation becomes palpable. Political scientists have studied the effect of campaign media for decades and consistently found it to be very small. But that doesn’t stop commentators from talking endlessly about the potential effects of ads. “I shall say no more about this, because given the long history of the disjunction, it
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
By Greg Fingas, on February 27, 2013, at 8:23 am Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.
- John Moore questions the much-hyped assertions of a permanent Republican Conservative majority by pointing out that Canadian values haven’t changed at all even as the Harper Cons have tried to use public money to change the channel. And Justin Ling sees the Cons as a product of elections being seen as periodic job interviews rather than tests of underlying principles.
- Frances Russell critiques the Cons’ hierarchy of human rights – with protection of (some people who practice some) religions taking precedence over such trifles as life and liberty.
- Thomas Walkom is
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
By Greg Fingas, on February 22, 2013, at 8:53 am Assorted content for your Friday reading.
- Michael Moss writes about the amount of time and money spent by corporate conglomerates to push consumers toward eating unhealthy food: The public and the food companies have known for decades now — or at the very least since this meeting — that sugary, salty, fatty foods are not good for us in the quantities that we consume them. So why are the diabetes and obesity and hypertension numbers still spiraling out of control? It’s not just a matter of poor willpower on the part of the consumer and a give-the-people-what-they-want attitude on
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
By Greg Fingas, on January 24, 2013, at 8:46 am Thomas Walkom and the Mound of Sound both note that a leadership race has only signalled how far the federal Libs are from being a progressive party. But with Walkom and Paul Adams also questioning whether Canada’s political system has seen either a convergence in the middle or a drift to the right, let’s note that the Libs’ leadership convention may not be this spring’s most important source of answers on those points.
On the same weekend the Libs choose their new leader, the NDP will be holding its first convention since last year’s leadership vote which elected Tom Mulcair.
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: On policy choices
By Greg Fingas, on January 21, 2013, at 9:01 am Assorted content to start your week.
- Dennis Gruending writes about the importance of Edgar Schmidt’s whistleblowing against unconstitutional legislation: Schmidt says that he has over a period of years raised concerns about what he considers the department’s flawed practices. He has done that through various official channels, up to the deputy minister level — in both Liberal and Conservative governments. He says he has never received a satisfactory response and that he has gone to court as a matter of last resort.
Schmidt says the consequences of the department’s failure to act appropriately are serious. The state should be
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
By Greg Fingas, on January 18, 2013, at 8:47 am This and that to end your week.
- Bruce Campbell argues that Alberta should take a lesson from Norway on how to manage natural resources – and plenty of other provinces could stand to take notes as well: The Norwegian government owns 80 per cent of petroleum production, and retains roughly 85 per cent of the net petroleum revenues mainly through a 78-per-cent company tax and through direct access mechanisms.
In Alberta and Canada, ownership and control have been controversial issues. At present, virtually the entire industry is owned by foreign and domestic private interests, which have taken the lion’s
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
By Greg Fingas, on January 9, 2013, at 10:06 am Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.
- Daniel Wilson discusses how Stephen Harper’s antipathy toward First Nations is making a failure of his time in office: On the global stage, he stood almost alone in opposition to 144 other countries in voting against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Domestically, he has tabled bills that diminish First Nations jurisdiction to that of administrative agencies of the federal government. His party has consistently claimed that First Nation governments are corrupt or mismanaged. He killed the Kelowna Accord. His steadfast refusal to fund First Nation child
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
By Greg Fingas, on December 20, 2012, at 8:35 am This and that for your Thursday reading.
- Thomas Walkom discusses the meaning of the Ontario Libs’ attempt to take collective bargaining rights away from teachers in the context of the wider labour movement: The union movement is one of the last remnants of the great postwar pact between labour, capital and government.
That pact provided Canadians with things they still value, from medicare to public pension plans. Good wages in union shops kept pay high, even in workplaces that weren’t organized. Unions agitated for and won better health and safety laws that covered all.
True, union rules made it
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
By Lorne, on December 13, 2012, at 10:17 am In my favorite Shakespearian play, Hamlet, there is a scene wherein his erstwhile friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, explain that an acting company that used to enjoy great popularity has fallen on hard times. Thanks to a new craze in which troupes of child actors have become the rage, and “are most tyrannically clapped for”, adults have had to go on the road to earn a living. Hamlet wonders about the child actors’ futures, because their current success means they are in fact “exclaim[ing] against their own succession”, since they will be out of work once they grow up.
I
. . . → Read More: Politics and its Discontents: Unions After Bill C-377
By david, on December 13, 2012, at 1:36 am The ideal Canadian workforce, Harper Conservative style. Below: Social conservative B.C. MP Russ Hiebert.
Well, you can’t fight a call for transparency, so why bother? I say, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!
The so-called Conservative Party of Stephen Harper quietly whipped its troops in the privacy of their caucus rooms and managed to squeeze Bill C-377 – social-conservative B.C. MP Russ Hiebert’s amateurish and unconstitutional piece of anti-union mischief – through the House of Commons last night.
They’ll say that they didn’t whip it – that is to say, impose party discipline to enforce the vote
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: Bill C-377 can be just the start – let’s shine a light on some corners that are really in the dark!
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