Hill Dispatches

Trudeau's do-nothing approach to electoral reform risks Canada's future

karl nerenberg — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 18:44:31 +0000

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The prime minister keeps making the bizarre argument that a partly proportional electoral system would allow anti-immigration Conservative Kellie Leitch to form her own party and get seats in parliament --perhaps even hold the balance of power.

He did it again on Thursday in Iqaluit.

Keeping first-past-the-post is a gift to the right

karl nerenberg — Sun, 05 Feb 2017 23:59:08 +0000

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We can now see the Liberal strategy for the next election clearly.

It is based on the idea of wasted votes.

Politics in the West has become scary, what with Brexit and Trump, and far-right, populist parties growing throughout Europe.

Trudeau provides weak justification for breaking electoral reform promise

karl nerenberg — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 02:25:08 +0000

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And so that's what strategic voting gets you.

During the last federal election campaign, groups such as Leadnow vigorously encouraged Canadians to vote for the candidates in their ridings with the best chance of defeating the Harper Conservatives.

Trudeau should rescind safe country status for U.S., and all others

karl nerenberg — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 16:25:01 +0000

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The NDP's and Amnesty Canada's suggestion that Canada should suspend its designation of the U.S. as a safe country for refugees makes obvious sense.

Quebec massacre shows that Canada must stand up to Trump

karl nerenberg — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 20:02:29 +0000

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Here is a sick confession.

When this writer heard about the shooting at the Islamic Centre in Quebec City he hoped it would not turn out that the perpetrator or perpetrators were themselves Muslims.

Does a Canadian federal party leader need to speak French?

karl nerenberg — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 22:48:20 +0000

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A friend who was born and raised in the U.K., but has lived most of his adult life in Canada, asks if there is not a law requiring that a Canadian prime minister be bilingual.

The answer is no, there is not.

There are no legislated or constitutional pre-requirements for Canadian prime ministers, as there are for U.S. presidents.

Canadian marchers push back against Trump; politicians get on his train

karl nerenberg — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 13:12:15 +0000

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Last week, the scowling man, south of the border, who quite decisively lost the popular vote but nonetheless snookered a victory in his country's Electoral College, said:

"For too long, a small group in our nation's capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost."

And then he added:

Françoise David, co-founder of Québec Solidaire, helped turn political debate away from sovereignty

karl nerenberg — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 16:36:22 +0000

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Françoise David, who announced her retirement from politics on Thursday, never looked so uncomfortable as at the moment in October 1995 when she sat beside Bloc Québécois leader Lucien Bouchard at a hastily arranged news conference.

The second referendum on Quebec independence was in full swing, and the Yes side was narrowly ahead in the opinion polls.

Trudeau's new immigration minister must tackle Harper's nasty refugee reforms

karl nerenberg — Fri, 13 Jan 2017 17:08:38 +0000

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Toronto lawyer Ahmed Hussen is Canada's first refugee and immigration minister who was himself a refugee, and those who work with refugees are applauding his appointment.

It provides a huge contrast to the sort of cabinet appointments the president-elect is making south of the border -- mostly aging, paunchy, white billionaires.

Trudeau's new 'democracy' minister is personally committed to electoral reform

karl nerenberg — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 02:38:48 +0000

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The prime minister has removed a very young and inexperienced minister from the Democratic Institutions portfolio and replaced her with another who is even younger and less experienced.

What does that choice portend?

NDP leadership candidates will face big challenges in 2017

karl nerenberg — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 17:15:31 +0000

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If any Canadians are talking about an opposition party leadership race these days, they are discussing the Conservative contest.

The fact that the NDP is also in quest of a new leader is far off the public's radar.

Canadian political surprises of 2016

karl nerenberg — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 20:54:08 +0000

Worldwide there were political surprises a-plenty in 2016, most of them unpleasant.

Voters in the United Kingdom and the United States, against all expert predictions, heeded the voices of discord, sturm and drang over the calming, if mealy-mouthed, assurances of the establishment.

Following an unpredicted primary result, the French will now, it seems, choose a president of either the far right or the extreme right.

The people of the Philippines enthusiastically elected a thug who boasts about throwing people out of airplanes; and even the long dormant German far right movement -- the scariest of them all, if only for historic reasons -- is chewing hard at the ankles of the last establishment liberal still standing, Angela Merkel.

To Justin Trudeau -- the bigger risk would be to NOT reform the electoral system

karl nerenberg — Mon, 19 Dec 2016 04:41:26 +0000

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Dear Prime Minister Trudeau,

You are getting lots of advice to walk away from your pledge to change Canada's first-past-the-post electoral system.

Globe columnist lauds Trump and says there is no climate consensus

karl nerenberg — Thu, 15 Dec 2016 03:06:00 +0000

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The Globe and Mail is a serious newspaper, which generally treats facts and evidence with respect.

But one has to ask who was checking the facts when, earlier this week, it printed a series of howlers about the current state of climate science by columnist Margaret Wente.

Activists convince Trudeau government to ban asbestos

karl nerenberg — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 12:38:47 +0000

In a flurry of activity on the eve of Parliament's winter break, the Trudeau government plans to -- finally -- fully ban asbestos.

The government will announce tomorrow that Canada will no longer allow the import, export or use of asbestos.

The scientific and medical communities have long established a clear connection between asbestos fibres and a number of deadly forms of cancer. Nonetheless, Canada has lagged behind many other countries in entirely banning the product.

There was a time, in fact, not too long ago, when both the Quebec and federal governments wanted to revive what had become a languishing asbestos industry.

Liberals' online survey is a tactic to derail electoral reform

karl nerenberg — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 19:08:07 +0000

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The current Liberal government has put a big chunk of the electoral reform process in the hands of a data analytics firm called Vox Pop, and that is truly disturbing.

Pipeline puts Alberta's Notley offside with other NDPers

karl nerenberg — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 03:55:24 +0000

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Late Tuesday afternoon, Prime Minister Trudeau and his government gave the green light to a pipeline that would carry heavy-oil through the most densely populated part of Western Canada.

Trump climate change adviser provides CBC with dubious sources

karl nerenberg — Thu, 24 Nov 2016 03:03:38 +0000

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On Wednesday, CBC Radio's Carol Off interviewed Donald Trump's climate change adviser, Robert Walker, former chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology, and she seems to have got under his skin.

Will Trudeau government's decision to phase out coal bring job losses and more nuclear?

karl nerenberg — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 13:49:54 +0000

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On a day when U.S. President-elect Donald Trump took to YouTube to announce that one of his first acts as President will be to get rid of regulations on coal and shale gas, the Trudeau government announced its plan to almost completely phase out coal-powered electricity.

Trump helps make the argument for electoral reform in Canada

karl nerenberg — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 13:18:50 +0000

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There is a connection between the election in the U.S. of an arguably extremist candidate and the Canadian push for electoral reform.

New Canadian study explains why working class should be angry

karl nerenberg — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 02:15:50 +0000

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An angry (white) working class, which has not experienced the benefits of trade and globalization, provided Donald Trump with his margin of victory in a few key states that had not voted Republican in decades.

That's what most who analyzed the results of last Tuesday's vote are saying.

Leonard Cohen's music stands up even without the words

karl nerenberg — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 20:58:18 +0000

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On Thursday night, this writer had just attended a concert by the Ottawa Jazz Orchestra led by bassist Adrian Cho, when he heard the news of Leonard Cohen's death.

It had been an evening of angular, sometimes aggressive, even harsh music.

Trump suckers white working-class voters into putting him in the White House

karl nerenberg — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 08:08:47 +0000

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The American working class -- or, at least, the part of it that is white -- has had its revenge.

Disaffected workers in the deindustrialized U.S. mid-west have given Donald Trump his pundit-defying margin of victory.

But those voters may wake up very soon to find their chosen form of revenge biting them in the backside.

Don't kid yourself, the U.S. could be electing a true Fascist

karl nerenberg — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 15:03:06 +0000

Many U.S. commentators are saying that a Donald Trump campaign-closing television commercial is antisemitic.

The ad depicts three identifiable Jewish villains, all notionally associated with Hillary Clinton: billionaire George Soros; the Chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen; and the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein.

Over pictures of Clinton and the three, who, again, all happen to be Jewish, Trump talks about the sorry state of America.

He tells viewers that "the establishment has trillions at stake in this election," and refers to "global special interests" who "control the levers of power in Washington."

Labour, human rights groups want Trudeau to respect promise of a mining ombudsperson

karl nerenberg — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 13:51:20 +0000

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There have been reports for many years about violence and human rights abuses associated with Canadian mining activities in the developing world.

Canada is a big player in the extractive sector -- home to more than half of the world's mining companies.

Trudeau's finance minister wants private investment in infrastructure, non-committal on privatizations

karl nerenberg — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 20:37:24 +0000

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Finance Minister, Bill Morneau, delivered his Fall Economic Statement on Tuesday, All Saint's Day, and it is chock full of self-congratulation and sunny projections for future economic success.

CETA has bigger problems than not-so-'tiny'-after-all Wallonia

karl nerenberg — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 18:39:04 +0000

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The Council of Canadians is exultant about the potential demise of a Canada/EU trade agreement.

Trudeau government moves to rein in pushers of salt, sugar and fat

karl nerenberg — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 16:58:20 +0000

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In May 2013, NDP MP Libby Davies introduced a private member's bill that sought to regulate and limit the amount of sodium manufacturers add to processed and packaged foods.

Research has proven that sodium -- which we mostly consume as sodium chloride, or, in other words, salt -- contributes to cardiovascular disease.

Can Trudeau get away with killing electoral reform?

karl nerenberg — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 20:40:23 +0000

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When a major party candidate for the U.S. presidency says he will not necessarily respect the result of the election there is a great hue and cry throughout the land, and quite legitimately so.

Liberal support for NDP transgender bill could augur well for the future

karl nerenberg — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 01:41:55 +0000

The Trudeau Liberals celebrated the first anniversary of their election by voting for an NDP MP's bill that would guarantee rights to transgender people.

It was British Columbia NDPer Randall Garrison who proposed the measure, Bill 16, which, if enacted into law, will help to stop discrimination on the basis of transgender status.

The Liberal party and its leader favour this sort of legislative protection, and it is to their credit that they were happy to use an opposition MP's initiative as the opportunity to put their support-in-principle into action.