justinling.ca

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Demarchy | Incumbent-out-of-shape.

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It’s tough out there for a premier. In conversation with friends, friends-of-friends and hapless bystanders who I drag into pre-election conversation, there’s a consensus: Darrell Dexter is the worst. And this amongst 20-something urbanites in Halifax — the NDP’s core demographic. Ldquo;What ya gonna vote for? Ldquo;Probably the Liberals.”. Ldquo;Because Dexter hasn’t done a very good job.”. Ldquo;What did he do bad? It’s the Canadian incumbent syndrome. Recession-weary voters are sick of the s...But cre...

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Demarchy | The Power Barons.

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To a Nova Scotian, the province’s monopolistic power corporation evokes images of top hat-sporting industry barons, twirling their moustache and lighting a cigar with a burning bank note. It’s not far off, really. Nova Scotians have the highest power rates in the country. The rates have gone up 46% since 2006. It’s a mess. There was some hope. Natural gas deposits on the province’s Eastern coast proved fruitful. Scientists discovered that the Bay of Fundy could prove to be a huge source of ...And it is&#...

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Demarchy | They’re All the Damn Same.

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They’re All the Damn Same. Consider a knife fight, where all three participants have their hands tied behind their backs. And they are all blindfolded. That’s roughly the Nova Scotia election. Three candidates for the province’s top job. And as one cab driver explained to me the other day: “they’re all the damn same.”. As one leader lunges at the others, knife in mouth, another runs backwards with his knife in his bound hands. The other cries in the corner. They all fall down. As in: “we need to ge...

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Demarchy | Stephen Harper doesn’t want to reform the Senate.

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Stephen Harper doesn’t want to reform the Senate. It should be a surprise to absolutely no one that Prime Minister Stephen Harper isn’t interested in reforming the Senate. He’s made that abundantly clear from. Endless foot-dragging, scarecrow-beating and the outright ducking behind excuses. What should be surprising is how actively he’s working against the most compelling agents for change. Ldquo;I find it offensive! Rdquo; He launched at his colleagues. Nearly 10 hours after Question Period that afterno...

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Demarchy | Doubting Dewar

http://demarchy.tumblr.com/post/69276321064/doubting-dewar

On Friday, NDP Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar took reporter questions in the House of Commons foyer. He ended up talking about John Baird’s recent trip to the Ukraine, to support the pro-European movement that has faced a harsh crackdown at the hands of the pro-Russian government. Here’s what he told reporters:. Saturday, Dec, 7, 11am.

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Demarchy | The Senate Disease.

http://demarchy.tumblr.com/post/64968470203/the-senate-disease

Ldquo;I didn’t start the fire in the kitchen sink.”. That’s Majory LeBreton defending herself over accusations of being a part of a shadowy Senate consortium, orchestrating a cleverly executed conspiracy to eject the problematic senators. Meanwhile, in the House, Conservative and Liberal MPs voted down a motion to extract partisanship from the Senate, by limiting Senatorial travel allowances to prevent any partisan campaigning on the public dime. Jump to Question Period, in the House. A terse Prime M...

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Demarchy

http://demarchy.tumblr.com/page/3

Why Harper Will Probably Win Again: A Teaser. Below is the teaser for the upcoming eBook I’m working on, release TBA. It will be released on this blog as a pay-what-you-can download. Stay tuned for another excerpt and a release date! I want to introduce you to Sarah. Sarah is not a real person. But she may as well be. Because Sarah will help decide the next election. Thursday, May, 2, 1pm. The Real Harper Agenda. The Liberals were wrong. A quarter felt that way about Trudeau and Mulcair, strangely.).

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Demarchy

http://www.demarchy.tumblr.com/page/4

Freelance Journalism: the Money, the Job, the Mouse. Image (of me) via the indelible Kalina Laframboise. I hit the low point when I was sitting on my kitchen floor, using my last piece of cheese as bait in a comedically useless trap — a Tom and Jerry-styled scheme that involved a piece of string tied to a wooden spoon propping up a plastic bowl. A half empty bottle of $8 wine from the Depanneur gave me the confidence to say “I am going to catch this fucking mouse.”. But it wasn’t to be. My contract ended...

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Demarchy | Orange Wave-ing Goodbye.

http://demarchy.tumblr.com/post/63520121090/orange-wave-ing-goodbye

Ldquo;Erosion” is putting it lightly. Speaking to journalists beside the stage where he conceded his seat, his election and his government, Darrell Dexter told reporters that he “didn’t see this kind of erosion.”. But given Dexter’s nearly ubiquitous unpopularity, the magnitude of the defeat may have been more telling than in the loss itself. For every job-saving bailout packing for a failing pulp plant, Dexter was drawn as a Willie Loman-style failed businessman. If there’s one thing that the resu...

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Demarchy | Out of the Green, into the Red.

http://demarchy.tumblr.com/post/64601720548/out-of-the-green-into-the-red

Out of the Green, into the Red. It was almost a surreal scenario — a tie in a Green Party nomination battle. Ldquo;Battle” is perhaps a strong word for anything to do with the Green Party, but nevertheless. In perhaps more fitting Green Party style, one candidate threw his support behind the other. Trevor Moat endorsed Donald Galloway in Victoria. As the race went on, the Greens got downright giddy over their reversing fortunes. So the Green Party pulled out the chequebook. They rented a nice office ...