Senate reform in Canada has received newfound attention lately thanks to Stephen Harper's recent appointments that give the Conservative Party a plurality in Parliament's upper chamber. Conservative dominance in the Senate increases the likelihood that pending Senate reform legislation will be approved, notwithstanding any challenges to legislation's constitutionality by the provinces. According to recent polls, [...] Read More…
I've been reading Michael Ignatieff's CBC Massey Lecture The Rights Revolution and I had to laugh a little when I came across this section regarding authenticity: The central idea I absorbed then---chiefly, if not exclusively, from feminism---was that each of us has a right to choose the life we lead and that we must fight [...] Read More…
I got a broadcast from the Liberal Party earlier today announcing En famille, a "Liberals-only online community forum which is designed to allow all members across Canada to collaborate, participate in policy debates and generally interact with each other (similar to delegates at a Party convention)." According to the letter, the immediate purpose of [...] Read More…
Congratulations to my American friends. This is your time to celebrate and you've earned it. I was incredibly inspired by your country last night. Thank you! By all accounts, last night was full of celebration south of the border. One of my friends in Seattle said it was "like the Super Bowl [...] Read More…
In a recent post entitled "Political reform, the Mexico Way", Jorge offers a hilarious translation of proceedings in the Mexican Senate that led to the passage of energy reform legislation. The Guardian has an English article covering the same, although sadly it omits the colorful details of Jorge's source. The images I had in my [...] Read More…
If I were to choose one word to sum up Canada's 40th general election, it would be disappointment. Here is an overview of the seat count and vote share -- along with changes since the 2006 election -- for the five major parties (compiled with data from CBC.ca): For sure, the Conservatives were given a [...] Read More…
The environment is turning out to be a big issue in the current election campaign. The Liberals, Conservatives, New Democrats (NDP), and the Greens all have a climate change action plan as part of their platforms, and notwithstanding the Conservatives, all parties are proposing that Canada lower emissions by putting a price on carbon. [...] Read More…
After witnessing the success of Barack Obama's web campaign in the Democratic Party's nomination race this year, I think Canadian political parties are starting to become a little more web-savvy in communicating their messages. We're only three days into the federal election campaign and the major parties have all mounted a pretty substantial web [...] Read More…
After weeks of speculation, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is set to visit the Governor General tomorrow morning and drop the writ. It's actually going to be an exciting and potentially nasty campaign by Canadian standards, and it will be all the more fun to watch it unfold beside the U.S. presidential race. If [...] Read More…
You may be aware that U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain was in Ottawa today speaking to the Economic Club of Canada. Canada has been coming up in the presidential campaign relatively frequently as of late, what with the so-called NAFTA-gate controversy and the Democrats' continuing promises to renegotiate NAFTA if they win the [...] Read More…