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Right to work laws: a leftist assault on capitalism

September 26, 2013 by · 1 Comment 

Tim Hudak, leader of the Progressive Conservative official opposition in Ontario, is pinning his electoral hopes on a proposal to introduce “right to work” legislation: a law that makes it illegal to make employment conditional on the employee’s membership in a union. Union talking heads – especially Ontario Federation of Labour chief Sid Ryan – as well as many in the media refer to right to work laws as an instance of “union bashing” or “union busting”. What almost never gets mentioned is that right to work laws also bash employers. Far from being a capitalist tool, right to work laws are just another leftist assault on capitalism. Read more

Why the Ontario Progressive Conservative (PC) Party is in a free-fall

September 20, 2013 by · Leave a Comment 

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party commenced a three-day policy convention in London, Ontario, today (September 20, 2013). For that reason, I tuned into “London Today” with host Andy Oudman, who can always be counted upon to deliver compelling political radio discussion. The show was a magnificent piece of civic reportage (click here to listen to it). The PC party’s key local membership – who called in to the show – illustrated that the PC party is a conflicted mess in political free-fall.

That free-fall is not confined to London. Read more

Neither conservative, nor liberal, nor libertarian: The "objective" label in electoral politics

September 15, 2013 by · 1 Comment 

In 2010, I produced my third episode of “Freedom School” with an actual group of people in London (the entire Freedom School series is available as a playlist on youtube, here) who were members or supporters of the political party I lead in Ontario, Canada: Freedom Party of Ontario (FPO). At one point during the session, the issue arose of what an FPO candidate or representative should call him/herself if he faces the “Are you liberal, conservative, libertarian?” question. My position then – as now – is that the candidate/representative should not call himself an “Objectivist” (which is a term referring to someone whose personal philosophy is that identified by author/philosopher Ayn Rand), but I didn’t get into why I held that position (the conversation went off in a different direction). Recently (see e-mails below) two Objectivists who have watched episode 3 of Freedom School have asked for my reasons. I’ve decided here to present, briefly, my reasoning against using the term “Objectivist” to refer to ones political orientation in an electoral context, and also to explain what a FPO supporter (and all others who share FPO’s views on the proper way to govern) should call himself. Read more

Firing Shurman: how Hudak is victimizing the public, rewarding swindlers

September 9, 2013 by · Leave a Comment 

The role of Ontario’s official Opposition is to oppose bills or governmental actions that the Opposition believe are wrong in one way or another. To do that job effectively, the Opposition cannot afford to engage in the very wrong of which it is criticizing the government. However, when the Opposition falsely equates the government’s violation of a good law with the Opposition’s compliance with a bad law, it does an injustice both to itself and to the government. The primary victim, in each case, is the governed. Read more