You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Canada’ category.
Well, now that the Senate has been stacked in the Conservatives favour, I’m sure Harper and his minions can get on with the the business of running our country. Unfortunately, the House of Commons is still closed for business till the Olympics are done.
I wonder how much the Conservatives are betting that we will forget about the Afghan Detainee Torture Scandal? I hope, for once our spineless opposition will not let the government squirm away from the issue. Our culpability in Afghanistan needs to be fully explored. Proroguing parliament may halt the formal aspects of our democratic process but it will not end our responsibility to those we have transgressed against.
Three students were caught cheating on their Math 30 finals. Unsurprising, but I’m interested to see how this story develops. Three seems like a very small number compared to the amount of effort it takes to get a hold of a provincial final exam and then smuggle the answers into the examination room so one can reap the sour rewards of skulduggery.
They will be getting a small penalty, but nothing that will be particularly problematic for their overall academic careers. I’m making the assumption they have plans for further academia as that level of math exam is suitable for gaining entrance to post-secondary education.
“Why cheat” is the real question though. University level math is not going to get any easier, so why do yourself the disservice of prolonging your fated crash and burn in the cheating topic of your choice(only now its you who pay directly for the course)?
Pressure to achieve, increased competition, laziness all probably factored into the calculus these kids worked out regarding their decision to cheat. What would be interesting would be if we could interview these students to determine their reasons for cheating because I believe that our educational system has failed them, to a certain extent, because they got their wrongheaded ideas from somewhere. When do you toss away the moral path and descend into less auspicious choices?
I’ll keep an eye on the story.
Proroguing Master Steven Harper is concerned about the economy.
“Canadians want the government to stay the course on the road to economic recovery but to start planning for deficit reduction, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday.”
Thank you for stating the blindingly obvious. Although, would it not be better to have a forum to work on the upcoming budget…oh say a little thing called parliament?
“The economic action plan has been working, and we must see it through,” Harper said. “Second, we have been told, start planning now for deficit reduction when the recession ends.”
So we need to shore up our pork barrels and get to work on cutting social services. Thanks for the update Steve. It is working well for you in the polls.
Good fortune smiles on the prairies as of late. Warm weather, yes folks, a mighty +5 degrees centigrade with similar temperatures for a whole week! It has led to a snow condition when driving which we like to refer to as ‘soupy oatmeal’. So as opposed to sliding around on ice, now we slid around on a mushy glorpy mess of snow, salt and dirt. Oh how lovely it all is!
Sadly, I actually mean it. Oatmeal snow is one of the first signs of spring here in the great white north. It is nothing but a fools hope though as it is January, and I can guarantee that we will return to Olde Man Winter’s icy embrace before the upcoming week is done (-30 is so refreshing after unseasonably warm weather).
I mention the warm weather because it also brings about another winter activity that brings me much joy. Namely, the removal of the packed down snow and ice that has been accumulating over the winter. It has been warm enough that the snow in the front service lane is coming up in satisfyingly big chunks. Over the last couple of days I have managed to clean out the all of the service lane in front of our house. There is something inherently pleasing about clearing away all that mess and see the bare concrete underneath.
It is a truth of urban dwelling, bare concrete = spring. Clearing the packed snow has made me much more happy that it should, but what the heck, it is good exercise and maybe even a little community minded as no one will get stuck in front of my house (at least until it starts snowing again).
I am not a big fan of Stephen Harper and his merry band of reactionary pundits which he calls a government. His
Kittens: Great for Breakfast.
proroguing of parliament is another bitch-slapping of democracy and the Canadian People.
We need a voting system that better represents the people of Canada. I am proud to be part of the riding that went to the NDP in the last federal election. It was a close battle with the incumbent conservative (tough on crime, currently facing drug charges) was beaten by Linda Duncan. We are the tiny crack in what has been fortress tory Alberta for much too long. Go to Fair Vote Canada and sign up and let us turf this antiquated and thoroughly anti-democratic First Past the Post system of representation.
Fair Vote Canada has a great FAQ. I snipped the first two topics off their page. Read the rest here.
Myths About Fair Voting and Proportional Representation
Rather than defend the glaring problems with Canada’s winner-take-all voting system, critics usually spend more time trying to frighten people about change. Let’s look at some of common myths they promote, compared to the facts.
Myth 1: There are trade-offs between good democracy and good government.
The Facts: In his landmark study, Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Democracies (1999), internationally-renowned political scientist Arend Lijphart assessed and compared the performance of majoritarian democracies (associated with winner-take-all voting systems) and consensus democracies (associated with proportional representation systems).
He concluded: “the overall performance record of the consensus democracies is clearly superior to that of the majoritarian democracies” and “the good news is that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, there is no trade-off at all between governing effectiveness and high-quality democracy – and hence no difficult decisions to be made on giving priority to one or the other objective.”
Fair Vote Canada has prepared an 8-page summary of Dr. Lijphart’s key findings.
Myth 2: Proportional representation means coalition governments and that’s bad because it requires deal-making.
The Facts: Governments formed under any voting system are coalitions of different groups who negotiate and make deals. That’s the way democracy works.
In Canada, the two largest “big tent” parties are coalitions of factions which are generally hidden from public view except during leadership races. These internal factions compete with one another and then negotiate and compromise on the party platform and policies.
The primary difference between this and the formation of multi-party coalition governments under fair voting systems are: 1) transparency – coalition negotiations among parties are generally more visible to the public and the compromises are publicly known; and 2) majority rule – under fair voting systems, the resulting coalition or governing group represents a true majority of voters.
This is a meme that deserves to be propagated.
What? The Canadian Government have to comprise? I don’t think so. Harper and his merry band of plutocrats are considering proroguing parliament again. Essentially wiping the slate clean for the next session. It would cost the conservatives as they have much of their treasured neoconservative agenda at risk:
“If Harper were to prorogue, the Consumer Product Safety Act, as well as several crime bills dear to the Conservative government such as those dealing with auto theft, email spam, sex offenders, conditional sentences and white-collar crime, would be wiped off the legislative agenda.”
A small price to pay though to avoid the torture scandal that is brewing over the treatment of detainees in Afghanistan. There is mounting evidence of Canadian wrongdoing and that would be bad for the polls, so indeed it might be worth it to sacrifice current legislation.
“Moreover, parliamentary committees — including the special Commons committee probing the issue of possible Afghan detainee torture — could not sit.”
Ahh…well things become more clear now. The last minority government was brought down because of an inquiry. We certainly cannot have that, as the ethical treatment of other human beings is much less important than staying in power.
A update before the post has gone to press. Look – Harper is going to do it anyway.
A second update, the disdainful deed is done. Shame on me for scheduling this post for the new year, as I underestimated Steven Harper’s capacity to fail.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
Your opinions…