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Articles by Dennis Pilon
Canada’s ultra-rich are no friends of democracy
Tobias Lütke in 2015. Photo by Union Eleven/Wikimedia Commons. Canadian billionaire Tobias Lütke recently made headlines after taking to social media to endorse the idea that the rich should have more votes than everyone else and that anyone dependent on the state—like pensioners—should have none.
Can Avi Lewis save the NDP?
If Lewis’s leadership is going to launch a populist revival of NDP fortunes, it is going to take more than smithing the party’s policy mix, writes Dennis Pilon. Photo courtesy Avi Lewis/X. Avi Lewis has only just started his new job as federal NDP leader and already he’s been denounced in print by a who’s who of NDP insiders, including former leader Thomas Mulcair and leadership candidate Brian Topp. Normally a new leader gets a longer honeymoon period, especially from his own party.
The ‘strategic voting’ election and its undemocratic consequences
There are so many headline takeaways from the 2025 federal election: the loss of what had appeared to be a sure-fire Conservative victory, the dramatic resurrection of Liberal party fortunes under new leader Mark Carney, and collapse in voting support for the country’s third parties: the Greens, Bloc Québecois, and especially the NDP. The impact of Trump’s threats to annex Canada and impose harsh tariffs on Canadian goods has been clearly underlined by most commentators as driving these results.
Opinion | Saturday Debate: Would ranked ballots make Ontario democracy better?
Taylor C. Noakes and Dennis Pilon discuss in this week’s Saturday Debate. By Taylor C. NoakesContributors Dennis Pilon Sat., Dec. 18, 2021timer7 min. read YES Taylor C. Noakes Public historian The short answer is yes, ranked ballots would improve democracy — marginally.
Opinion | Saturday Debate: Would ranked ballots make Ontario democracy better?
Taylor C. Noakes and Dennis Pilon discuss in this week’s Saturday Debate. By Taylor C. NoakesContributors Dennis Pilon Sat., Dec. 18, 2021timer7 min. read YES Taylor C. Noakes Public historian The short answer is yes, ranked ballots would improve democracy — marginally.
Debating the Avi Lewis Impact
We asked NDPers, current and former, to weigh in on the state of social democracy in Canada, and on Avi Lewis’s recent decision to pursue the party’s nomination in West Vancouver–Sunshine Coast–Sea to Sky Country. This is the first component of our coverage in advance of the upcoming federal election in fall 2021.
Avi Lewis and the NDP: Why stars don’t point the way forward for the left
Without a connection rooted in trust with its electorate, the left must compete on terms similar to the other parties, with branding and ads and celebrity candidates. But these approaches do not mobilize the voters the left needs. Photo by Alexis Ramlall/Toronto Observer.
Monstruoso | Nuevos Hobbies | Hurrah! Música
La banda de Pamplona Nuevos Hobbies publica 10 nuevas canciones en una coedición de 300 copias en vinilo de los sellos Hurrah! Música y Discos De Kirlian. Los temas fueron grabados entre el verano de 2019 y el inicio de 2020 en los estudios MOTU de la capital navarra justo al borde del confinamiento. En esos días fue mezclado y producido por Guille F. Mutiloa, productor habitual de otras bandas de Pamplona como Exnovios, Melenas, Juárez o Río Arga.
Breaking news: The Airport 77’s, Peaces, and Timmy Sean
28 Thursday Jan 2021 Posted by Dennis Pilon in Breaking News ≈ Leave a comment Things may be looking up if these early 2021 album releases are anything to go by. The guitars are blistering, the harmonies are heavenly, and the hooks are earworm def com one. There’s something for a variety of tastes here, from jangle to 1970s CanCon to rock opera. Set these loose on the stereo, cranked. The power pop blogosphere is currently going bonkers over The Airport 77’s debut long player Rotation.
The Perfect Song, by Mo Troper
You wrote the perfect song It gets stuck in my head all day long You wrote the perfect song The perfect song And it sounds Just like how A kiss tastes Makes me want To sing along Until I’m blue in the face You wrote the perfect song It gets stuck in my head all day long You wrote the perfect song The perfect song And when I Feel like my Heart might break I put it on And my tears All evaporate You wrote the perfect song It gets stuck in my head all day long You wrote the perfect song The...
Forever For A While, by Space Cadet
Space Cadet features Matt Hock and Dave Walsh from The Explosion. Space Cadet happened by accident. Friends of almost 25 years, Dave Walsh and Matt Hock had each been writing and recording eerily similar songs, completely oblivious to each other’s work. What’s all the more surprising is that it wasn’t the punk of The Explosion (Virgin, Jade Tree), the band they formed together with friends in 1998.
Is that so gay? The queer poprock of The Smiths and Pansy Division
23 Tuesday May 2017 Posted by Dennis Pilon in Poprock Themepark ≈ 6 Comments It was 1982. I was 17, gay as springtime, and loved rock and roll. Musically at that time I would find myself caught between different worlds – there really wasn’t any place to call home. That same year a friend of mine and I snuck into our first gay bar. I thought it was going to be great, to finally be somewhere full of other gay people. But I just couldn’t get past the terrible music.
Poprock Record’s should-be hit singles of 2018
03 Thursday Jan 2019 Posted by Dennis Pilon in Should be a Hit Single ≈ Leave a comment 2018 was a freakin’ fantastic year for poprock! How do I know? Every year-end I put together a playlist of tunes released that year. In 2016 it consisted of 58 songs clocking in at just over 3 hours. By 2017 that list expanded to 98 songs running over 5 hours.
Demeaning Democracy: Turning Doug Ford’s Attack on Toronto into a Movement for Democratic Renewal
We, the undersigned group of scholars and teachers, deplore the autocratic and arbitrary reduction of ward representation for Toronto city council contained in Bill 5 being rushed through the Ontario Legislature by the just-elected Doug Ford-led Conservative provincial government. There are numerous problems with this initiative – both in terms of policy and process – that cannot be squared with democratic values or procedures.
Turning Doug Ford’s attack on Toronto into a movement for democratic renewal
The autocratic and arbitrary reduction of ward representation for Toronto city council that is currently being rushed through the Ontario legislature by the Doug Ford-led PC government will not result in better local government. As policy or a reform process, Bill 5, the Better Local Government Act, cannot be squared with democratic values or procedures.
Opinion | Turning Doug Ford’s attack on Toronto into a movement for democratic renewal
The autocratic and arbitrary reduction of ward representation for Toronto city council that is currently being rushed through the Ontario legislature by the Doug Ford-led PC government will not result in better local government. As policy or a reform process, Bill 5, the Better Local Government Act, cannot be squared with democratic values or procedures.
Dennis Pilon: B.C.’s eminently fair referendum process
A referendum is being held this fall in which B.C. voters will decide on electoral reform. Ward Perrin / PNG Opponents of the B.C. government’s referendum on the provincial voting system have been chanting “stacked deck, rigged game” pretty much from the outset.
2018 Socialist Register: Rethinking Democracy
The antagonism between liberalism and democratic processes is increasingly visible amidst the contradictions of capitalist globalization today. This is seen in authoritarian measures being adopted by so many states, as … Watch video » The antagonism between liberalism and democratic processes is increasingly visible amidst the contradictions of capitalist globalization today.
Opinion: Change the voting system without a referendum
FILE PHOTO A polling station to vote in the provincial election in the riding of Vancouver-Fraserview, in Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday May 9, 2017. DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS You arrive at your neighbour’s house for a friendly game of cards, but at the door he tells you the other players have decided you will have to score twice as many points as anyone else to win the game. It’s all above board, he tells you, because most of the players voted in favour of the rule.
Towards the Sky, by Wiretree
Wiretree is an indie rock band from Austin, Texas led by Kevin Peroni. Initially a solo project based on homemade recordings, Peroni released Bouldin in 2007, and later recruited other band members to solidify the project. Four albums later, the band has been featured on “Satellite Sets” (an Austin City Limits live taping), toured Europe and China. Their fourth album, "Get Up" was released 2013. ... more
Our entire electoral reform debate is based on a fear of voters
Yes, the Liberals’ online democratic reform survey — MyDemocracy.ca — is terrible. But is it very much worse than most of what passes for debate on this issue? Not really. The media, politicians and pundits have all contributed to the hot mess that is the visually attractive, intellectually bereft MyDemocracy.ca. The Liberals’ survey just re-packages a lot of the misinformed, misleading and irrelevant themes we’ve been hearing all along.
The dogfight over electoral reform is about power - full stop
It’s safe to say that the sudden revival of interest in voting system reform — driven by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promise that 2015 would be the last federal election conducted under first-past-the-post — caught most pundits and academic observers off guard. Given the failure of all voting system reform efforts in Canada between 2005 and 2009, it seemed that the issue was — like Monty Python’s parrot — sleeping, if not dead, and likely to sleep for a very long time.
Proportional Representation Will Ensure Indigenous Votes Count
At the start of his term, Justin Trudeau promised to reset the relationship with Canada's Indigenous peoples because, as he said in the House of Commons, their "life in Canada has not been -- and is not today -- easy, equitable or fair." Most Canadians agree that the conditions Indigenous people face economically and socially are unacceptable and long overdue for change. But to start that process would require Indigenous people to be at the table to represent their concerns themselves.
Dennis Pilon: You can’t hide behind the Constitution to spare us electoral reform
A number of commentators have recently tried to argue that Justin Trudeau’s plans to use his legislative majority to change Canada’s voting system would be unconstitutional.
Pour qui ont voté vos voisins? La réponse en carte
Essayez notre carte interactive Pour découvrir pour qui ont voté vos voisins, rendez-vous à Développée en partenariat avec l'École polytechnique de Montréal à partir des données d'Élections Canada, cette carte est la représentation la plus précise possible des résultats des dernières élections fédérales générales.
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