Public servants’ duty of loyalty: how far does it go?

Loyalty is always a matter of degree, and is generally a virtue. But loyalty can be perverted and long before it involves breaking the law, or violating Treasury Board regulations.

What Can We Learn From Australia's Greatest Constitutional Crisis? Plenty!

Australia shows that an elected Senate permits political trench warfare in both houses of Parliament. It also shows that if the approval of both Houses is necessary to gain supply, there must be a provision in the Constitution to break any deadlock.

Non-voting behaviour and efforts to increase turnout

A high turnout at the polls in general elections is not the be-all-and-end-all of a healthy democracy. Non-voting too is signaling—although the meaning of the signals is often obscure. The meaning of the votes cast can be equally obscure.

Signaling in a democracy: voting, lobbying, and other techniques

Joining and participating in an interest organization has become the main alternative to voting as a method of signaling policy preferences to government.

Can a leopard change its spots? Assessing the anti-democratic tendencies of Stephen Harper

It's time to limit the PM's powers and to actually make him accountable in a practical fashion.

Beyond the CRTC's UBB decision: solving the internet usage metering problem for households

It would be better to have weights and measures branch of government add internet meters to their list of meters to be checked for accuracy.

CRTC's UBB decision: pretty good economics, but a very bad explanation in a muddled regulatory environment

The sad fact is that even if the CRTC does provide a well-reasoned analysis to support UBB in the review now underway, the government has indicated that it will not accept UBB for internet access for households.

Broken windows, and the undermining of democracy by Harper

Stephen Harper is a serial offender in undermining democracy. Giving him a majority government would be like handing a truck of gasoline to a pyromaniac.

Orwell comes to Ottawa: framing and marketing federal Income Trust Tax

How the Harper Government used taxpayer dollars for a campaign to frame and sell a new tax based on emotive slogans and claims that were almost entirely false.

Strategic approach to framing in lobbying

Framing should be applied to the interest organization's message itself, to rivals, and to efforts to indirectly influence government via the news media.

Criteria for assessing the performance of the Prime Minister

After five years as Prime Minister, it makes sense to look backward at Stephen Harper's performance as a useful way to determine whether he ought to be entrusted with the reins of power of a majority government.

Political voices in the era of nine-second sound bites

Think of nine-second sound bites as a sort of political haiku.

Parliament’s not covered by access laws. It should be.

It is crucial to our democracy for all federal institutions, including Parliament, to adopt strong and wide proactive disclosure policies. Champions of the right of access should seldom need to wait for a statutory instrument to take action.

Harper's at it again with plans to eliminate per vote subsidy for parties

The per-vote subsidy is not an expenditure like almost any other. It is central to the idea of good government in a democracy.

Regulating influence of wealth on politics: comparing election finances to lobbying

Why does the federal government regulate so tightly election finances, but places no constraint on lobbying expenditures, and does not require they be reported annually?

Time for an extended discussion of the distribution of income in Canada

If there is widespread agreement that the distribution of income has become too concentrated, what should we do about it?

Why did Dodge stop speaking truth to power on income trusts?