Worth Reading - May 14, 2015

We may be able to learn something about the Parliamentary Press Gallery by their Twitter following. From Policy Options is a piece of research on what one's Twitter audience may reveal about implicit, assumed or imposed bias. 

Ever since I returned to Ontario I have heard grumblings about a potential teacher's strike. To me this seems to have come out of the blue. But leave it to Ashley Csanady to lay out the situation that may lead to a full on strike. 

Lost in some of the news coverage of the NDP triumph in Alberta was the fact that that election was also the best the Wildrose Party has done as well, winning 21 seats. I hope Mr. Jean, leader of the Wildrose, provides a healthy opposition to Premier Notley.

As was feared, it looks like the Senate might kill Michael Chong's (CPC - Wellington-Halton Hills, ON) Reform Act. This is both unsurprising and terribly disappointing. Worse still, they won't vote it down, just let it die when the election comes.

The Conservative candidate slated to run against Justin Trudeau this fall was actually doing it as a pieceof performance art. Seriously.

In an essay The Economist asks a poignant question, what's gone wrong with democracy? I share many of the author's concerns about the future of democracy around the globe. I highly recommend this one.

Given some of the conversation about the place of Black Canadians in Toronto I thought this article about Peel was an interesting addition. Apparently black youth are struggling in Toronto's largest suburb, which should be a major concern to civic leaders.

Paul Wells' on Mr. Trudeau's recent announcement on middle class tax shift and other policy tweaking. The takeaway seems to be the small differences between the Liberals and Conservatives.

Finally, the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario chose a new leader, Barrie MP Patrick Brown. Martin Regg Cohn summarizes Brown's win and what it might mean for the future of Ontario. As Cohn writes, "[Brown is] a right-learning, pro-life, anti-gay-marriage, social conservative...]; doesn't quite sound like the Ontario I know.