tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-306177542024-03-12T21:26:40.990-04:00JAMES LAXERJames Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581079200019338423noreply@blogger.comBlogger350125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-23919663123004685932017-12-15T12:53:00.001-05:002017-12-15T12:53:47.643-05:00Canada’s Conscription Election: One Hundred Years Ago
During the First World War, on December 17,
1917, Canadians elected a federal government that backed the decision of the
government of Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden to conscript men to serve
overseas in the armed forces. The
election bitterly divided French speaking Canadians from English speaking
Canadians, leaving scars on the country that have never fully healed.
French James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-25085125951396995052017-06-23T15:01:00.002-04:002017-06-23T15:01:33.037-04:00Obstruction of Justice Under Wraps: the Dred Scott Case
U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly
tweets that he is the victim of a “witch hunt”.
Special counsel Robert Mueller is conducting an investigation into the
Trump administration’s dealings with Russia and he may be investigating whether
the president hnmself has obstructed justice.
If Mueller concludes that Trump is guilty of obstruction, the next step
would almost certainlyJames Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-29118920458263708292017-02-11T04:15:00.002-05:002017-02-11T04:15:53.108-05:00TRUMP-BANNON NEW GLOBAL ORDER: LEAGUE OF THE THREE EMPIRES
U.S. President Donald Trump is thin-skinned, narcissistic and obsesses over peripheral matters to a shocking extent.
There is method in his madness, however. Together with his alter ego and chief advisor Steve Bannon, Trump has conceived a new world order that is deeply at odds with the prevailing American global system.
Since 1945, America’s political leadership has developed an James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-48821582223501787002017-01-20T18:47:00.002-05:002017-01-20T18:47:38.374-05:00The Canadian Choice: Fundamental Change or Hard Right PopulismIn the era of Brexit and Trump, Canadians face an increasingly clear choice between fundamental change and hard right populism.
Canada is one of the major countries in the West where the political centre has held, much to the benefit of Canadians. But the same forces that have driven the rise of the xenophobic right in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and other countries are at James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-15087272177031252732016-11-13T10:43:00.003-05:002016-11-16T08:20:06.701-05:00America: En Route from Republic to Post Democratic EmpireWith the election of Donald Trump as President, the United States has taken another major step from a Republic to an Empire ruled by those who would be Caesars.
The American republic was born in a struggle against imperial rule from across the sea. Its leaders—who were soiled by the racism and brutality of slavery—nonetheless counted themselves children of the Enlightenment.
The conquest of James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-91101103818334018202016-11-11T11:30:00.000-05:002016-11-14T11:31:15.802-05:00The Liberals: The Natural Governing Party Returns Under Justin TrudeauSince 1984, when Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservatives won a large majority of federal ridings in Quebec, the federal Liberal Party failed to win a majority of seats in Quebec in any subsequent election, until 2015. Contrast those decades with the era from 1896 to 1984.
In 1896, Liberal leader Wilfrid Laurier led his party to victory in a large majority of Quebec seats on his way to James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-20748600376075441182012-05-10T10:27:00.000-04:002012-05-11T17:14:37.075-04:00The Liberals: From Natural Governing Party to an Uncertain Future, 1984 to 2012Since 1984, when Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservatives won a large majority of federal ridings in Quebec, the federal Liberal Party has failed to win a majority of seats in Quebec in any subsequent election, although they came close in 2000. Contrast the last three decades with the era from 1896 to 1984.
In 1896, Liberal leader Wilfrid Laurier led his party to victory in a large majority James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-48073102855107356592012-05-10T10:16:00.002-04:002012-05-11T17:23:40.935-04:00The NDP: The Road Travelled from 2006 to 2012On election night in January 2006, Jack Layton declared that Canadians had “voted out of hope for change” and expressed the conviction that the NDP caucus, 29 MPs as compared with 19 in 2004, would help place working people and seniors “at the front of the line” where they belong. Layton was proved stunningly, embarrassingly wrong, however.
The Harper minority government turned out to be more James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-26490944142152752232012-05-10T10:07:00.002-04:002012-05-11T17:39:01.729-04:00The Remaking of Canadian Conservatism: 1988 to 2012Brian Mulroney’s success in leading the Progressive Conservative Party to a second majority victory in the general election of 1988 was the last hurrah of the old Conservative Party, the party whose lineage extended back to the great days of the Liberal Conservatives of the 19th century, under the leadership of Sir John A. Macdonald. It is ironic that the party’s final electoral victory was in James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-11736236091408622342012-03-22T07:09:00.002-04:002012-03-22T07:12:24.516-04:00TOM MULCAIR: FOR SUREFirst, with all due respect to party elders, the NDP has been movingto the centre for decades, most rapidly over the last six or sevenyears. The idea that we must come together to protect threatened NDPvalues from Tom Mulcair is a bit rich. I've looked at the platformsof all of the candidates, and while I will concede that there aredifferences, all candidates share what I would call a James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-5943252851658904222012-02-20T11:14:00.003-05:002012-02-20T11:15:24.936-05:00THE MYTH OF AMERICAN RESILIENCEBankers, financiers, capital markets lawyers, investors and economists---people supposedly in the know---routinely make the argument that the United States is more resilient, flexible and adaptable than any other major country in the world. America is down they say, but not out. The Americans, according to this line of thinking, will bounce back to reclaim their global economic dominance. As James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-15514271455097203252012-02-07T05:37:00.001-05:002012-02-07T05:39:33.580-05:00Stephen Harper’s Majority Government: Not Looking Out for YOUAs we close in on one year of Stephen Harper’s majority, it is evident that this is a very special government. YOU are just not on its list of priorities. It’s not that this government does not have causes to which it is deeply committed: low taxes for business and the wealthy; the petroleum industry; military might; and prisons. If these are the government’s positives, its negatives follow James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-64753147417016451292011-12-07T09:02:00.001-05:002011-12-07T09:03:16.819-05:00THE HARPER GOVERNMENT’S BOGUS CASE FOR A BORDER DEAL WITH THE UNITED STATES: CHECK OUT THE NUMBERSStephen Harper and Barack Obama are announcing A Canada-U.S. border deal at the White House today.It is being presented to Canadians as an agreement that will yield greater access to the American market for Canadian exporters in return for the harmonization of Canadian security arrangements with those of the U.S. The idea is that we will benefit economically while satisfying the Americans that James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-26492838101056456162011-09-25T14:25:00.002-04:002011-09-25T14:28:55.772-04:00THE HARPER GOVERNMENT’S BOGUS CASE FOR A BORDER DEAL WITH THE UNITED STATESThe Harper government has been negotiating a comprehensive border deal with the United States. It is being presented to Canadians as an agreement that will yield greater access to the American market for Canadian exporters in return for the harmonization of Canadian security arrangements with those of the U.S. The idea is that we will benefit economically while satisfying the Americans that we James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-73174562810296045342011-09-20T09:35:00.003-04:002011-09-20T09:37:08.778-04:00TWO CENTURIES AGO: TECUMSEH’S FREEDOM SPEECH TO THE MUSCOGEE PEOPLEOn September 20, 1811, Tecumseh rode into Tuckhabatchee, in present day Alabama, the capital of the Muscogee people. Twenty warriors, members the Shawnee, Kickapoo and Winnebago nations, rode with him. The last months of a tense peace between the United States and the native peoples led by Tecumseh were quickly passing. And the U.S. and Britain were well down the path to war.Thousands of James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-83626010274755523242011-09-03T10:54:00.001-04:002011-09-03T10:55:30.322-04:00WHY THE TAR SANDS ARE DESTRUCTIVE FOR CANADA:" ETHICAL" OIL AND OTHER RESOURCEFUL FANTASIES
The Harper government’s Big Idea for the future of the Canadian economy is that Canada should become an “energy superpower”. What will make it so is the gargantuan development of the Alberta tar sands, which the Harperites and their friends depict as “ethical oil.” In truth, the development of the tar sands is reducing northern Alberta to a stinking hell. Long after this dystopian nightmare James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-55003477772319221652011-08-29T17:04:00.002-04:002011-08-29T17:05:47.455-04:00WHEN THE RICH AND THE POWERFUL OVERPLAY THEIR HAND
We are in the grip of a socio-economic crisis in which the rich and the powerful in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Euro Zone countries and Canada refuse to share the burden of coping with the economic disaster they did so much to unleash. A few among them---Warren Buffet and Liliane Bettencourt----get it. The rich can overplay their hand and can end up spoiling the whole party forJames Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-13854513287317337822011-08-22T10:58:00.001-04:002011-08-22T11:00:08.879-04:00WE’LL MISS YOU JACK
To lose Jack Layton at the height of his capacity as a person and as a political leader, is especially sad.
When Jack walked into my graduate course at York University in the early 1970s, it didn’t take me long to see that this was someone very special. The energy and the luminous intelligence were on full display, as well as his respect for others, and the joy he took in meeting people.
James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-623855418326883912011-08-07T15:24:00.001-04:002011-08-07T15:25:34.758-04:00Half Way Onto TwitterI launched myself onto Twitter yesterday, but only halfway. After signing up, I tweated a few times into the great vault of cyber-space. I even established a new rating agency along the lines of Standard and Poor’s, to be called the James Laxer Rating Agency. It will specialize in rating empires. In its first rating, the Agency downgraded the American Empire from a double D+ to a triple E.ButJames Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-56815657265488367642011-08-02T21:05:00.002-04:002011-08-02T21:07:16.540-04:00WE DON’T NEED A LECTURE FROM ALBERTA “FIREWALL” HARPERThe Conservatives pride themselves on their ability to throw opposition leaders under the bus. And they’re at it now with NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel. She is a self-proclaimed federalist and always has been. She was a member of the BQ and of Quebec Solidaire and the Conservatives are trying to use this to prove that she and the NDP have serious questions to answer about their commitment James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-47043261602060432011-07-04T17:55:00.001-04:002011-07-04T17:58:38.410-04:00Rob Ford: It’s Safe to Come Back to Toronto NowRob Ford has nothing to fear. Pride 2011 is history. He can slink back to his office at City Hall.I can report to the Mayor that nothing untoward happened at the great Pride Parade. A million plus people packed the streets on a brilliant day to celebrate humanity, and diversity. So much more than tolerance---it was a celebration, a proclamation of love and respect.I spent most the time James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-55910208391621108552011-06-23T15:51:00.001-04:002011-06-23T15:52:55.392-04:00NDP REPRIEVE: SOCIALISM LIVES TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAYIn my last post, rumours of Socialism’s death were greatly exaggerated.At age 215, Socialism had its neck on the chopping block at the recent NDP convention in Vancouver when a last minute reprieve spared it.The fate of Socialism was referred to the NDP executive where its future will be deliberated and a recommendation will be made to a future convention at an unspecified date. The mere thoughtJames Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-64724914553710527962011-06-18T18:41:00.002-04:002011-06-18T18:43:28.975-04:00BULLETIN FROM THE NDP: SOCIALISM, 1796-2011, IS DEAD. RIP.The NDP leadership has announced that Socialism, aged 215, is dead. “Nobody uses the word ‘democratic socialism’ in contemporary terms. It is very rare,” an unnamed senior party official told the press on the eve of the NDP convention in Vancouver. The convention was expected to remove the word “socialist” from the preamble to the party constitution. When unnamed NDP officials speak they get James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-87723906188126220192011-05-07T08:18:00.004-04:002011-05-07T08:19:57.884-04:00Who is Stephen Harper and Where did his Party come from: The Remaking of Canadian ConservatismAs in the piece I posted on the historic demise of the Liberals, this piece deals, not with the recent election, but with the transformation of Canadian conservatism and the rise of the Conservative Party of Canada.Brian Mulroney’s success in leading the Progressive Conservative Party to a second majority victory in the general election of 1988 was the last hurrah of the old Conservative Party, James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30617754.post-63295343991367988082011-05-06T13:26:00.003-04:002011-05-06T13:27:37.038-04:00The Liberals: From Natural Governing Party to the Political WildernessThere is much to be said about the utter failure of Michael Ignatieff’s Liberal Party during the recent election campaign. Here I’m going to look at the demise of the “Natural Governing Party” from a historical perspective.Since 1984, when Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservatives won a large majority of federal ridings in Quebec, the federal Liberal Party has failed to win a majority of seats James Laxerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11177908948911314714noreply@blogger.com4