Friday, November 16, 2012

Friday Evening Links

This and that to end your week.

- Tavia Grant writes that at least one region of the globe - Latin America - is seeing some real progress in combating inequality. And the World Bank has some ideas to keep up the momentum:
The bank still sees room for improvement. It recommends governments incorporate the goal of equal opportunity into public policy and make further reforms to strengthen the social protection system.

It also urges governments to break the “vicious cycle” of low taxation and low quality of public services, by using some of the region’s commodity windfall to improve public services.
- Back in Canada, it's another week, another finding of pollution caused by the tar sands and covered up by the Harper Cons. Not to mention a concerted effort to exploit foreign labour to ensure Canadians can't find good jobs. Nothing to see here. Enjoy your publicly-funded propaganda campaign.

- Though Jeffrey Simpson does maintain enough residual faith in the prospect of making improvements to suggest that a national drug plan for seniors is in order. And Lawrence Martin is downright Pollyannaish in suggesting the Harper Cons might recognize that a judicial finding of electoral fraud might cast their legitimacy into enough doubt to require a federal election.

- Finally, Stephen Whitworth doesn't see much more reason for optimism at the provincial level:
(O)ne gets the distinct sense that Saskatchewan’s current leadership class have no vision, no imagination, no appreciation for the arts and no respect for the great things about this province’s history.

I submit that everything cool is getting kicked because in general, the business class and its toady politicians are ashamed of Saskatchewan’s historic achievements, which really, all come from the political left: health care, crown corps, arts boards and the co-operative sector. All that stuff really did make this place better but our conservative-types didn’t build it (actually, they fought it every step of the way) so they have to dismantle it. Because if they can’t have a legacy, NO ONE gets a legacy.

I mean, we’re in a boom and we’re starving our universities for funding? What a joke. I thought Saskatchewan was a have-province.

2 comments:

  1. Sam Gunsch9:38 a.m.

    re this excerpt: "I mean, we’re in a boom and we’re starving our universities for funding? What a joke. I thought Saskatchewan was a have-province."

    Obviously, they've been studying from the code of practice of Alberta's Tories refined over the last 20 years of our petro-state glory since the Klein-era launched in Calgary corporate towers.

    Sam Gunsch

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:28 a.m.

    To all,

    There is no need to frame these things in "left/right" or "class" terms, as Whitworth has done. Teacher may have rewarded you for such fanciful framing in some poli-sci course...but the general culture will resent you for it.

    The culture & tradition of your province is under attack.

    In this battle, you are the true (small "c") conservatives. You seek to preserve - perhaps even strengthen - the foundations.

    By contrast, your opponents behave as childish radicals. In their zeal to establish an empty counter-culture, they hurl molotov's at those long/hard-built foundations.

    And as Sam Gunsch points out, there is an element of treason lurking just under the surface. Brad Wall & his Sask. Party are clearly under the influence, if not direct guidance, of the foreign & slick nouveau-riche elites of Alberta.

    Once the people of Saskatchewan are made aware of this context, the "Saskatchewan Party" will be recognized as the Orwellian abominations that they truly are.

    Best,
    Dan Tan

    ReplyDelete