Results tagged “ndp”

In a recent article, we described Canadian democracy as "drunken" and "staggering," eliciting the image of a bumbling, well-intentioned dullard saddled with an affliction that, for better or worse, is an effect of his or her environment or circumstances but manifest as failure for reasons entirely their own. Today, with news from Ottawa that two opposition parties are going to supportively wedge themselves under Harper's armpits for a while, we—like others with a shamelessly professed anti-Harper bias—stand by it.

Cue the trumpets, unfurl the banners, make with the fanfare, and let fly with a triumphant shout of "Sweet merciful crap, here we go again."

For almost a year and a half now, some of Canada’s major ISPs, including Bell and Rogers, have defended their throttling practices by arguing that excessive BitTorrent traffic is crippling their networks. Open-internet proponents, like Michael Geist, SaveOurNet.ca, and even Google, have questioned the telecoms' motives and asked the CRTC to step in and stop throttling. Geist further argues that throttling, high prices, and slow speeds, are reducing Canada’s competitiveness in the new digital economy. Today, a report released by the OECD on broadband growth and distribution, revealed that Canada’s broadband services are among the slowest and the most expensive in the developed world. In terms of price per megabyte, Canada ranks twenty-eighth overall, just ahead of Mexico and Poland. With the CRTC’s July traffic-management hearings fast approaching, net-neutrality advocates are working overtime to spread awareness of the issues and rally Canadians behind their cause.

Andrea Horwath is the new leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party. In her speech earlier today, Horwath—aside from suggesting the most depressing party motto ever: "you can knock us down, ignore us, write our political obituaries, but we are the people who will keep on going"—told the convention crowd that "we can make this province a better, fairer place where the average working woman gets the child care she needs and McGuinty gets the pink slip he deserves." So, yes, there is one lay-off that the NDP would be totally on board with.

When Iggy took the podium today he was full of fire and brimstone, sternly taking the Conservative government to task for its recent shenanigans. "We hold them responsible for telling us there would no recession when the rest of the world was already taking action...this is a record of reckless, arrogant, and short-sighted government." Strong stuff. Those who hoped that this language meant the Liberals would reject the Tories' new budget proposal were in for a rude awakening, however, as Ignatieff then toned his rhetoric down dramatically and introduced the crucial caveat: "But here is the point—the budget also contains important concessions...These measures are only in the budget because the opposition parties did their job." This afternoon in Parliament, Ignatieff introduced an amendment to the budget, meant to "put this government on probation"—it requires that the government issue updates in March, June, and December on the implementation of the stimulus package. Question Period is ongoing at this time, and Ignatieff is facing far more severe challenges from one-time coalition partners in the Bloc and NDP than from the Tories. The Conservatives appear poised to accept the amendment: Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry Mike Lake just took to the floor to thank the Liberals for their support.

In the run-up to our favourite national pastime of electioneering, Torontoist profiled some of the most closely contested ridings in the GTA, looking for the bellwethers and offering snapshots of electoral districts in transition. Today we survey the outcomes of those races.

Torontoist is officially in election mode. In the run-up to the big day, we'll be profiling some of the most closely contested ridings in the GTA, looking for the bellwethers and offering snapshots of electoral districts in transition.

Torontoist is officially in election mode. In the run-up to the big day, we'll be profiling some of the most closely contested ridings in the GTA, looking for the bellwethers and offering snapshots of electoral districts in transition.

Photo by functoruser.

Photo by calix.

Many fast-food chains and grocery stores are reintroducing tomatoes to their menus after the American tomato salmonella outbreak last week. Officials for the stores said that they waited until everybody had forgotten about the salmonella thing before bringing back the tomatoes, and that in future they hope to make us forget about bad things faster.

Dalton McGuinty has said no to calls from health officials in London Ontario to raise the legal drinking age in Ontario to 21. Drinking at 19 has become a rite of passage for young people, like acquiring a driver's licence or genital warts.

Photo of Owen Pallett by Heidi Slimane from his MySpace.

Provincial Education Minister Kathleen Wynne has tabled a bill that would ban trans fatty foods from Ontario schools. Trans fats and young people have been a hot public safety issue since 2005's infamous "Summer of the Muffin." Conservative MP James Moore yesterday angrily rejected allegations from NDP MP Irene Mathyssen that he had been viewing a picture of a "scantily clad woman" on his laptop while in the House. Although Mathyssen later apologized after...