Archive for the ‘Governance Debates’ Category
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The moral need for conservatism
It’s always been a false distinction that less government means less heart… without economic freedom, average people suffer… more central planning, more government, more top-down control – it all makes people worse off, not better off… over the past two decades, real world GDP has increased by about 70%, and the global poverty rate has been cut in half, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.” There you have it. The strongest moral argument for economic conservatism around: Economic freedom ends poverty.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, poverty
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
The geezer vote
Those over 65 are from all political persuasions and at least three generations… we tend to keep a watch on the pennies… One of our top concerns is our health-care system, which polls say is preferred to private alternatives by 80-90 per cent of Canadians… A strong majority of Canadians support the CBC.. [but] the Trans-Pacific Partnership Harper’s so keen to sign will very likely mean the end of the CBC as a public national broadcaster
Tags: budget, Health, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | 2 Comments »
How did we decide that federal economic policy matters more than anything else
The thinking of Keynes has become… a “meme”… Its continuing life appeals to economists, bureaucrats and politicians. Having tried central planning in emergencies, they’re tempted to imagine it might be the best way to sustain permanently a nation’s economic health… in public we only discuss how much everything costs and how governments can be made to pay. It’s as if we have lost the ability to think about anything that doesn’t fall under the heading “fiscal.”
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
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Leaders, please give us answers, not insults
Stephen Harper may become Canada’s first political leader to have conducted an entire national election without once meeting an unvetted, non-partisan ordinary voter; nor encountered a national reporter who had not paid for his seat and the promise of an occasional question. (And only if your question has been vetted and approved and you behave yourself, mind.) He will not have delivered a campaign message to a single voter not instructed to react deliriously from his opening “hello” to his rictus grin at the end of his six-eight minute speech. This is not wise.
Tags: ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | 3 Comments »
How a few ‘spoiler’ seats could topple the Conservatives
This is written on behalf of Canada’s silenced majority – those of us who care deeply about our country but have been shut out by a government of micromanaged dogma. We consider Canada to be a nation of decency and balance, but for years we have been getting nastiness and bullying, alongside disrespect for basic democratic institutions… I want my country back… maybe, just this once, there can be consideration for country over party.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, standard of living
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Whew, What a Turn Off! How polarizing tactics can tranquilize voters, and win elections.
Drawing upon the advice of Republican strategists such as Arthur Finkelstein, Harper’s Tories favour propaganda that repeatedly demonizes opponents and calls them names… “Media propaganda can often shore up loyalists to vote for their traditional party; on the other hand, that same propaganda is increasingly peeling off a band of citizens who turn from independence to apathy, even antipathy, toward our political institutions.”
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, standard of living, youth
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Why Stephen Harper trumpets boutique tax credits
When Harper announces a tax credit for child care or home renovations, he sees himself as supporting the paradigmatic “little platoon,” the family. When he announces a tax credit for kids playing minor hockey, that’s another little platoon, one teaching citizenship, good nature and loyalty almost as a side effect. And a service club is, in the conservative view, another little platoon, binding small communities to the world in a great network of philanthropy.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, tax
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The Delusions of David Frum’s Mind
Our PM, he writes, is just a misunderstood “cerebral” who runs “a tight ship.”… “How precisely did the Canadian prime minister silence debate, suppress information, and squelch democracy?” He implies Marche lacks facts, when in fact Marche musters many facts, including the muzzling of scientists, killing of the long-form census, defunding of Arctic research, the robocalls scandal, and more.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
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No room for big ideas in our small-minded politics
The idea of trying to convey large ideas, articulate ennobling collective efforts, appeal to the “better angels” of the Canadian spirit, excite the mind instead of tap the pocketbook, develop some national goals for, say, a decade from now – all this is foreign to contemporary discourse… If collective enterprises require more public money, as they might, then obviously politicians, their wet fingers in the wind, detect no appetite for anything beyond the ordinary.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | 2 Comments »
Northern youth just fodder for Tories’ campaign
When we involve youth, especially under-privileged youth, in a national defence agenda, we tell them that their primary value to Canada is as watchdogs and little else… Why focus so intently on the military contribution these kids can provide? Why not focus on the social value?… a primarily social good that is of benefit to under-privileged youth in communities where not nearly enough of Canada’s bounty is invested just doesn’t play to the Conservative party’s base.
Tags: budget, globalization, ideology, poverty, youth
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