Murray DOBBIN

Bien peu de gens connaissent l’Initiative nord-américaine pour la sécurité et la prospérité. Pourtant, c’est le projet promu par les 150 plus grandes entreprises canadiennes regroupées sous l’égide du Conseil canadien des chefs d’entreprises (CCCE), dont le président, Thomas D’Aquino, a la réputation d’être le plus puissant lobbyiste à Ottawa.

Paul Martin’s election platform - or at least a test run of it - was set out in the throne speech delivered by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. How did Clarkson feel, knowing, as she must have, just how much hypocrisy and flim-flam there was in the 52-minute speech? It was a deadpan performance from someone who is usually animated.

IF the actual campaign is anything like the warmup, this election is going to be a sorry spectacle — a contest between two parties, both dedicated for a decade to dismantling medicare, competing for votes on the pledge to save it.

WHAT if Paul Martin became prime minister and was suddenly so afflicted with pangs of conscience that his first speech from the throne revealed his true record — and a plan to redeem it?

Murray Dobbin says globalization chickens coming home to roost

Paul Martin ne cesse de parler de son « programme très ambitieux », mais on a beau se forcer, il est de plus en plus ardu d’y trouver de l’ambition. À moins qu’il ne s’agisse de son intention de diminuer la dette. Paul Martin et son obéissant ministre des Finances sont déterminés à abaisser la dette nationale à 25 % du produit intérieur brut (PIB). C’est gravé dans le roc.

Would Bush actually invade Cuba or is he just playing tough guy to ensure he scoops Florida in the November election?

Bien peu de gens connaissent l’Initiative pour la sécurité et la prospérité de l’Amérique du Nord. Pourtant, c’est le projet promu par les 150 plus grandes corporations canadiennes regroupées sous l’égide du Conseil canadien des chefs d’entreprises (CCCE), dont le président, Thomas d’Aquino, a la réputation d’être le plus puissant lobbyiste à Ottawa.

As I was scanning the latest documents describing WTO negotiations on its services agreement (the GATS - the General Agreement on Trade in Services) I came across a quote that reinforced for me how much corporations have come to dominate our political life.

It is intriguing to watch the coverage of the Green Party in the federal election because the conventional wisdom — that it will take votes from the NDP — is confounded by the party’s actual policies. While the analysis is likely correct, a look at Green policies reveals that this party is really a Conservative alternative, not a social democratic one. Its fiscal, economic and even environmental policies would be a near perfect fit for the old Progressive Conservative party.