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Let’s Help Canada’s Newspapers Stop Embarrassing Themselves
Let’s Help Canada’s Newspapers Stop Embarrassing Themselves
In this post-Harper era, our democratic institutions must be fixed. Start with media.
Observing the cathartic effect of the end the Harper regime reveals just how traumatized millions of Canadians were by nearly 10 years of rule by this vindictive prime minister. The analogies and metaphors keep coming: like getting out of jail, like waking up from a nightmare, like the end of an occupation.
This election will provide students, pundits and authors with career-building opportunities to dissect the results. Part of that analysis will, of course, examine the unprecedented assault on democracy carried about the Conservatives. As it should, because undoing the damage must be the litmus test for the new Liberal government and Parliament.
However, while it is critical to track these efforts, the other democratic institution which needs renewed attention is the media and in particular the newspapers in this country. Regrettably, we have adapted to the outrageous concentration of newspaper ownership in Canada, greater than in any other developed Western nation.
But the newspapers perhaps did us a favour in the last week of the campaign with their inane endorsement of the Harper autocracy for yet another four-year term. Postmedia and the Globe and Mail actually managed to write editorials justifying the re-election of a man turfed from office by a tsunami of voter revulsion.
The Globe and Mail and the National Post editorials both declared their support because of Harper’s economic record — but ignored all the actual evidence. The Globe declared: “The key issue of the election should have been the economy and the financial health of Canadians. On that score, the Conservative Party has a solid record.” And the National Post: “Harper’s commendable record in office cannot be dismissed. Our economy is in good shape…”
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Canadian Election: A Study in Values
Canadian Election: A Study in Values
Those who work on climate change were both chuffed and chagrined by its role in Canada’s federal election campaign, which peaked last week with the victory of Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and defeat of Conservative incumbent Stephen Harper.
“The environment” – a catch-all concept that often encompasses concern about climate change – consistently ranked close to economy and healthcare on voters’ list of top priorities. Oilsands and climate change issues took up nearly a quarter of the first leaders debate, commanding more than twice the airtime they did in 2011. Several media outlets ran editorials calling on all parties to take a strong stance on reducing GHG emissions or put a price on carbon. To quote professor and commentator George Hoberg, “energy and environmental issues have become central to Canadian electoral politics.”
Despite all of this, climate change didn’t have a significant impact on the election’s outcome. Fundamentally this was a campaign about values where action on global warming was bundled into a broader set of aspirations and ideas that Canadians said yes to last Monday.
The election of Canada’s new prime minister is an important case study in the powerful potential of values-based messaging. Where the Conservative campaign sought to preserve the status quo and motivate voters with threats of an unstable or unsafe future, the Liberal campaign (and to a different extent, the New Democrats) mobilized Canadians with a vision of change centred on honesty, inclusion and fairness.
Of course, the timing couldn’t have been better. Much has been said about why Canadians’ were ready to bid farewell to one of their longer-standing leaders – corruption, fiscal mismanagement, deepening degrees of intolerance and an overt contempt for basic democratic principles being among them.
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Libs Need Clearer Energy Security Plan, Says ‘After the Sands’ Author
Libs Need Clearer Energy Security Plan, Says ‘After the Sands’ Author
Increased oil patch ownership can help Canada meet emissions goals, says Gordon Laxer.
Gordon Laxer says Canada is highly vulnerable to another oil crisis. Pipeline photo via Shutterstock.
[Editor’s note: Join Dr. Gordon Laxer, political economist and co-founder of the Parkland Institute, for a free talk about ‘After the Sands,’ a new book for anyone concerned about rising sea levels, pipeline and tanker spills, climate change chaos and Canada’s future in a carbon restricted world. Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m., The Hive, 128 W. Hastings St., Vancouver.]
Justin Trudeau has to move beyond his murky energy policy and set out clear plans to reduce carbon emissions and improve oil security, says political economist Gordon Laxer.
And the new Liberal government should take steps to increase Canadian ownership in the energy sector if it wants to achieve those goals, said Laxer, whose latest book, After the Sands, argues that Canada must improve its energy security and become a low-carbon society.
Laxer said Canada is highly vulnerable to another oil crisis, which he expects in the next couple of years. The United States is working to lower oil imports and has created strategic oil reserves, Laxer said. Other countries have also focused on energy security.
“We import 40 per cent of our oil, and we have no program,” he said. “We belong to the International Energy Agency. There are 28 countries; 26 of them have strategic petroleum reserves. Canada and Australia do not.”
Improving energy security will also play a big part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reshaping the economy, said Laxer, former head of the Parkland Institute at the University of Alberta.
The Canadian government has focused on increasing energy exports, and the country now exports about four times as much oil as it imports.
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Trust Trudeau? I’ll Wait and See
Trust Trudeau? I’ll Wait and See
Canada’s young prince promises ‘real change.’ I can’t help but be wary.
Like many Canadians, I want to trust the Liberals, but I don’t enjoy having to trust them. Photo by Mario Jean.
How are we feeling about the new Canadian Camelot? Justin Trudeau is young, movie star handsome, and projects the confident hope of his famous pedigree. All of North America seems swept up in the romance of his remarkable moment, and of course there are obvious reasons to celebrate.
Like 70 per cent of the voting public, I am savouring the end of the Stephen Harper era as one might relish being released from a Turkish prison. His insidious regime edged us toward a mean and narrow vision of Canada that was becoming almost unrecognizable.
While the Tory defeat was decisive by pundit standards, many of us hoped for more of a Mulroneyesque wipeout worthy of Harper’s jagged hubris. Alas, the Conservatives were only wounded and may re-emerge under new leadership as a political force more familiar and somewhat less toxic to our country.
Trudeau and his team no doubt ran a masterful campaign, but I fear the victorious Liberals might take the wrong lessons from Monday night. Like all political partisans, Liberal supporters are apt to confound what is good for their party with what is best for our nation.
Trudeau and his team no doubt ran a masterful campaign, but I fear the victorious Liberals might take the wrong lessons from Monday night. Like all political partisans, Liberal supporters are apt to confound what is good for their party with what is best for our nation.
Will they embrace meaningful changes to our antiquated voting system now that they have again hit the electoral jackpot? The Liberal party has enjoyed fully 16 “majority” governments since Confederation, while only three represented an actual majority of votes.
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Neither Bull nor Bear
Neither Bull nor Bear
“Good Economic Management” vs. Larceny
“Will you shut up?!”
That is what we wanted to say this morning, here in Zurich, Switzerland. At the table next to us, a hedge fund promoter is working hard…
“The value proposition… outside of the box… we’re only talking two points… we can dialogue about it… Goldman… our business model… prioritize our priorities… get the balance right…”
New Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau – who actually has more than just one bad idea.
Photo credit: Andrew Vaughan / Canadian Press
Meanwhile, on the front page of the Financial Times is a good-looking guy with a bad idea. Pierre Trudeau’s son, Justin, is Canada’s new prime minister. (Another political dynasty!) He will “take advantage of low interest rates” to embark on a C$60 billion infrastructure program.
Just for the record, the Canuck feds are not taking advantage of low interest rates. They’re cheating savers… retirees… and responsible citizens whose expenses are lower than their incomes.
In much of the developed world, central banks have pushed interest rates to their lowest level in 5,000 years. This is not “good economic management.” It’s larceny. They’re taking money from savers and giving it to borrowers – especially in the financial sector and in government. But on to other things….
This is not just larceny, it is insanity (not unique to Canada to be sure, as it has gone global) – click to enlarge.
12% a Year in Stocks
“We don’t pay any attention to the stock market. We buy good companies at good prices,” an old friend explained about how his private fund operates. (In the interest of full disclosure, we are one of his investors.)
“We aim for 12% a year,” he continued. “And that’s what we get, more or less.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
PM-Elect Of ‘US Ally’ Canada Wastes No Time: Tells Obama Will Withdraw Fighter Jets From Syria, Iraq
PM-Elect Of ‘US Ally’ Canada Wastes No Time: Tells Obama Will Withdraw Fighter Jets From Syria, Iraq
With the ink still damp on voter slips, newly crowned elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wasted no time in fulfilling the first of his liberal “hope” and “change” promises. As AFP reports, hours after defeating Stephen Harper, Trudeau has told US President Obama that he will withdraw Canadian fighter jets from Syria and Iraq, though giving no timeline. So far, the US response is a mutedly diplomatic but tinged with guilt, “We have stood shoulder to shoulder with Canadian armed forces… in Iraq and Afghanistan,” from the US State Department.
“About an hour ago I spoke with President Obama,” Trudeau told a press conference.While Canada remains “a strong member of the coalition against ISIL,” Trudeau said he made clear to the US leader “the commitments I have made around ending the combat mission.”
Canada last year deployed CF-18 fighter jets to the region until March 2016, as well as about 70 special forces troops to train Kurds in northern Iraq.
During the campaign, Trudeau pledged to bring home the fighter jets and end its combat mission. But he vowed to keep military trainers in place.
His new Liberal government will be “moving forward with our campaign commitments in a responsible fashion,” Trudeau said.
“We want to ensure that the transition is done in an orderly fashion.”
Earlier on Tuesday, as Sputnink News reports, the US State Department addressed questions as to whether or not it was concerned that Canada’s new government may not support US foreign policy regarding IS presence in Afghanistan.
“These are all decisions the Canadian people have to make and Canadian legislators have to make… and their Prime Minister [has to make],” department spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.“We have stood shoulder to shoulder with Canadian armed forces…in Iraq and Afghanistan,”he added.
* * *
While this move seems like a hope-y and change-y step forward, the lack of timeline leaves plenty of room for the neocons to knock on Trudea’s door and shower gifts on an economy floundering on the verge of “Emerging Market” status (as HSBC analysts warned).
A New Era For Canadian Oil And Gas, For Better Or Worse
A New Era For Canadian Oil And Gas, For Better Or Worse
Canadian voters kicked out the conservative government in the October 19 election, a party that had been in power for a decade. Polls had predicted a slight lead for the Liberal Party, but in a surprise result, the Liberals actually won a majority of seats in parliament and will form a majority government. Most analysts had expected the Liberal Party would have had to form a coalition government, but many voters appeared to strategically vote for the frontrunner in order to ensure a loss for the conservatives. The new government of Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau will almost certainly be much less friendly to the oil and gas industry in Canada, though to what extent remains uncertain. Trudeau opposes Enbridge’s (NYSE: ENB) Northern Gateway Pipeline, but also backs TransCanada’s (NYSE: TRP) Keystone XL Pipeline – the latter of which could be blocked by the U.S. government. More will be known in the coming weeks. However, one clear promise from Trudeau was his plan to engage in deficit spending to goose the economy through higher investments in infrastructure.
The U.S. Department of Interior cancelled two lease sales for the Arctic, effectively ruling out new drilling for several years. The agency said that there was almost no interest from potential buyers for acreage in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, so it decided to scrap the lease sales. The move follows the decision from Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) to abandon Arctic drilling, and without any other companies positioned to move forward, offshore drilling in the U.S. Arctic may not happen for years. In addition to cancelling the lease sales, the Obama administration also denied a request from Statoil (NYSE: STO) and Shell to allow an extension of their leases. They are set to expire in 2017 (Beaufort Sea) and 2020 (Chukchi Sea).
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
What Your New Liberal Majority Government Means for Climate, Environment, Science and Transparency
What Your New Liberal Majority Government Means for Climate, Environment, Science and Transparency
Holy smokes.
Polls are in and Canadians across the country are expressing surprise at the strong win for the federal Liberal party.
While there’s much ink to be spilled over former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s reign, he’s likely locked in a bathroom now, so we’ll save that for another, less change-y time.
Canada, you have a new Prime Minister. I would say ‘go home, you’re drunk.’ But don’t, because you’re not. This is actually happening.
But wait, what is actually happening? We have a new majority government. Before the fun gets away with us, let’s do a quick reality check for what the Liberal Party and incoming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been promising all y’all on some of our top DeSmog Canada topics: climate, environment, science and transparency.
Justin Trudeau’s Liberals on Climate
On the issue of Canada’s climate commitments for the UN climate summit this fall in Paris, the Liberal platform is underdeveloped. On the campaign trail last week party leader Justin Trudeau told the CBC he would not commit to specific emissions targets.
“Everybody has thrown out numbers and different targets, and what they’re going to do and what is going to happen,” Trudeau said.
“What we need is not ambitious political targets. What we need is an ambitious plan to reduce our emissions in the country.”
The federal Conservative party promised to reduce emissions by 30 per cent from 2005 levels by 2050, a target that has been roundly criticized as weak. Others have pointed out the Conservative plan made no mention of the Alberta oilsands, the fastest growing source of emissions in Canada.
Although the Liberals don’t have a specific plan yet, the party has promised to establish a new climate change framework by February 2016 that includes an eventual phase out of fossil fuel subsidies. The plan will also include investment in climate resilience, clean technology and low-carbon infrastructure.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Let Me Be Clear: Fact Checking Leaders on Foreign Policy
Let Me Be Clear: Fact Checking Leaders on Foreign Policy
A civil debate, sure. But civility, it seems, doesn’t always encourage truthfulness.
The fourth debate in this election “season” — a campaign as long as some places in Canada go without snow — was rather polite compared to the first two English debates.
It was clear host Munk Debates wanted a civil conversation among gentlemen, where the moderator held court and didn’t let the leaders shout over one another. The audience laughed and clapped as though there was a flashing sign telling them to do so, and even booed Liberal leader Justin Trudeau for speaking over Conservative leader Stephen Harper. Apparently they’re sticklers for manners, too.
Civility doesn’t equal truthiness, however, and it turns out there were some whopper-sized statements in last night’s foreign policy debate. As per form, we picked one statement per leader to debunk.
Thomas Mulcair: “It’s very difficult to see how Canada’s superior interests were being served when Prime Minister Harper said to President Obama that it was ‘a complete no brainer’ — those were his exact words — that the Americans had to approve Keystone XL. I know that Keystone XL represents the export of 40,000 Canadian jobs because Mr. Harper told the Americans so.”
The NDP leader’s first sentence is misleading. Speaking to reporters in New York at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly in 2011, Harper told an American reporter that approving the Keystone XL pipeline, which would ship raw bitumen from Alberta to Nebraska, would be a “no brainer.” He could have said this to Obama in a private conversation, but in public he said it to a reporter.
The second sentence is false, with a caveat. Keystone won’t “export” jobs to the United States. Mulcair could be referring to the fact that exporting raw bitumen means American refineries get to refine the product, rather than a Canadian facility. But the 40,000 jobs number comes from a U.S. state department report, and the majority are either temporary positions or they already exist.
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Spin cycle: Can 1.3-million new jobs be created in 5 years?
This election has a theme common to almost all others before it: everyone is promising more jobs
The promise of jobs, jobs, and more jobs has long been a staple of election campaigns.
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has promised a basket of goodies to help manufacturing and other sectors create jobs, as well as help for young people and veterans to connect with the new jobs.
The Liberals, meanwhile, decided to go big or go home by promising $125-billion in infrastructure spending — even if it means short-term deficits.
Now it seems the Conservatives, not wanting to be outdone, are making a bold promise of their own.
Perhaps channeling Babe Ruth, Conservative leader Stephen Harper figuratively pointed to the faraway bleachers on Tuesday and promised “1.3-million net new jobs.”
The spin
“I would say that there is no reason why we can’t have a similar record on that we have now,” Harper told reporters on Tuesday.
Harper points out that the economy created 1.3-million new jobs since the “depths of the global recession.”
Of course, those jobs were created in large part by the unprecedented stimulus spending the government launched — including the largest deficit in Canadian history.
This time around is quite different. Harper’s plan to duplicate the results involves maintaining a balanced budget, reducing employment insurance premiums two years from now, and re-introducing the home renovation tax credit.
The counter spin
“I find that number, to put it mildly, wildly optimistic,” Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said.
Trudeau is dismissing this as just another empty campaign promise.
No one is going to campaign against creating more jobs. In fact, as mentioned, everyone in this campaign is promising that.
The critique, and indeed the test, of Harper’s promise is whether or not it is a realistic goal and, if so, are the measures in place to achieve it.
Economics and demographics
To borrow an old adage, if you asked 12 economists if tax cuts lead to job creation — you are likely to get 13 different opinions.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Meet Canada’s Latest Liberal Man-Boy
Meet Canada’s Latest Liberal Man-Boy
The most infamous, of course, was Jean Chretien’s, which he held high and waved at every opportunity in the 1993 election. Co-authored by Paul Martin, it promised the world as we would like it: strong communities, enhanced Medicare, equality, increased funding for education, an end to child poverty. You could almost hear the violins playing. But what turned out to be the most remarkable thing about the book of promises was the record number that were ultimately broken: all of them.
The only time you can trust the federal Liberal Party is when they don’t have a majority — and even with a minority government they have to dragged kicking and screaming to do anything that does not please Bay Street. This fact needs to be repeated over and over again in the next few months leading up to the election as political amnesia is a dangerous condition to take with you into the voting booth.
It’s been 10 years since we had a Liberal government and even longer since we had a majority Liberal regime. A trip down memory lane might serve as a curative.
The effect of amnesia as it relates to the Chretien regime (actually the Martin regime) leaves most Canadians recalling Martin as the deficit dragon-slayer, saving us from our profligate, self-indulgent, entitlement culture and getting us back on the road to solvency. A few will actually recall that Martin chopped 40 per cent off the federal contribution to social programs — but even that memory is diluted by another one: the legendary “debt wall” built exclusively of hyperbole and hysteria over the three years preceding the 1993 election.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Bill C-51 ‘Day of Action’ protests denounce new policing powers
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May join protests in Montreal, Toronto
Protests are underway across Canada against the government’s proposed anti-terrorism legislation, which would give police much broader powers and allow them to detain terror suspects and give new powers to Canada’s spy agency.
NDP leader Tom Mulcair joined hundreds In Montreal in a march through the city. One protester held up a poster saying “C-51 is an act of terror,” while others carried red “Stop Harper” signs.
The protest was expected to end in front of the riding office ofLiberal Leader Justin Trudeau. Trudeau has said his caucus will vote in favour of the bill.
- Bill C-51 hearings: Diane Ablonczy’s questions to Muslim group ‘McCarthyesque’
- Anti-terror bill committee hears monologues, but few questions
- Privacy watchdog blocked from witness list
- Proposed CSIS powers a ‘constitutional mess,’ says ex-watchdog
NDP MPs Craig Scott and Linda Duncan were part of the crowd gathered outside Canada Place in downtown Edmonton. Some placards called the bill “criminalization of dissent” and warned “big brother is watching you.”
Protesters said they are worried the bill will be used to harass or silence critics of government’s environmental and aboriginal policies.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
