tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48045136713891321652024-03-13T04:54:59.125-06:00Bill Longstaff... political peregrinations from a progressive perspective ...Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.comBlogger1212125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-29325628052867914902016-12-18T13:12:00.001-07:002016-12-18T13:12:34.723-07:00Last postSorry about the long hiatus, dear readers. I had intended to take a short break and it seems to have turned into a long one, so I am starting afresh. I can now be found at Views from the Beltline.Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-34726313499609346562016-06-08T11:23:00.000-06:002016-06-08T11:23:24.793-06:00CBC to require real names on comments
In 1990, American attorney and author Mike Godwin enunciated a law regarding online discussions which roughly stated that as a thread of posts grew longer, inevitably someone would call someone else a Nazi. According to Godwin, "I wanted folks who glibly compared someone else to Hitler or to Nazis to think a bit harder about the Holocaust."
The CBC, it appears, also wants posters on its Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-15161095134670909512016-05-28T11:26:00.000-06:002016-05-28T11:30:25.847-06:00Kudos to Wildrose (the Fildebrandt story, part two)In my last post I criticized Wildrose financial critic Derek Fildebrandt for his boorish insulting of visiting Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne in the Alberta legislature on Thursday. I concluded by suggesting the Wildrose leader should have a talk with his loutish colleague. Well, I give Wildrose credit, they took action.
Yesterday, they issued an apology on behalf of Fildebrandt. Wildrose house Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-58346654146541039022016-05-28T10:34:00.003-06:002016-05-28T11:32:39.154-06:00Derek Fildebrandt outdoes his usual boorish self
That all too many of our politicians all too often behave boorishly in our legislatures is an unfortunate fact of life and politics. A recent incident in the House of Commons focused international attention on the antics of its members. Not to be outdone by his federal counterparts, Wildrose financial critic Derek Fildebrandt put on a prize-winning display of boorishness of his own in the Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-24530668932279829932016-05-15T12:23:00.000-06:002016-05-15T12:23:09.523-06:00It just got harder to kill people legallyPity the poor American executioner. Not bad enough that there's all these anti-capital punishment liberals trying to put him out of a job, but now the pharmaceutical companies are conspiring against him.
Most U.S. states still exercise the death penalty and most use lethal injection to dispatch their victims. Unfortunately for the killer states, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced this week Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-32388784172930389202016-05-14T00:08:00.000-06:002016-05-14T00:08:45.672-06:00Post Media comes begging
It had to be mortifying for Postmedia president and CEO Paul Godfrey to come before a House of Commons committee this week and plead for financial assistance. The media mogul wants Ottawa to spend more on Canadian newspaper ads and to give greater tax breaks to companies that do the same. He would also like Heritage Canada's Aid to Publishers program expanded to include daily publications. "Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-86634044851092611162016-05-12T23:56:00.000-06:002016-05-13T22:50:39.572-06:00Paul Martin—Canada's greatest finance minister?
Paul Martin's official prime ministerial portrait was unveiled on Parliament Hill on Wednesday. During the ceremony, he was referred to as the greatest finance minister in our history—lavish praise indeed. But deserving? I believe so. He did at least three things that, in my mind, place him in that rarefied position.
First, he balanced the budget after a string of Conservative and Liberal Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-38342913282003629592016-04-28T11:29:00.001-06:002016-04-28T11:29:33.480-06:00The inevitability of the BDS movement
The Palestinians need a Canadian champion, specifically a political champion. None of our three main political parties will stand up for them. It would normally be the responsibility of the NDP to demand justice for these beleaguered people—after all that is what social democratic parties are for—but it is apparently not about to wade into the politically incorrect waters of criticizing Israel.Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-8865723924448783022016-04-25T00:12:00.000-06:002016-04-25T00:12:04.703-06:00Canada earns a D for environment
Last week the Conference Board of Canada released its environment report card and Canada did not do well. We earned a D, ranking third from last against 15 of our international peers. The only countries that performed worse were Australia and the U.S. The best performer of the provinces was Ontario with a B. Five provinces flunked.
To evaluate performance, the Conference Board applied 10 Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-21540780488139390082016-04-24T00:09:00.002-06:002016-04-24T00:09:53.884-06:00Escaping the growth trap
The recent meeting of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington resulted in the usual conversation about economic growth—the need for more of it. That we are exhausting our planet's resources faster than it can replenish them, that we are sucking it dry, did not apparently make the agenda. There seemed little recognition that endless growth will eventually bring global Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-54753694144622871372016-04-21T11:16:00.000-06:002016-04-21T11:16:40.967-06:00Prairie blues
On Monday, a political colour map of the Prairie provinces would have shown a blue stripe hemmed in by orange on both sides. Today, the palette shows a decidedly blue shift.
The Conservatives' impressive win over the incumbent New Democrats in Manitoba on Tuesday follows the Saskatchewan Party's victory in Saskatchewan earlier this month.
But even these two elections don't fully illustrate Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-33065368891209849052016-04-20T13:41:00.001-06:002016-04-20T13:42:09.337-06:00Congrats, Omar!
Omar Khadr is a living example of that old blues refrain, "If I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all."
Omar was born into a family of extremists who sent him off to fight with jihadists in Afghanistan at the tender age of 14 where he was seriously wounded and captured by the Americans. Despite being a child soldier, he was imprisoned, tortured and convicted of crimes in a kangaroo Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-56922086160584912092016-04-18T00:06:00.000-06:002016-04-18T00:06:41.226-06:00Alberta's carbon tax—benefits plus
The Alberta government released its 2016 budget last week, revealing the details of the new carbon tax and the details look good. The tax will kick in on January 1, 2017, at $20 per ton of carbon burned and increase to $30 per ton in 2018. The bulk of the revenue will be used for renewable energy technology, green infrastructure and increasing energy efficiency for homes and businesses. About aBill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-72559385970241594962016-04-14T13:19:00.000-06:002016-04-14T13:19:19.664-06:00Supporting two NDPsLike many members of the federal NDP, I support a shift back to socialism from wherever it is we have drifted. The now famous (or infamous) Leap Manifesto may help in that regard. Re-establishing the NDP as a social democratic party would give its members a sense of direction and purpose and would be good for the country. Canada needs a left-wing option to provide the political spectrum with a Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-34476816222061060442016-04-13T13:35:00.000-06:002016-04-13T13:35:03.880-06:00Corporations bully the bigotsA number of southern U.S. states have adopted or are considering laws allowing faith-based organizations to discriminate against gay, lesbian and transgender people. They are now being faced with consequences delivered by some of the biggest names in corporate America.
For example, Pay Pal recently announced that an expansion it was planning for Charlotte, North Carolina, would be moved Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-48818585770017498322016-04-10T23:40:00.002-06:002016-04-10T23:40:49.989-06:00Will Notley get a pipeline built?
In a recent Rabble article, David Climenhaga quotes a unite-the-right Albertan as predicting that if the NDP "actually get a pipeline built. … they're going to govern for the next 20 years!" That may be the overstatement of a panicked conservative, but certainly if the NDP want to win the next election, they will have to make nice with the oil industry.
Premier Notley made that clear in her Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-33867386266261019672016-04-08T13:50:00.001-06:002016-04-08T13:50:26.412-06:00Excluded by God and QueenIt seems some new Canadians are having crises of conscience with the Canadian Citizenship Oath. The oath reads, "I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen."
The problem lies with the Queen Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-25078060563230070162016-04-07T00:09:00.001-06:002016-04-07T00:09:42.186-06:00Brit says Canada a vision for progressives
Yes, an article by Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian describes our native land as a progressive vision. The lady flatters us handsomely. I enjoyed her piece because it says nice things about us and because like many (most?) bloggers I tend to be highly critical of our country and its foibles, and it's nice to be reminded occasionally how lucky we are to live in this place, even if it takes a Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-91623036896783383392016-04-02T11:08:00.001-06:002016-04-02T11:08:55.367-06:00Why are we still discussing the TPP?Has anybody actually read the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement? I presume the negotiators have. And no doubt a host of corporate lawyers. But have any of our politicians read it? Has International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland? All 6,000 densely-packed pages?
I remember John Crosbie, when he was Minister of International Trade in the Mulroney government, being asked that question Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-54116884768832271922016-03-24T00:18:00.001-06:002016-03-24T00:18:33.806-06:00A long overdue budget break for the CBC Of all the items in the new federal budget, the one that jumped out at me, and caused a whoop of delight, was the $675-million over five years of new investment in the CBC. For years, Mother Corp has been increasingly starved of funds—finally some much-needed relief.
The October election illustrated yet again the need for an independent voice in the mass media. The daily press, despite Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-47648975021741390102016-03-23T13:46:00.000-06:002016-03-23T20:34:47.775-06:00Barack Obama and the ghost of Che
An historical photograph.
Barack Obama, on his recent visit to Cuba, stands at attention for the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner. The president and his companions are standing at the José Marti Memorial in Havana where, across the street, on the wall of the Ministry of the Interior building, looms a mural of the legendary leftist revolutionary Che Guevara.
Who would ever have thought.Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-19540984466953632402016-03-21T13:14:00.000-06:002016-03-21T13:14:16.659-06:00A Dipper writes his party president re leadership
As one of those federal New Democratic Party members who feels we should stop floating across the political spectrum looking for a place to park that offers an election victory and get back to being social democrats, I believe we need a real social democrat to lead that effort. Consequently, I wrote the following open letter to the party president. Perhaps it will have some small influence at Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-88521393512813485432016-03-20T17:56:00.000-06:002016-03-20T17:56:18.642-06:00Mme. Arbour once again bemedalled
Last Thursday, Governor General David Johnston presented Louise Arbour with yet another award, the UNA-Canada Pearson Peace Medal, which honours outstanding Canadian achievements in the field of international service and understanding.
Mme. Arbour has led one of our country's most illustrious careers. In 1996, she was appointed Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for RwandaBill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-56961490391680327422016-03-20T00:10:00.000-06:002016-03-20T00:10:10.670-06:00Be happy! ...today is International Happiness Day
Blogging about happiness may seem eccentric, but today is the United Nations International Day of Happiness, and happiness is good, so I thought it deserved a mention.
The day was inspired by a speech Secretary General Ban Ki-moon gave at a UN General Assembly meeting on Happiness and Well-Being: Defining a New Economic Paradigm. The meeting was an initiative of Bhutan, a country that rates Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-61841548822149228872016-03-16T17:09:00.001-06:002016-03-16T17:09:42.247-06:00Mister Trudeau and the impossible dreamOh, if only the economy could grow forever. We could buy more stuff tomorrow and more the day after tomorrow, and in their time our children could buy even more, and our grandchildren yet more again. There would be no limits.
This is the future our leaders envision, the future they dream of. When they meet, the conversation about growth has one focus and one focus only—how we can have more.
Bill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.com5