James Laxer

From Gettysburg to Confederation: The U.S. Civil War and the creation of Canada intimately linked

James Laxer — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 05:06:49 +0000

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James Laxer is a professor of political science in the Department of Equity Studies at York University. He is the author of A House Divided: Watching America’s Descent into Civil Conflict, a House of Anansi Digital Publication.

The remaking of Canadian conservatism: 1988 to 2012

James Laxer — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:51:59 +0000

Brian Mulroney's success in leading the Progressive Conservative Party to a second majority victory in the general election of 1988 was the last hurrah of the old Conservative Party, the party whose lineage extended back to the great days of the Liberal Conservatives of the 19th century, under the leadership of Sir John A. Macdonald. It is ironic that the party's final electoral victory was in aid of the implementation of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement that had been negotiated between the Mulroney government and the Reagan Administration.

The Liberals: From natural governing party to an uncertain future, 1984 to 2012

James Laxer — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:54:02 +0000

Since 1984, when Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives won a large majority of federal ridings in Quebec, the federal Liberal Party has failed to win a majority of seats in Quebec in any subsequent election, although they came close in 2000. Contrast the last three decades with the era from 1896 to 1984.

In 1896, Liberal leader Wilfrid Laurier led his party to victory in a large majority of Quebec seats on his way to power. Since 1896, the Conservatives have won a majority of federal seats in Quebec only three times, in 1958, 1984 and 1988. Beginning in 1993 and in every federal election since then, the Bloc Quebecois has won a majority of federal seats in Quebec.

The NDP: The road travelled from 2006 to 2012

James Laxer — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:57:07 +0000

On election night in January 2006, Jack Layton declared that Canadians had "voted out of hope for change" and expressed the conviction that the NDP caucus, 29 MPs as compared with 19 in 2004, would help place working people and seniors "at the front of the line" where they belong.

Layton has been proved stunningly, embarrassingly wrong, however. The Harper minority government has turned out to be more insistently, stubbornly right-wing than anyone predicted. On child care, Harper did exactly what he said he would do -- he scrapped the national program. On the Kelowna Accord, the Conservatives have scuppered an historic deal that had been years in the making, and that would have provided billions of dollars in development capital for Aboriginal peoples.

The myth of American resilience

James Laxer — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:22:41 +0000

Bankers, financiers, capital markets lawyers, investors and economists -- people supposedly in the know -- routinely make the argument that the United States is more resilient, flexible and adaptable than any other major country in the world. America is down they say, but not out. The Americans, according to this line of thinking, will bounce back to reclaim their global economic dominance. As Clint Eastwood proclaimed in his commercial for the Super Bowl, it's Half-Time and America will come roaring back in the second half.

Stephen Harper's majority government: Not looking out for YOU

James Laxer — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:52:59 +0000

As we close in on one year of Stephen Harper's majority, it is evident that this is a very special government. YOU are just not on its list of priorities.

It's not that this government does not have causes to which it is deeply committed: low taxes for business and the wealthy; the petroleum industry; military might; and prisons. If these are the government's positives, its negatives follow directly from them.

The Harper government's bogus case for a border deal with the U.S.

James Laxer — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:16:00 +0000

Stephen Harper and Barack Obama are announcing a Canada-U.S. border deal at the White House today.

It is being presented to Canadians as an agreement that will yield greater access to the American market for Canadian exporters in return for the harmonization of Canadian security arrangements with those of the U.S. The idea is that we will benefit economically while satisfying the Americans that we are solid on the all-important issue, for them, of national security.

The Harper government makes case that the deal is necessary because Canadian exports have been and are being hampered by the thickening of the border since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

The Harper government's bogus case for a border deal with the U.S.

James Laxer — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:13:14 +0000

The Harper government has been negotiating a comprehensive border deal with the United States. It is being presented to Canadians as an agreement that will yield greater access to the American market for Canadian exporters in return for the harmonization of Canadian security arrangements with those of the U.S. The idea is that we will benefit economically while satisfying the Americans that we are solid on the all-important issue, for them, of national security.

The Harper government makes case that the deal is necessary because Canadian exports have been and are being hampered by the thickening of the border since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

Two centuries ago: Tecumseh's freedom speech to the Muscogee people

James Laxer — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 17:23:54 +0000

On September 20, 1811, Tecumseh rode into Tuckhabatchee, in present day Alabama, the capital of the Muscogee people. Twenty warriors, members of the Shawnee, Kickapoo and Winnebago nations, rode with him. The last months of a tense peace between the United States and the native peoples led by Tecumseh were quickly passing. And the U.S. and Britain were well down the path to war.

Why the tar sands are destructive for Canada: 'Ethical oil' and other resourceful fantasies

James Laxer — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 12:18:43 +0000

The Harper government's Big Idea for the future of the Canadian economy is that Canada should become an "energy superpower." What will make it so is the gargantuan development of the Alberta tar sands, which the Harperites and their friends depict as "ethical oil." In truth, the development of the tar sands is reducing northern Alberta to a stinking hell. Long after this dystopian nightmare has been put aside, Albertans will be left with the environmental catastrophe that is being wrought. Not only is the tar sands a disaster for Alberta, it is helping drive the planet down the path to irreversible climate change. Our grandchildren will pay the price for this.

When the rich and powerful overplay their hand

James Laxer — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:27:31 +0000

We are in the grip of a socio-economic crisis in which the rich and the powerful in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Euro Zone countries and Canada refuse to share the burden of coping with the economic disaster they did so much to unleash. A few among them -- Warren Buffet and Liliane Bettencourt -- get it. The rich can overplay their hand and can end up spoiling the whole party for themselves and their wealthy confreres.

The Republicans, and not just the adherents of the Tea Party -- have elevated the refusal to countenance any increase in taxes for the super-rich -- even through the closing of tax loopholes -- to the highest level of principle.

We'll miss you, Jack

James Laxer — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:14:57 +0000

To lose Jack Layton at the height of his capacity as a person and as a political leader, is especially sad.

When Jack walked into my graduate course at York University in the early 1970s, it didn't take me long to see that this was someone very special. The energy and the luminous intelligence were on full display, as well as his respect for others, and the joy he took in meeting people.

Through the decades, he joined every political battle with unique optimism. In municipal politics, in the fight for environmental reform, in his support for the homeless and the poor, he threw himself into what he did with the conviction that he could be on the winning side. Jack had no use for fashionable pessimism.

We don't need a lecture from Alberta 'firewall' Harper

James Laxer — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:14:38 +0000

The Conservatives pride themselves on their ability to throw Opposition leaders under the bus. And they're at it now with NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel. She is a self-proclaimed federalist and always has been. She was a member of the BQ and of Quebec Solidaire and the Conservatives are trying to use this to prove that she and the NDP have serious questions to answer about their commitment to federalism.

You've got to love the Conservatives.

Look at Stephen Harper whose commitment to federalism was a lot shakier than that of Ms. Turmel ever was before he became leader of the Canadian Alliance. He was on the record with views that were intensely hostile to Canada, something you cannot say about Nycole Turmel.

Rob Ford: It's safe to come back to Toronto now

James Laxer — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:58:18 +0000

Rob Ford has nothing to fear. Pride 2011 is history. He can slink back to his office at City Hall.

I can report to the mayor that nothing untoward happened at the great Pride Parade. A million-plus people packed the streets on a brilliant day to celebrate humanity, and diversity. So much more than tolerance -- it was a celebration, a proclamation of love and respect.

I spent most the time calling out for the marchers and those on the floats to spray us with much needed water, which they happily did.

NDP reprieve: Socialism lives to fight another day

James Laxer — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:27:04 +0000

In my last post, rumours of Socialism's death were greatly exaggerated.

At age 215, Socialism had its neck on the chopping block at the recent NDP convention in Vancouver when a last minute reprieve spared it.

The fate of Socialism was referred to the NDP executive, where its future will be deliberated and a recommendation will be made to a future convention at an unspecified date. The mere thought of having one's fate referred to the unblinking, steely gaze of NDP executive members gives me a fit of the horrors.

Instead of having its neck on the chopping block, Socialism now has one foot on a banana peel. It could still roll through the streets on a tumbril in the not too distant future to a place of execution.