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Liberals Lose Half Their Caucus Under Justin Trudeau’s Leadership
It’s rare that something happens in Ottawa that truly surprises everyone. Despite having spent the last year talking about the senate over and over again, it’s safe to say very few saw this coming: Trudeau leads on Senate Reform: Liberal Leader takes concrete action to remove partisanship and patronage from the Senate OTTAWA – The […]
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The Best Intentions
Michael Chong is one the most respected people in the country when it comes to democratic reform. He quit his cabinet position on principle, and proposed a series of thoughtful Question Period reforms in 2010, which seem all the more overdue after the Paul Calandra show we saw last week. So when Michael Chong tables […]
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King or Country
You may have missed it, since the story slipped largely under the radar, but a baby was born in England Monday. As this post will show, I’m a staunch republican (the kind who want the monarchy out of Canada…not the kind who want to arm fetuses). Still, I don’t take offense to the hoopla that […]
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Another Argument Against Legalizing Pot Goes Up In Smoke
In the midst of a largely status-quo election, several groundbreaking ballot initiatives passed last night. Puerto Rico voted to apply for statehood. Same sex marriage was legalized in Maine and Maryland, and was upheld in Washington State, snapping a 32 vote losing streak for equal marriage proponents. And both Washington State and Colorado voted for […]
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Issue Management
In her Star column today, Chantal Hebert supposes that the Quebec Nation resolution might resurface as a divisive issue during the Liberal Leadership race, as it did in 2006. While I don’t think there’s any appetite to revisit that specific debate, with a Quebec election on the horizon and a guy by the name of […]
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The Third Way
The latest Ipsos poll paints a rather dreary picture of Liberal fortunes, with what was once the natural governing party languishing more than 15 points behind both the NDP and the Conservatives. Of course, the NDP are in their post-leadership honeymoon, the Liberals don’t have a permanent leader, and a horse race poll when politics […]
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The Liberal Platform
The Liberal launched their platform online Sunday. It’s an impressive document that uses the word “Family” 96 times in it. And while the Family Pack will be the policies that get the most attention, what caught my eye was the Democratic Reform section. Back in 2006, the GST cut grabbed the most headlines, but I’m […]
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And now, something for those of you who actually vote
After yesterday’s “Learning Passport” announcement, the Liberals roll out their pension policy: Michael Ignatieff announces Liberal plan to strengthen public pensions and support seniors VANCOUVER – A Liberal government will help Canadian families save for retirement with new measures to enhance our public pension system, including increased support for seniors and a new, voluntary Secure […]
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Higher Learning
The Liberals have rolled out their first major policy plank of the campaign – the Learning Passport, which will mean $1,000 a year to every student attending post-secondary education. The biggest knock on Ignatieff has always been that voters don’t know what he stands for. With that in mind, the Liberal platform will be especially […]
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Stephen Harper Family Tax Cut
The first Tory policy announcement of the campaign: The Conservatives will make the first policy announcement of the campaign Monday morning – a family tax cut that will hope to woo parents with children under 18. Stephen Harper will kick off the day at a family residence in Sidney, B.C. to sell ‘Stephen Harper’s Family […]