Issues, ethics, memory
I will be voting for the NDP in the federal election. They have historically advocated for policies that improve the lives of Canadians, and continue to do so. They have a group of ethical and hard working MPs, as well as stellar new candidates. The Liberals may well win the election, but we need the NDP with party status in parliament to provide an social justice presence .
In 2021, the New Democratic Party celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of its founding. This is my retrospective view of Canada's social democratic party.
In 2013, I was interviewed by Victor Enns of Rhubarb magazine about what lay behind my decision in the 1990s to run for political office. I posted the first part of that interview on this site recently. In the interview Victor also asked me about what it was like to serve as an NDP MP... Continue Reading →
There is nothing quite like the euphoria that a newly-elected MP feels after the grind of a nomination and then a demanding election campaign. What a privilege it is to be chosen by your constituents to serve them and our country. However, your life as an MP will likely be less glamorous than it might... Continue Reading →
The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released its most recent report. The blue ribbon group of scientists concluded that is 95 percent certain that global warming is occurring, that it is caused mainly by our burning of fossil fuels, and that we will see more violent weather and rising sea levels as a result. Scientists... Continue Reading →
Jack Layton received a fond public farewell from Canadians genuinely saddened by his untimely death. Now, the focus has, inevitably, begun to shift as members of his party contemplate next steps and the NDP’s opponents ponder with trepidation what the flood of public affection toward Layton might mean for them. Some NDP MPs and others... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending Stephen Harper won his long-coveted majority government in the 2011 federal election, receiving just under 40 per cent of the votes cast by the approximately 60 per cent of eligible Canadians who bothered to show up. An exit poll of 36,000 voters conducted by the Ipsos Reid company on May 2 yielded... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending On day 12 of the federal election campaign Stephen Harper was in Markham, Ontario wooing immigrant voters. That same evening in Ottawa several hundred people gathered at a church called the Peace Tower on Bronson Avenue not far from Parliament Hill. There they pledged fealty to the state of Israel and praised... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending I was in an Ottawa church basement along with about 80 other people a few days after the election call listening to three church leaders on a panel called Environment & Climate in Peril. The frustration was palpable. "Climate change is the key moral and ethical dilemma of our time and we... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending Stephen Harper announced on April 4 that a re-elected Conservative government would scrap Canada's long gun registry. That hardly comes as a surprise. The Conservatives hate the registry. They tried in the last parliament to do away with it and have all of its records destroyed but they lost the vote narrowly in the House... Continue Reading →
Pulpit and Politics 