One didn't have to go far in Toronto to run into Jack Layton. Over the past three decades Jack personally crossed paths with tens of thousands of people. I'd like to share a few of my own experiences working with Jack on a variety of political projects and activities in Toronto. None of them were electoral campaigns.

Toronto City Hall

by John Deverell

Stephen Harper, you are either remarkably inventive or arithmetically challenged. You want a majority government and you'll happily accept it, without majority popular support, as "the will of the people."

If you're held to a Parliamentary minority, as you were in 2006 and 2008 -- you'll trumpet that too as the automatic right to govern, "a democratic mandate." If the majority of MPs in the next Parliament somehow manages to pry you loose from the PMO and 24 Sussex Drive; you'll say that is "wrong" and "undemocratic."

The Harper Conservatives presented their budget today. From the initial reaction of the opposition, it looks like a spring election is likely. The opposition remains behind in the polls but the situation is very fluid. Catch 22 has been "harpering" away for over a year about the government's many abuses of power and the need to advance, not regress, democracy in Canada. The reaction to the prorogation in 2010 showed that many Canadians do care about fairness, co-operation, competence and democracy.

Some interesting polling

In "The backro

Canadians were surprised to learn that a little known Order in Council passed in December by the Privy Council, changed the country's name from "Canada" to "Harper." The change was prompted by several phone calls to the PMO insisting that "Canada" is an antiquated vestige from the 19th century and the country was long overdue for a modern name. Privy councilors loved the idea and readily agreed. The new name was chosen by PM Stephen Harper.

Cons rebrand Gov't of Canada as 'Harper Gov't'

Public input and regulation of the "airwaves" is one of cornerstones for a well-functioning democratic country. We learn much of what we know about the world around us from the mainstream media. We are even more in tune with what's going on with the advent of the internet.

Johannes Wheeldon writes an excellent piece in The Mark about engaging the youth vote and reinvigorating Canadian politics at the same time.

How Can Canada Entice Young Voters?

"While the potential of the youth vote is too often tinged with terms like "apathetic," "lazy," and "entitled," largely unexplored are the reasons why encouraging the youth vote matters. This is not a partisan political proposition -- either you believe in democracy or you don't..."

Alternative news sites like rabble.ca play an important role in providing us with good news analysis and coverage of stories that are given short-shrift (or are totally ignored) in the mainstream media. However, while alternatives are great, we can't give up on holding the corporate media to a higher standard than that to which it has sunk.

Howard Bernstein, a former television producer spent some time in India recently and provides a fascinating look at how seriously some Indian television journalists do their jobs.

Self-Censorship: The real failure of Canadian journalism

Photo montage by Mitch Harrison for Catch 22 Harper Conservatives.

A legal case begun in 2007 to challenge Quebec's first past the post voting system is moving through the Quebec Court of Appeal and is likely to go all the way to the Supreme Court. Hearings begin on February 8.

Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada and Fair Vote Canada (FVC) have both been granted intervenor status in the case. From The Star: