Friday, April 02, 2010

Friday Morning Links

Since we're all up for some politics for the long weekend, here are a few pieces worth a look...

- Erin slams the National Post for its exceptionally biased coverage of the Fraser Institute's anti-stimulus diatribe. Though it's worth noting that there's likely at least a grain of truth behind the study: while the institute's predictable anti-government bias obviously affects its assessment of the effect of stimulus dollars spent, there's certainly reason to think that the Cons' choice of a photo-op-friendly distribution scheme led to relatively little money actually flowing when it was most needed.

- The Star Phoenix on the HST: getting less plausible by the day, but now prebutted for your convenience.

- While I don't agree with Bob Plamondon's view that less choices are better on the federal scene, there's little reason to disagree with his main point about Michael Ignatieff's missed opportunity.

- Douglas Bell is right to note that the federal opposition parties haven't taken a strong enough stance in opposing the Cons' costly and useless "dumb on crime" policies. But while there's room for improvement on all sides, it's worth noting which party has both had MPs take stands on principle, and which has been closer to the mark in rejecting the worst of the Cons' excesses.

- Finally, is this officially Unveil Unpopular Policy Week for Brad Wall's Sask Party government? Because Rod Gantefoer has tossed more fuel on the fire by pointing to health care user fees as a way to deal with unnamed "abuses" in the system. Naturally he's backtracking again, but considering that he looks to have brought them up unprovoked this looks to be even less plausible than his denials about tax harmonization.

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