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u/h1ppophagist · 2 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

I lost the comment I was writing through an accidental click, but I want to address two of your questions.

>why has he won 2 elections?

Harper won three elections in 2006, 2008, and 2011 because he was able to win over key groups of voters from other parties. The Conservatives' highly successful marketing strategy is described in the currently hot book Shopping for Votes, which is worth a read. The thing is, the groups of voters who have supported Harper don't overlap very much with the groups of people who use Reddit or who fall in the age range 18-25, so the people with whom you most often talk about politics are probably not representative of the "average" Canadian voter. If you want to see some Harper-supporters explain their support in their own words, you might find something of interest in the letters section of a right-leaning newspaper, like this, for instance.

>What has he done for Canada?

There are three major shifts in Canadian policy that Harper has overseen.

1. The contraction of the federal government. Harper has shrunk the federal government in two ways: he reduced the amount of tax money that it collects, mostly through a cut to the GST of two percentage points, reducing the federal government's ability to fund large programs. Program spending has therefore shrunk or grown more slowly than it would have been able to with a larger tax base.
But it's not just in the amount of the money it's collected that the federal government has gotten smaller. It is also a core part of the Conservative movement that the federal government not concern itself with "national strategies" on matters that fall under provincial jurisdiction, such as child care. With the exception of the Canada Job Grant, the federal government has shown a serious lack of interest in taking on the role of steward of national programs negotiated with all the provinces. If the provinces want to start up programs of their own and raise the money to fund them, the federal government is totally fine with that, but it doesn't want to be a leader or coordinator of these things. This attitude from the federal government means that Stephen Harper's Canada is one of greater regionalism than it had been before.

2. An economic pivot away from manufacturing and toward resource extraction—away from Ontario and toward Alberta. No matter who governed Canada right now, manufacturing would be in decline as a source of employment. This is a trend in all rich countries. But the Conservatives have shaped Canada in the particular way they’ve decided to respond to this trend. The Conservatives have been champions of the resource sector—particularly of the oil sands—and have worked tirelessly to promote it as the engine of Canada’s economy for the 21st century. They have removed regulatory barriers to new resource projects, welcomed foreign investment in resource extraction (although not in a very consistent way), resisted carbon taxation, and championed the Keystone XL pipeline to the government of the United States. This approach has had an impact on the distribution of the fruits of the economy in Canada that is nowhere more evident than in men’s earnings in the labour market. Another party might have taken a different approach to resource development or tried to foster growth in other industries (say, the IT sector, or manufacturing of high-tech medical equipment, or financial services). It's the particular approach to further economic development taken by Harper that makes his vision distinct.

3. The expansion of free trade with other countries. Harper has pushed for free trade like no previous prime minister. The scale of his ambitions is nicely captured in this graphic from a couple of years ago. But that graphic precedes his biggest free trade achievement so far: the conclusion of a free trade deal with the European Union, which is an even bigger economy than the United States. If the Trans-Pacific Partnership is successful, that will also be huge. Harper’s achievement here is not only in making imports cheaper for Canadians or our exports cheaper for other countries to buy, but also in developing partnerships between Canada and regions of the world other than the United States. The impacts of Harper's achievements will be not only economic, but geopolitical as well.

edit: typo

u/usernamename123 · 6 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

First Nation? Second Thoughts by Tom Flanagan is probably the most representative book on the conservative (small c) view of Indigenous issues; I know some people have a negative opinion towards Flanagan, but this work is great by most academic standards and I think it's a must read for anyone interested in Indigenous issues.

Citizens Plus: Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian State by Alan Cairns. This was Cairns response to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal's people. Again, I think it's a must read to learn more about the various perspectives about Indigenous issues.

Wasase: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom by Taiaiake Alfred. Alfred is probably the most "extreme" in terms of his vision for Indigenous peoples in Canada, but he's a must read.

Unjust Society by Harold Cardinal. This book provides the greatest insight into why the White Paper was met with opposition from Indigenous peoples and to Indigenous issues in general (it's a little older, but if you were to read one book out of all the ones I recommended this would be it)

Governing from the Centre: The Concentration of Power in Canadian Politics by Donald Savoie. I haven't read this one yet (I hope to soon) so I can't speak to how it is, but I've been told it's a great book. It basically looks at how the federal government has become increasingly centralized into the PMO

EDIT: If you go to university/college and have free access to academic journals you should look in those. There are so many interesting articles and are less time consuming than books. Here's a directory of open access journals, but keep in mind not all of these journals are of "top quality"

u/240BCE · 1 pointr/CanadaPolitics
  1. My perception is that companies tend to place a much greater value on experience than schooling. The government does what it can to encourage businesses to hire inexperienced graduates, but it is up to industry to actually hire and train these people. Which is why I said it is hard to blame the govt. for the perceived skills shortage (which I think would more accurately labeled an experience shortage.) Taxes pay for schools because schools are a public good. There is far more to universities than simply skills training.

  2. I wouldn't be able to comment on how accurately the market values skills. I can agree that people with power and influence will probably overvalue the fields they came from.

  3. I would probably rank refugee, family, economic, investor. I put more value on family because it makes Canada an attractive place to immigrate to. If you trust the analysis in The Big Shift than there may be strong competition for immigrants in the future. If this were true then Canada would do well to remain known as an excellent country to move to. On the other hand, mass automation may reduce the need for immigrants so who really knows.

  4. I was thinking more along the lines of the salary and hours quoted not being sustainable over an entire career.
u/bRUHgmger2 · 2 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

>They will likely be unseated before we reach the 2030's.It's not the 20th century anymore where one party governs the country for like 2+ decades

I don't know if you remember, but before Adscam the Liberals were thought to be unbeatable, (hell on the wiki page for the 2004 election it says this "Earlier the election was widely expected to be a relatively easy romp for Martin to a fourth consecutive Liberal majority government, but early in 2004 Liberal popularity fell sharply due to the sponsorship scandal. Polls started to indicate the possibility of a minority government for the Liberals, or even a minority Conservative government, fueling speculation of coalitions with the other parties. In the end, the Liberals fared better than the final opinion polls had led them to fear, but well short of a majority.") so much so that one guy even wrote a book saying the Liberals were so unbeatable Canada might turn into a dictatorship and I really think that without adscam they could have stayed in power until the 2010's (after all, they were trusted on the economy, trusted on foreign affairs and with every passing election they were picking up more and more seats in Quebec so even if they lost some seats in Ontario due to the right wing vote being unified, (and I doubt they would have lost that many Ontario seats anyway) they had backup, and unseating a party like that is a monumental task).



u/TheIndianUser · 3 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

Right Honourable Men by Michael Bliss


Canada's Prime Ministers by Ramsay Cook

Citizen of the World (Biography of Trudeau I) by John English: Volume 1 and Volume 2

Shadow of Heaven (Pearson) by John English

The first two are board history's and include selections from other biographies about the Prime Ministers; they're a good starting point for boarder history and to find more targeted biographies.

Also, if you're interested, I have a bunch of academic journal articles on both Trudeau and Pearson mostly on the decriminalization of homosexuality, the birth of equal marriage in Canada, debate about the Charter, Peacekeeping, the Flag Debate, and the Bill of Rights. Let me know and I can share those with you through google drive.

u/Hannibal_Barca_ · 2 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

As someone with an economics background who is very interested in this topic and has been for years. I want to share a podcast and a book recommendation that I think combined provide a solid explanation for this that are "accessible" for people.

The first is a 44 minute podcast with Claudia Goldin who is a harvard professor (economist) who has been working on the issue of the wage for years and is one of the top people on the issue in the world.
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-true-story-of-the-gender-pay-gap-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/

The second is a book that has a chapter specifically addressing the phenomenon of pink guettos (female dominated fields + lower pay as women enter a field) which is what the article above is about. It's a book by a Canadian philosopher, Joseph Heath, that is excellent at explaining complicated economics concepts to a broad audience.

https://www.amazon.ca/Filthy-Lucre-Joseph-Heath/dp/1554683742

I think both of these academics are more interested in understanding the phenomenon than politics which is great for those who want less biased sources on the issue.

u/FilPR · 1 pointr/CanadaPolitics

Backing up to your statement about studying or researching transportation policies....did you happen to see this discussion on this sub a few days ago? Specifically the claim that Saudi oil isn't 'fully costed' because the super tanker operating costs are ignored. Is that at all credible? I'm sure that I have read elsewhere (as it relates to the 100 mile diet) that the carbon cost to move food from Chile to Vancouver is much smaller than the carbon cost to truck that food to Calgary which is also smaller than the carbon cost for me to drive to the store to buy those bananas or whatever.

I did a quick interweb search to try to find the CO2 emissions to move 1 ton of oil 1000 miles by pipeline or by truck or by rail or by ship...no go...do you have a good source?

Most of my hydrogen/nuclear thinking is nicely encapsulated in this book - heard of it and/or read it?

As for storage of energy, I like the method highlighted here, second image.

u/the_normal_person · 1 pointr/CanadaPolitics

The Dictator's Handbook is a fantastic political science book. Not just about the politics of dictatorships, but the politics of democracies, small municipalities, and businesses as well. Super cynical, but provides tonnes of really great examples and case studies.

On of my favourite books period.

https://www.amazon.ca/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Politics/dp/1610391845

u/apiek1 · 2 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

So its all about money, is it? Well, I could increase my wealth by stealing money, but I don't. One of the reasons that Canada became wealthy, is that it brutally stole wealth-creating lands from the Aboriginals. Read Clearing the Plains if you still don't understand that.
Obviously, returning some of the wealth is important, but the Liberals have promised something much more important than that, namely: "a total renewal of the relationship between Canada and indigenous peoples".

u/Borror0 · 2 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

> it's that the logical conclusion of free trade is lowering the wages of workers in the developed world to those in the developing world

It's not. If you really think otherwise, please buy yourself an economics textbook. Mankiw's Principles of Microeconomics come highly recommended, and the older versions can be purchased for at low price. Once you're wrong, if you still think economists are mistaken, feel free to get your PhD and win a Nobel prize.

u/threetogetready · 1 pointr/CanadaPolitics

If we are talking about social progress I honestly believe it is because of racism. Canadians are comfortable with complexity and understand that both individual and group rights are important. Americans live in a perceived power struggle (within themselves and between groups) that they can't reconcile.

>The long winters that the first settlers faced, forcing them to look out for one another?

And the First Nations people that showed these settlers how to live and brought them into their ever-growing circles and showed them what acceptance really looks like.

Book? -->
http://www.amazon.ca/Fair-Country-Telling-Truths-Canada/dp/0143168428

u/fgejoiwnfgewijkobnew · 4 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

>They treat parties like completely static entities.

That's really interesting criticism given CGP Grey doesn't discuss any aspects of any of the hypothetical animals running in the elections. These videos are about the voting mechanics of each system.

If you're interested in how or why politicians change their tune to reflect the electorate see Rules for Rulers which is a distillation of the book The Dictator's Handbook.

u/Numero34 · 1 pointr/CanadaPolitics

I understand what you're saying but the same can be said about government as the middleman and subsequent problems that creates.

We currently have ~6M seniors/15% of total population (age 65+) and we're going to have about 10M (close 25% of total population) by the 2030s. Currently this group consumes ~3x as much healthcare as their population size or 45%. Universal anything isn't a sustainable solution to this problem.

https://archive.fo/QXPo4

Even more so considering this same generation of seniors has continually received more in handouts than they're paid forward.

Why should the generation that received infrastructure that was paid for and not maintained, inexpensive post-secondary education, inexpensive housing, job security and other employment benefits that aren't as readily available today, receive another generational transfer of wealth?

Good book on the topic

u/lysdexic__ · 3 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

A Fair Country by John Ralston Saul is a good read that addresses this question. He has a fascinating POV on it.

u/artisanalpotato · 4 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

Just read one of his many biographies (I suggest Citizen of the World, J. English). Putting his life into context matters.

It matters that this was his context growing up, but then he expanded his horizons by studying abroad and incorporating liberalism into his moral philosophy. He's not the only one to make the jump from 'corporatism' (dictionary definition, has nothing to do with corporations) to social liberalism in that era. But he is one of the very, very few to be able to make the case for liberal values inclusive of both French (not just Québec), and English values.

u/Chrristoaivalis · 2 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

http://www.amazon.ca/Clearing-Plains-Politics-Starvation-Aboriginal/dp/0889772967

This is his recent work, and the one that won the book of the year award from the Canadian Historical Association.

u/_eleemosynary · 2 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

I'm trying to remember and I can't -- it has something to do with the way he restructured cabinet to create subcommittees, or perhaps with creating the "p & p" committee that effectively replaced cabinet as the core decision-making body. In any case, the key text that explains the whole history is Donald Savoie, Governing from the Centre, but I seem to recall some interesting stuff can be found in John English, Just Watch Me

u/CascadiaPolitics · 1 pointr/CanadaPolitics

Lament for a Nation by George Grant is one I quite enjoyed reading. It was interesting to a perspective on the aspects of Canadian society that were left behind after the Liberals' modernization of Canada in the late 1960's.

u/feb914 · 11 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

I read her "Shopping for Votes and highly recommend it. It's very eye opening to see how campaign strategy is changing to be more and more marketing like.

u/fencerman · 1 pointr/CanadaPolitics

> Name me a single ISP that hides the full price of a phone from you when you buy it

In terms of breaking down the share of your phone plan that goes towards paying for the phone and the share that is just your service plan not a single one of them does.

But if you do calculate it yourself you quickly realize you're paying a lot more than the up front cost of the phone. Here's one completely arbitrary example; https://www.virginmobile.ca/en/phones/phone-details.html#!/google3a/Black/64/TR20

The "full price" is $650, with a plan at $28/month, $500 with a $45/month plan, $250 with a $60/month plan, $79 with a $95/month plan, or "free" with a $105/month plan. Just to save $250 upfront, you're paying an extra $1080 over 2 years, on a phone that's only supposed to cost 650 up front. Compared to paying it off upfront, paying nothing up front means paying a total of over 1800 for the phone, nearly 3x the cost.

(Also you can buy a Google Pixel 3a from Google directly for $399 USD, or $540 CAD, or from Amazon for $399 CAD so already they're jacking up the price on the cost)

If you're going to pretend that make no money on that then you're simply lying.

It gets scummier though, because if you dont cancel the higher priced plan exactly when 2 years are up, they'll keep charging you the full cost of that plan and you get zero credit towards anything, they simply pocket the over-payment.

u/benfitzg · 2 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

You are contradicting yourself. If making less credit available makes it harder to pay a price making more available makes it easier which increases demand for the same supply which raises prices.

How do you break this cycle? Land value tax and remove income tax.

Henry George: progress and poverty:

https://www.amazon.com/Progress-Poverty-Industrial-Depressions-Increase/dp/0911312587

A shorter FT article on LVT:

https://www.ft.com/content/392c33a6-211f-11e3-8aff-00144feab7de

You used to have it in Canada, then you went the way of the UK rentier:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax#Canada

u/somewhathungry333 · 7 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

>Were these claims ever substantiated, and if so, did the Trudeau government reverse or change these policies?

Yes there is an entire book on it

https://www.amazon.ca/War-Science-Muzzled-Scientists-Blindness/dp/1771004312

u/afacg3 · 15 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

>Were these claims ever substantiated, and if so, did the Trudeau government reverse or change these policies?

Yes there is an entire book on it

https://www.amazon.ca/War-Science-Muzzled-Scientists-Blindness/dp/1771004312

u/JustSomeCanuck101 · 3 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

Ahh, not heard of him. Well in that case you might want to acquire this book. It was my introduction to Mr Heath.

This blog post by Heath is probably my favourite effort by him.

u/kneeco28 · 38 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

Controversial when it was published in advance of the last election, this was my favourite op-ed providing a summary of the Harper years: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/opinion/sunday/the-closing-of-the-canadian-mind.html

If you're in the mood for something longer and more about the politics of Harper, this book is good: https://www.amazon.ca/Longer-Im-Prime-Minister-Stephen/dp/0307361322

u/alessandro- · 4 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

I used to have a view pretty similar to this, but then I read the chapter on multiculturalism from this book, and it changed my mind. The chapter is under 40 pages long. If I sent it to you, would you consider reading it?

u/lemachin · 2 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

For more Canadian conservative sources, how about George Grant and Dalton Camp?

u/prageng · 2 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

Have you ever read Governing from the Centre, and if so, how relevant do you think it still is?

u/jtbc · 2 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

There is a book length exposition by the same person on this topic if you are interested:

http://www.amazon.ca/The-War-Science-Scientists-Blindness/dp/1771004312

Muzzling scientists is one aspect of the efforts made by the Harper government to manufacture consent. I have already mentioned elimination of the long form census, mandate change at the NRC, and defunding of the ELA.

I have also mentioned, elsewhere in this thread, brazenly unscientific statements concerning marijuana and safe injection sites.

I could go one, but other folks have written books cataloguing this stuff, and I suspect that no matter how many examples I provide, you are going to claim I haven't made my case.

u/Exanime4ever · 13 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

I'm just going to leave this book recommendation here

​

A Generation of Sociopaths

​

Edit: stupid "new" reddit can't deal with it's own link formatting

u/1AmericanHero · 1 pointr/CanadaPolitics

(from another thread) Note that canada is not different from america, since they are on the same continent.

Who got bailed out in 2008? Was it ... the capitalists????? Think about that, there was endless money to be spent when billionaires and banks gambled and lost. But when we need money for infrastructure and education, somehow we are given lines and bullshit that "we can't afford it"? Where's the missing trillions?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVjz1OyBJCc

More sites on the distribution of wealth and power in North america (since Us and canada's economy are basically one and the same).

The distribution of power in america:

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/images/wealth/Net_worth_and_financial_wealth.gif

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

Go do some reading and get educated

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/.

Here's some more:

http://www.straight.com/life/chris-hedges-harper-venal-us-politics-totally-rigged

http://www.amazon.com/Manufacturing-Consent-Political-Economy-Media

Google: Chris hedges

Richard wolf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF2g26mTV7w

u/supa999 · 0 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

> Does anyone else see a disconnect here?

Elites fear a political awakening, that's why the elites are going nuts. Learn about what's actually going on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kmUS--QCYY

Chris hedges:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zotYU21qcU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAhq-l0LUio

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/

For more google his name, there's tonnes he's done.

u/Palpz · 11 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

Filthy Lucre: Economics for People Who Hate Capitalism

The title's a bit misleading; it delves into how proponents on all sides of the political spectrum royally screw up the economics behind what they're proposing. Written by a Canadian, although it does focus more on the "right / left" divide than you might expect given that, since it's also written with an American audience in mind. From a PhD whose doctorate is actually Philosophy.

u/liegah · 4 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

Consider that residential schools led to the complete extermination of approximately 50 indigenous languages and associated near-complete or total loss of distinctive culture for about as many peoples.

Consider that the death rate at some residential schools (as high as 60%) compared to the death rates for children in white schools in the same area at the same time (5%) is actually comparable to the difference in the death rate rate compared between some of the Nazi extermination camps (35 - 90%) and regular camps for ethnic German citizens and Western PoWs (~3%).

Checklist:

  • An intentional government policy aimed at cultural extermination.

  • The carry-out of that government policy was uninterrupted even when the majority of children subjected to it died.

  • Human medical experimentation was done on the children.

  • Instances where the majority of the population subjected to the policy died.

  • So they used mass graves because they died too quick to bother with individual burials.

  • With the little children digging the graves of their own school friends knowing full-well they'll probably be next.

  • And clever use of novel means to speed up mass extermination (biological warfare / gassing).

    The end result sure looks the same. There aren't many Jews in Europe. And there sure aren't many Snokomish or Penlatch people left -- every last one was exterminated.

    The numbers and the consequences sure look genocidal for certain periods, especially at the peak in the early 20th century.

    Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life is a recent book that thoroughly details the means by which the Canadian state, in parallel to the American, used disease, geographic displacement, starvation, isolation, interment and the occasional bout of literal mass murder, to effectively depopulate much of the continent.