Monthly Archives: June 2012

My Last Speech

When I was a city councillor I made thousands of speeches – speeches at community events, speeches at committee meetings and  at council from everything from another spot rezoning, to park privatization to surface light rail for the city etc.  … Continue reading

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Evil is always better organized.

Evil is always better organized wrote Stephen King and he was right because evil is simpler.  Any two year old knows destroying something is much easier than creating.  The budget was ‘gettin’ er done’ and when gettin’ er done is … Continue reading

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Stephen Harper on omnibus, because Stephen Harper is smarter than you.

from,  http://openparliament.ca/debates/1994/3/25/stephen-harper-1/only/ Government OrdersMarch 25th, 1994 / 10:05 a.m.Reform Stephen Harper Calgary West, ABMr. Speaker, I am rising on a point of order to make a prcedural argument concerning the omnibus nature of this piece of legislation….The particular bill before us, … Continue reading

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The Other Measures Act

Canadian Democracy Index 2012* *prepared by Patricia Steenberg from parliamentary website Bill C-38, AN ACT TO IMPLEMENT CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE BUDGET TABLED IN PARLIAMENT ON MARCH 29, 2012 AND OTHER MEASURES  (90 per cent of the budget bill is … Continue reading

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The All Bills Act or Gettin’ er done.

Provisions of C-38  *Provisions taken from the summary included in Bill C-38.  Prepared by Pat Steenberg using information on the Parliamentary website www. parl.gc.ca Part I Income Tax Act amended: – Medical Expense Tax Credit, Registered Disability, Savings Plan, Mineral Exploration Tax Credit, Dividend designations, Governor … Continue reading

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Not a Democracy

Bill 38,in one monster book delivers the 2012 budget and changes to 70 complex Canadian Acts of Parliament in a single ‘Omnibus’ or ‘All Bills’ Act.   Each member of Parliament gets 5.2 seconds to debate each Act within the … Continue reading

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