Posts Tagged 'Stephen Harper'

HomeTag: Stephen Harper

So Long and Thanks for the Surplus

So Long and Thanks for the Surplus

McLeod Group Blog, Sept. 18, 2015

Through its most excellent management of the economy, the Harper government finally discovered, after six years in the red, how to balance the budget.

The surplus in 2014-15, we are told, amounts to $1.9 billion. This is seriously good news for a Conservative election campaign that seems a bit like a dump truck rolling downhill without brakes.

So how on earth did they finally do it? They did it in three ways. The first was asset-stripping. ...

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Coalitions: The Narcissism of Small Differences

Coalitions: The Narcissism of Small Differences

McLeod Group Blog, Sept. 14, 2015

[Third of three McLeod Group blogs about Coalitions]

In a two-party political system, two parties dominate the political scene, and in an election one has the expectation of forming a majority government.

The Canadian two-party system has become something of a fiction, played out in the hopes and aspirations of three different parties and often in majorities that are that in name alone. The Harper ‘majority’ of 2011—54% of the seats—was achieved with only 39.6% of the ...

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Coalitions: Realities and Constitutional Practices

Coalitions: Realities and Constitutional Practices

McLeod Group Blog, Sept. 10, 2015

[Second of three McLeod Group blogs on the subject of Coalitions]

With a federal election in the offing and polls showing no party likely to win a majority, there is renewed talk of a coalition government. Canadians look back nervously to the fumbled efforts to create a coalition in December 2008, and some basic questions arise. What is constitutionally legal? What is allowed under Parliamentary practice?

The basic rules of government-forming in Canada are informal, derived ...

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COALITION? (Don’t) BE VERY AFRAID!

COALITION? (Don’t) BE VERY AFRAID!

McLeod Group Blog, Sept. 8, 2015

[First of three blogs on the subject of coalition governments]

A coalition government is an alliance between two or more political parties, either before or after an election. Normally coalitions involve a formal agreement on the fundamental directions of public policy to be adopted during the mandate of the coalition, and on how Cabinet seats are to be allocated among the parties involved.

Although commonplace in other countries, when faced with the prospect of a Liberal/NDP coalition ...

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What’s Good for the Goose: Universality and the SDGs

What’s Good for the Goose: Universality and the SDGs

McLeod Group Blog, June 1, 2015

Universality – the idea that certain norms should apply to all countries alike – is a crucial feature of many aspects of international life, from the United Nations Charter to the Declarations of Human Rights. Still, the idea that wealthy nations should be submitted to the same standards as poor ones can be a surprisingly touchy political subject. The latest example is the UN’s new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDGs are the successors to those ...

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North-South Institute Ends with a Whimper

McLeod Group Blog, September 11, 2014

The pain and suffering of the North-South Institute is over. After almost 40 years of high-quality, award-winning work, the NSI has capitulated to its Canadian government tormenters and is shutting down. The official communiqué announcing the decision said that the Institute “has not been successful in diversifying and growing its funding sources to the extent required to ensure financially sustainable operations.”

This is polite shorthand for what really happened. The NSI depended for most of ...

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Mr. Harper’s Maternal and Child Health Summit, Part 4: Is it divisive to care about the 47,000 women who die yearly from unsafe abortions?

Mr. Harper’s Maternal and Child Health Summit, Part 4: Is it divisive to care about the 47,000 women who die yearly from unsafe abortions?

By Diana Rivington and Elizabeth McAllister

More maternal and child health funding is welcome, but the lack of focus on the human rights of women and girls is not.

In taking stock of last week’s maternal, newborn and child health summit, Prime Minister Stephen Harper gets kudos for pledging more money to achieve UN Millennium Development Goal 4, to reduce child mortality, and Goal 5, to improve maternal health. But the second target of Goal 5, ‘achieve universal access to reproductive health,’ ...

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Mr. Harper’s Maternal and Child Health Summit, Part 1: ‘Saving’ Women and Children by Targeting ‘Walking Wombs’

Guest blog by Rebecca Tiessen, University of Ottawa, May 22, 2014

Maternal health should be about women’s health before, during and after pregnancy, not just mothers. Some women who require maternal healthcare will not become mothers because fetuses and babies may not survive or because the women may not choose to raise these children. Therefore, an effective and comprehensive maternal health strategy is key. It should include services that address women’s maternal health needs, while also addressing the broader societal ...

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Canada and the Commonwealth: Hissy Fits, Shouting and Bullying

Canada and the Commonwealth: Hissy Fits, Shouting and Bullying

McLeod Group Blog, April 21, 2014

The Harper government’s announcement that it will cut $20 million over the next two years from its funding to the Commonwealth Secretariat because of human rights abuse in Sri Lanka is surely one of the most illogical things it has done in a fast-growing list.

The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka currently serves as the Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth because Sri Lanka hosted the last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2013. The Chair-in-Office is ...

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Slip Sliding Away: Democracy and the Silencing of Civil Society Organizations

McLeod Group Blog, April 9, 2014

It may come as a surprise to many Canadians who follow global civil society issues to learn that Canada chairs the Community of Democracies’ Working Group on Enabling and Protecting Civil Society, a group that believes,

“An active, pluralistic civil society is an essential ingredient of a vibrant democratic political system. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are the primary vehicles through which people organize themselves to promote shared objectives and values and to convey their interests. ...

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