tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229885.post2009131266543778359..comments2024-03-27T01:58:22.445-07:00Comments on The Gazetteer: What 2015 Will Bring....The Long March.RossKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07677239332112652522noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229885.post-14643423005224031882014-12-31T12:04:28.243-08:002014-12-31T12:04:28.243-08:00One can make New Year’s resolutions, knowing most ...One can make New Year’s resolutions, knowing most will be honoured in the breach. Here is one, nonetheless. Forget the polls.<br /><br />This is an election year, and we will be saturated with polls. They will show parties going up, and parties going down. They will be invested with enormous and usually unjustified significance by those who take them and those who “report” on them.<br /><br />They turn political reporting into horse-race journalism of interest, frankly, to only a small number of political junkies such as television yakkers and newspaper columnists who talk right past what interests citizens.<br /><br />Think for yourself, do your research. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229885.post-39965343520622175232014-12-30T20:25:57.534-08:002014-12-30T20:25:57.534-08:00Our Westminster parliamentary system is designed f...Our Westminster parliamentary system is designed for timely passage of legislation tested by the confidence of the House. Speaking of "strategic voting" we must remind of the semantic element of assessment despite subterfuge and contingent planning such as military generals ("strategos") do which, in the misappropriate fixed-election-date razzle, must always suffer to the extent any strategy can be converted into tactical advantage. Our parliamentary system is designed for seizing the moments of a fluid world that often arise without warning and require urgent response. Fixed-election-dates, conversely, turn led politicians into bureaucrats polishing policy for the "big day" instead of being ready to exploit the unforeseen; it's hard on Opposition leaders too, as Carole James found out when constituents of many of her MLAs (about a third of them spoke out) got mad because while Gordo was wallowing in his own deep mire, she was diligently crossing "T"s and dotting "I"s instead moving in for the easy kill. Stockwell Day also discovered that if you're not ready to assume the government upon which you wait, you're finished. Still, it's mighty hard to approach Opposition politics any other way than strategically when the totally Westminster-inappropriate fixed-election-date tends to foster secretive, duplicitous governments---unfair, too, that they abuse the tools of state by lining them up like a billiards trick-shot while Opposition must carefully husband its meagre powder, often by keeping it very, very dry, which in turn makes them look lazy. This is about as far from Westminster as it can get and therefore as far from what the people need. It's also a perfect match for neo-right ideology because it effectively weakens government for the one or two mandates required to cripple it for a long while. If it was fair, it'd cut equally well either way, but plainly it doesn't seem to, despite the fact that the Harpercons too have bobbled hot potatoes they didn't see coming cuz they're long-gaming the fixed-election-date. They got the power. <br /><br />But that's not the worst of our troubles. Is it just me, or do I increasingly hear the facile notion that all governments are the same, "broken" or all devils of various familiarity? I guess if that was really true there might not be any real point in voting at all. Unfortunately the Harper gang's easily worse than anything we've seen before which, perversity intends, forces us to start that strategic voting discussion all over again. This might turn out to be the most sluggish slugfest of all as a result, as appealing as a pan of worms to many, but so important to all.<br /><br />We British Columbians especially should know better.scotty on denmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229885.post-54234917570099024432014-12-30T16:37:12.684-08:002014-12-30T16:37:12.684-08:001st 400 300 back?
http://www.taxplanningguide.ca/...1st 400 300 back?<br /><br />http://www.taxplanningguide.ca/tax-planning-guide/section-2-individuals/political-donations/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com