Democracy gone Astray

Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.

This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Kimberly Rivera, U.S. Soldier And War Resister, To Be Deported Today

TORONTO - An American soldier who sought refuge in Canada after she became disillusioned with the Iraq war has been ordered to leave the country by today.

Kimberly Rivera has said she will comply with the Canadian government's deportation order and leave the country with her family, but that hasn't stopped her supporters from hoping for a last-minute intervention.

UPDATE: A vast majority of Canadians oppose the takeover of energy firm Nexen by the Chinese state oil company, CNOOC, according to a new Abacus Data poll done for Sun News.

The poll found 69 per cent of Canadians opposed to the transaction, with only eight per cent of respondents saying they back the deal. Seventy-three per cent of respondents said they felt uncomfortable with Chinese companies buying Canadian natural resources firms. But more than half -- 53 per cent -- said they were unaware that a state-owned Chinese was trying to buy a Canadian resource firm until they were asked about it in the poll.

Ontario would lose tens of thousands of jobs, see the decline of its manufacturing sector accelerate, and would need to be more dependent on natural resources under a free trade agreement with the European Union, says a new report from a left-leaning think tank.

The report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) also says health care would become considerably more expensive in the province under the rules of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), as the Canada-EU free trade proposal is known.

Mayor Rob Ford called senior staff to his office this summer to request unscheduled road improvements outside his family-owned business in time for its 50th anniversary bash.

The job, completed before the August celebration at the Etobicoke headquarters of the Ford family’s Deco Labels and Tags, cost the city between $7,000 and $10,000, staff estimate.

Premier Christy Clark is dismissing the B.C. Legislature as an “enclosed bubble” to be avoided this fall as she tours the province in a bid to connect with voters ahead of the 2013 election.

As Ms. Clark announced an expansion of skills training in the province on Wednesday, she told reporters to expect many more such announcements in the months ahead. The legislature was expected to sit during that period, but House Leader Mike de Jong said members of Ms. Clark’s newly shuffled Liberal cabinet will be out meeting voters instead.

EDMONTON - Alberta’s provincial government won’t comment on questions raised at the Northern Gateway pipeline hearings, such as whether foreign ownership is acceptable to Albertans or whether Enbridge is vastly underestimating the projected cost of cleaning up spills.

A lawyer for a B.C. First Nation suggested at the National Energy Board’s regulatory hearing that the economic benefit of the pipeline has been significantly overstated.

When the Royal Canadian Air Force deployed over Libyan skies, its pilots bedded down safe and sound in hotels in Sicily.

In fact, all Canadian troops there in support of the UN-backed mission in Libya were booked into hotels — an initially ad hoc solution that lasted for nearly nine months and cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

CBC News has learned the Armed Forces likely spent about $11 million on hotel bills, which amounts to more than 10 per cent of the military's $103 million total cost of the mission.

PARLIAMENT HILL—Conservative MPs are putting an end to a Commons committee inquiry into Auditor General Michael Ferguson’s scathing report on the government’s controversial plan to spend $25-billion on 65 F-35 stealth fighter jets.

NDP MP Malcolm Allen (Welland, Ont.), who mounted the party’s filibuster through several meetings that were held in-camera at the government’s insistence, said the official opposition is satisfied it aired unofficial testimony in August from critics of the program, who spoke at a “roundtable” discussion of the F-35 procurement in a Centre Block committee room.

Mayor Rob Ford returns to Toronto today after wrapping up a two-day trade mission to Chicago that he says was a big success.

The goal of the trip was to generate increased trade and business opportunities between the two cities, but there were no immediate dividends — no deals were signed and no firm commitments made by Chicago businesses.

Nexen Inc. shareholders have overwhelmingly voted in favour of a takeover of the Calgary-based energy company by China National Offshore Oil Company.

Some 99 per cent of common shareholders voted in favour of CNOOC's $27.50-per-share cash offer, and 87 per cent of preferred shareholders did so.

Because of the premium that CNOOC was offering, shareholder approval was largely a formality. But the $15.1-billion takeover still requires approval by the Canadian government under the Investment Canada Act.

Democracy gone Astray