Archive for the ‘Governance’ Category
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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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The rise of a Machiavellian PMO
Political leaders like Harper have innately understood that power and continued electoral success are dependent on firmly controlling all aspects of a government’s day-to-day life, no matter how trivial or insignificant the issue may be. Based on past precedent, the thinking is that if you permit the media to dictate your agenda, attack or mock any inconsistencies in your policies or focus on a hasty remark made in a weak moment, then the journalistic knives will be out.
Tags: ideology
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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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How the Tories’ ‘war on the media’ fills party coffers
What differentiates the Conservative appeals is not attacking the other parties and warning of their nefarious policies, but the idea that there are other institutions, elitist ones such as the “liberal media,” that are out to undermine the Conservative Party and conservatism. The fight is therefore not merely partisan politics, but against wider forces… that’s the way they see the world, facts notwithstanding.
Tags: ideology
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Our health needs a healthy civil service
We have a public service that is muzzled, emasculated, derided and decimated. There are about a quarter-million federal public servants in Canada, a considerably lower figure than from a decade ago… mired in red tape and frustrated by cumbersome processes that leave them unable to do their jobs… While it is fashionable to bad-mouth the bureaucracy and sing the praises of free market, public regulation plays an essential role as a ballast to corporate excesses driven by self-interest.
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance History | No Comments »
Who’s more progressive, the Liberals or the NDP?
What is remarkable, however, is the relatively moderate nature of both parties. There is no plan to significantly increase government revenues – the tax increases proposed by both parties are at least partially offset by tax cuts… The parties are operating in a box designed by the Conservatives, one where government revenues are constrained and, as a result of a desire among all leaders to be seen as good fiscal managers, spending is therefore constrained as well.
Tags: budget, child care, economy, ideology, Indigenous, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
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