First off, many are going to ask themselves why I’ve come to this Prog Blog dust up so late. It happened about one week ago and you can see the details here and a goodly round up of the events that transpired here. There is also an excellent write up from Dr Dawg here worth a . . . → Read More: So Long Prog Blog or A Fundamental Stand In Defense of Women’s Rights …
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What? You expect me to be Premier EVERYDAY? Thanks to the Vancouver Sun for linking this telling video where newly minted Director of Communications Sara MacIntyre tells reporters essentially that having answered questions yesterday, questions today were off limits. This brings back memories of an election not so long ago when media were . . . → Read More: Christy Clark Will Answer Questions When She’s Damn Good and Ready, Thank You! …
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I only like democracy when the numbers are in my favor. Stephane Dion penned an op-ed for the National Post. (there’s an odd combination) detailing how the NDP’s position on Quebec separation, detailed in the Sherbrooke Declaration, threatens national unity. There is one quote I want to draw specific attention to, which to . . . → Read More: For Stephane Dion, a Quick Math Lesson/Thoughts on Separation …
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Many of you will remember yesterdays post about John Fryer, the UVic professor who wrote a letter to the editor of the Globe and Mail about the two day Manning Center intensive campaign course he attended where-in he allegidly had heard about Robocalls and voter suppression. Turns out the group that Fryer had claimed were . . . → Read More: Firms Use #CPC Tactics To Halt Bad PR …
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Orwell had never been Robocalled Emma Pullman, Director of Research at Leadnow.ca, has published an article in the Vancouver Observer that promises to blow the deflections of the Conservative Party of Canada (RE Robocalls) completely out of the water. In her article she writes about John Fryer, Professor of Labour Economics at UVic and . . . → Read More: Vancouver Observer Gives Intimate Look Into Conservative Suppression Tactics …
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There is a lot of rhetoric going around in the current BCTF/BC Liberal Government battle over teachers contracts. To set a context; BC teachers have been without a contract since last January and have, since September, been working using limited job action (filling out report cards and supervising recess) but have been teaching. . . . → Read More: BC Liberals Need To Stretch the Truth, They Already Know We Don’t Believe Them …
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Cartoon Representation May Not Be 100% Accurate, Much Like Adler's Own Musings After reading a recent post by resident cranky old man of Sun News Network Charles Adler I decided to take Adler’s advice; write a letter to the PM. I’ve of course done this before, but never in this vein. I decided to . . . → Read More: The Spirit of Conservative Giving …
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Huffington Post Canada has carried a joint paper published by Queens University, The University of Toronto and Statistics Canada that shows Canadians are increasingly becoming ghettoized by income. The paper represent the difference that the income gap has grown between the richest and poorest neighbourhoods in Canada’s largest metropolitan areas. The numbers indicate the . . . → Read More: Talking ‘Bout That Gggg-Ghettoization …
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First we had the cuts to ozone monitoring that saw the shuttering of 17 ozone monitoring stations across Canada. The reason? Ozone apparently wasn’t a concern anymore (see Canada’s newest Ozone hole here). Then we had the sudden (and somewhat expected) cut of 700 jobs from environment Canada (which included Meteorologists, scientists, chemists and engineers). Now we have . . . → Read More: Do We Need More Proof That Harper Doubts Global Warming? …
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If it's not on a cup, it's not true. Guess what folks, you can buy your official Made In The USA Obama merch now. Have a birther friend who you just cannot find a gift for. The Made In USA mug is your best choice. You can also get it in this . . . → Read More: No Grassroots Support…No Problem …
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Winston Blackmore, a religious leader in the polygamous community of Bountiful near Creston, B.C., laughs with six of his daughters and some of his grandchildren in 2008. On Wednesday the B.C. Supreme Court upheld Canada's laws that make his polygamous relationships illegal. I applaud the decision of the BC Supreme Court to uphold Canada’s . . . → Read More: It’s Not About Freedom, It’s About Power …
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So imagine this. You are an MP of a riding in the middle of Montreal. You’re not any MP, though, you are a Liberal MP. Your party has held this riding since 1940 and not only that, the first time you ran for this riding, you won it with 91%. Now it’s true, . . . → Read More: Odd Happenings in Mont-Royal …
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I nearly fell over the other day listening to the CBC’s Power and Politics (yes I know I said I would stop listening to this show but lord knows it’s better then listening to Ezra Levant call mentally disabled people disturbed or Charles Adler take a crap all over the social safety net) . . . → Read More: That’s It @PnP_CBC, I’ve Put You On Notice!!! …
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While perusing a Toronto Star article today entitled Harper’s Tories Leave Mulroney Cold I came across this quote from an annonymous Tory MP: “Being in power is better than not being in power,” I don’t think a more clear insight into the mind of Stephen Harper has ever been offered up. He’s run the last 5 years attempting to cover up scandals, shutter parliament to avoid serious issues, turfed independant, arms length watchdogs because they disagreed with the Conservative government, and he’s plain LIED about Ignatieff wanting a coalition. Here’s my …
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Today the president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities lauded the NDP platform for it’s commitment to invest in real solutions for Canadian cities. Below is the letter posted to the FCM website for your perusal。 This is great news, as no party has yet to fully dedicate themselves to the betterment of our municipalities, where the real implementation of infrastructure needs and other local necessities takes place. Our municipalities are becoming more and more burdened by off loading from provinces and the federal government, and the NDP looks to bridge the financial …
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Well folks, here it is for you in black and white right from the order paper for March 25th 2011: Opposition Motion March 23, 2011 — Mr. Ignatieff (Etobicoke—Lakeshore) — That the House agree with the finding of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs that the government is in contempt of Parliament, which is unprecedented in Canadian parliamentary history, and consequently, the House has lost confidence in the government. This is the motion that will, it appears at least, bring down the government. The motion is simple really. If one looks at the order paper there are …
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Ceasefire.ca, the public arm of the Rideau Institute, in conjunction with rabble.ca has stated that March 3rd is the official day of action for all those who want to speak out against the purchase of Stealth Fighters by the Conservative Canadian government. If you want to be kept in the loop, go to ceasefire.ca and add your email to be kept in contact. To be part of th day of action, send an email to all the official opposition leaders, your MP, the Minister of Defence and the Prime Minister to voice your disgust for this wrong headed policy and the intensification of the Military Industrial …
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I don’t know if it’s just my old age, the fact that I’ve been involved in politics since I was 18 or the fact that I’ve gone from radical Marxist to more of a realist, but I just don’t see Jack Layton’s capitulation on the corporate tax cuts as the black hole that many on the left seem to see it. True, I’ve been as vociferously opposed to corporate tax cuts as anyone else and I stand by the belief that they do not spur job creation and only work to line the pockets of those who already make my yearly salary in the first few days of January. The …
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I don’t know if it’s just my old age, the fact that I’ve been involved in politics since I was 18 or the fact that I’ve gone from radical Marxist to more of a realist, but I just don’t see Jack Layton’s capitulation on the corporate tax cuts as the black hole that many on the left seem to see it. True, I’ve been as vociferously opposed to corporate tax cuts as anyone else and I stand by the belief that they do not spur job creation and only work to line the pockets of those who already make my yearly salary in the first few days of January. The …
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When I first heard that Carol James was resigning I opened a new tab on my browser, signed into my e-mail account and “penned” a letter to the BC NDP leadership pleading for a leadership contest in May. My reasons were twofold: 1) It gives people time to sign up new members (since you have to be a member for 90 days before you can vote in a leadership convention) and potential candidates could recruit well into February, 2) It allows the leadership convention to happen well after the Liberal one, giving time for the newly minted leader to screw up and for the candidates to combat …
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With the recent Cabinet shuffle, the Christmas break and a budget coming, it might be easy for us on the left to forget about some important messaging we should be using to attack the Conservatives, and more specifically, Jim Flaherty. I was listening to Power and Politics from last week and listened to Scott Brison, Liberal MP and Finance critic, debate Conservative MP Mike Lake. In my opinion, Lake was outclassed big time. Brison was brilliantly on message and it’s something we should not forget. Here were the main points that he was hitting on: - Brison pointed out that The …
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No, I don’t believe the malarkey that our oil is ethical. The only thing this argument does is compare our bad practices to the worse practices of other nations. Our oil is good because we aren’t Sudanese and killing our own people, or our oil is good because we aren’t Saudi and subverting the rights of women, or our oil is good because we regulate it better then they do in Niger. This argument would be laughable if it weren’t so sad. A proof is a proof and you know it’s a proof because it’s proven. Dirty oil is dirty because, duh, it’s dirty. Simply …
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I’m running a lemonade stand. I have two people investing in my lemonade, which I have told them is the best lemonade on the block. Person A has contributed 30% to my lemonade stand, while person B has contributed 70% (I bet you don’t want to be person B, so you?). Everything is going well and I’m making a good profit.  Person A comes to me and tells me that they have another lemonade stand interest who will only ask them to pay 24% as a contribution. They don’t know if their lemonade is as good, but to them, cheaper is cheaper. I tell them not to worry, and I offer …
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Kevin Falcon, believed to be a leading contender to replace Premier re-signate Campbell, has come forth with what can only be describe as the most arcane and idiotic of suggestions: a profit motive for better teaching. Here’s the skinny from the horses mouth himself: “I want to see good teachers rewarded. When you look at education … it is not how great your physical facilities are, it’s not how fantastic the technology in the classroom is. It is actually the teacher at the front of the classroom that is the best determinant of student outcomes.” So the idea is, reward good …
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I was waiting for this. Granted, it came much sooner then I planned, but it came. Iggy has once again given his ultimatum to the Conservatives, saying that they will vote against their budget if it contains another corporate tax cut. You’d think that Iggy would have learned from the fall of 2009, when he did the same thing (remember, “Harper, your time is up”). Clearly, his time wasn’t up, as Iggy fell in the polls and had to admit it was the wrong move and that Canadians didn’t want an election. Canadians still don’t, if the recent Nanos’s …
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“Women hold up half the sky” – Mao Zedong Two Conservative bloggers have taking a legitimate issue about women in our country and instead turned it into political theatre. One such blogger who calls himself BC Blue called Liberal Senator Celine Hervieux-Payette “Kooky” and “nutbar” for wanting to pass a bill that guarantees equal representation on boards of directors across Canada. For the text of the bill see Bill S-206: Board of Directors Gender Parity Act. This act would enshrine into law equality among all publicly traded companies, …
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Flaherty: “Why reform CPP? It’s fine the way it is.” I just want to say first that I’m not a pension expert. It’s one of my weaker areas of knowledge. So what I’m writing here is more my own feeling of common sense then anything really backed up by public policy analyses. That being said, I think CPP obviously needs to be reformed to help people save for retirement. This is a no brainer (it would seem). Some feel that the CPP is inefficient and that people should just be smart with their money and save for themselves and stop making the public …
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Hey everyone, episode 3 of the Progress Now podcast is out. Check it out here. Leave a comment at commentsprogressnow@gmail.com or on my blog at www.progressforcanada.blogspot.com . Thanks for listening, subscribing and commenting. All the best, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Ryan …
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Well, thanks to a facebook friend who reads my articles (thanks Braden) it seems that Corky Evans has really blown the lid off this whole thing. Now, in my previous article I wrote the following: My take on this is much more skeptical then some dissident members having a difference of opinion from the leader. I think they see the weakened Liberals   and a sure NDP victory as a chance to grab the reins of power. They aren’t afraid what or who gets damaged. First off, if what Corky Evans says is true, I was dead wrong. It looks as if James was the one responsible for bringing all the …
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The BC NDP is in trouble. First Carole booted Bob Simpson from caucus for criticising her in public, then Norm Macdonald and Katrine Conroy resigned saying they were frustrated with James’ leadership. Now it seems that the biggest blow to James has come in the form of a public letter by NDP member and legislature veteran Jenny Kwan. In her statement she wrote “It is untenable that 40 percent of caucus members cannot publicly say they support the leader. Carole James is dividing the party by staying on as leader.”* James called for a emergency caucus meeting that was …
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