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Posted by Scott Tribe on July 6, 2011, at 7:58 am |
Statistics Canada released a survey today on the reasons given by those Canadians as to why they did not vote in the May 2 federal election:
..The most common response for not having voted was that they were “not interested in voting” (28%), which also includes feeling their vote would not have made a difference in the election results. An additional 23% indicated they were “too busy”, which includes having family obligations or having a schedule conflict at work or school.
With regards to the 23% who were “too busy” to vote, they either didn’t see the notices from Elections Canada on where one could do advance voting, or [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on June 6, 2010, at 10:18 am |
..and that he’s more or less taking the stance I’ve been advocating that he and the Liberal leadership should be taking:
Michael Ignatieff says coalition governments are “perfectly legitimate” and he’d be prepared to lead one if that’s the hand Canadian voters deal him in the next election. But the Liberal leader says it would be disrespectful to voters and damaging to his party to try to strike any deals with the NDP before voters have spoken…”Co-operation between parties to produce political and electoral stability is not illegitimate. It’s never been illegitimate, it’s part of our system,” he said, noting that coalitions have been formed in parliamentary democracies around [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on November 20, 2009, at 3:20 pm |
Note that this rather blunt opinion of Canada or Canadian officials possibly being in breach of international law comes from a 3rd party, not an opposition political party. Here’s an excerpt of an article posted at Macleans by Professor Michael Byers, “who holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia, and has He has taught the laws of war at UBC, Duke University, Oxford University, the University of Cape Town and the University of Tel Aviv”:
‘Elements of a war crime seem to be present’ According to UBC’s laws of war expert, Canadian officials may be in breach of the [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on November 19, 2008, at 9:20 am |
David Graham had a detailed article written in the Guelph Mercury that he highlighted at his blog yesterday about how he was in favour of reforming the voting system we have by changing it from what we currently have (First Past The Post) to Instant Run-Off Voting.
David and I have disagreed many times – sometimes vehemently – over what type of electoral voting system reforms Canada should have. We were on opposite sides of the MMP referendum last year in Ontario. That said, I follow the view of the website Liberals For Electoral Reform, who yesterday affirmed that while the site does support the Single-Transferable Vote Option [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on October 9, 2008, at 4:47 pm |
Or maybe they were… as the TSX plunged 456 points (4.5%) today after a bit of a recovery yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Dow fell through the 9000 level – down 678 points (7.3%) today, the first time since 2003
But again, this, according to Stephen Harper, represents another great buying opportunity on the stock markets due to all this unnecessary panic. Why should anyone worry?
Posted by Scott Tribe on September 29, 2008, at 12:28 pm |
Warren K. made reference to a speech that Deputy Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff made at the Economic Club of Canada this morning that he praises and wishes the Liberals would have made a lot earlier. I don’t think it’s too late yet however to start drilling this message into people’s heads. (It’s not just making charges of a “hidden agenda” either. I think we’ve seen enough of Harper to know what he’d do if given a majority government).
Parts of the speech I liked: Iggy shows that Harper and the Conservative Party are NOT the best party to be the economic stewards for Canada, by listing what has happened [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on September 19, 2008, at 10:47 am |
This story caught my attention. A report in the England-based newspaper The Independent from yesterday claims that the US is seeking sole control of the NATO Afghanistan mission against the Taliban:
The Bush administration is pushing for sweeping changes to the military command structure in Afghanistan, so that the head of international forces would report directly to US Central Command instead of Nato…The Independent has learnt that the proposal to streamline the complex chain of command, enabling US General David McKiernan to be answerable to superiors at Centcom in Tampa, Florida, rather than Nato, is before Robert Gates, the American Defence Secretary…Any move to make the Afghan war an [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on September 18, 2008, at 2:15 pm |
Well, this listeriosis/meat inspection story seems to be taking on a life of its own. First the Minister Ritz controversy from last evening, and now we get this press release discussing the elimination of meat inspection programs in Manitoba:
If elected, a federal Conservative government plans to stop delivering provincial meat inspection programs in Manitoba leaving local consumers exposed to the risk of unsafe meat. The plan is revealed in a secret Treasury Board of Canada decision record, dated May 6, 2008, documenting the acceptance of a proposal concerning “Provincial Meat Slaughter Establishments (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia)” which calls for the “elimination of federal delivery of provincial meat inspection [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on September 13, 2008, at 10:39 am |
Sober reading from Slate Magazine:
Since 2004, a succession of unstable minority governments has led to a constant campaign frenzy, brutalizing Canada’s once-broad political consensus and producing a series of policies at odds with the country’s socially liberal, fiscally conservative identity. Canada is quietly becoming a political basket case, and this latest election may make things even worse..
A not so subtle reference to the Conservatives in that last line. What exactly is making Canada a basket case? Well.. our former fiscal prudence is going by the wayside thanks to the Cons:
In June, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned that Canada—for years the only G8 country [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 13, 2008, at 1:30 pm |
This story in the Globe talks about how after 4 days Canada has no medals yet at the Beijing Olympics, and there are already grumblings amongst Canadian athletes about how little support they get from the government with regards to funding as compared to other countries.
A few thoughts on this:
1) It’s still early in the Games – there is still a chance the medals will come and that the goal of 16 medals is met.
2) Corporate sponsorship in this country lags just as badly, if not worse then government funding does, in my view.
I think obviously everyone wants our athletes to do well.. but if [...]
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