By Jayme Turney It has been argued that we live in an era of ‘glocalization’, in which the knowledge-based economy found in cities is of increasing importance to the vitality of national economies. Despite their increasing economic importance, cities remain creations of the provinces with no constitutional independence and limited powers. To quote Courchene “The [...]
There are eight vacancies in the Senate; there will be four more by year’s end. If last December’s appointments to the red chamber are any indication, Harper will likely pick prominent Canadians who will tow the party line when it counts…Instead of shaking our heads are the shortsighted partisanship at play here, those interested in the future of Parliament should give some thought about how we might revitalize the Senate to harness its tremendous capacity to do good work, while keeping it from being a plum patronage appointment.
When the Harper Conservatives swept to power in the wake of the Sponsorship Scandal, they vowed that they would forever sever the cozy links between consultants, lobbyists and pollsters and their friends in the government. They centralized control over budgets and introduced strict accountability rules that prohibited new program spending without arduous application procedures. While these reforms were certainly long overdue, they have stifled the creativity of bureaucrats, paradoxical though that may sound, to invent new approaches to Canada’s most serious social ills.
