Anyone who has been talking even a little to NDP friends and colleagues won’t be surprised to hear that, at the party’s Sunday, January 29 federal leadership debate in Halifax, Nathan Cullen came under some heavy fire, “over his plan to hold joint nomination meetings with other parties in Conservative-held ridings to avoid splitting the […]
Internal website statistics showing a sudden burst of fresh interest in a blog we did on the last Australian federal election (“You can’t blame Bloc Québécois for no majority government in Land of Oz,” Aug 23rd, 2010) has clued us in to fresh political hi-jinks in the exotic deep southern geography of billabongs, coolabah trees, […]
[UPDATED JANUARY 24]. Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty’s welcoming speech was one of the highlights at the Liberal Party of Canada’s biennial convention in Ottawa, more than a week ago now, on Friday, January 13, 2012. One of its most striking passages, I thought, came somewhat before the middle: “Choosing a new leader is no […]
It has me taken a while to get into the latest Stephen Colbert intervention in the real world of US politics (in conjunction with his colleague, Jon Stewart – who recently claimed that both “t”s in his surname are silent, to give “Sewar” when said out loud). But I have now been drawn in by […]
In a number of respects the Liberal Party of Canada biennial convention in Ottawa this weekend has been a surprising success. It was, eg, attended by some 3,200 delegates – considerably more than expected. As Jane Taber has also reported: “The party had wanted to show it can reinvent itself by becoming more open. It […]
Jackson Lears “teaches history at Rutgers University, is the editor of Raritan and author of Rebirth of a Nation: The Making of Modern America, 1877-1920.” In the 5 January 2012 issue of the London Review of Books, he reviews two recent biographies of US President Barack Obama’s father and mother –Â The Other Barack by […]
[UPDATED JANUARY 18]. The main event in Canadian progressive politics this week is the biennial convention of the federal Liberals in Ottawa – Friday, January 13 to Sunday, January 15. Our first big hope here is that the Grits in their wisdom vote YES for resolution 114 : “Canadian Identity in the 21st Century … […]
By this point we no longer remember how our Zzzzzzzzzzzzz department – on the bar at the top of the page in the Home mode: “Links to recent news for those who really cannot get to sleep” – got started in the first place. But we do know that it has been woefully out of […]
At their biennial convention next weekend the federal Liberals will be debating a policy resolution on the Canadian future of the British monarchy, at the democratic reforming behest of the Young Liberals of Canada.. The resolution is officially known as “114. Canadian Identity in the 21st Century.” Its operative section reads: “BE IT RESOLVED that […]
Six recent articles, mostly but not entirely from the Globe and Mail, raise some provocative prospects about Ontario’s changing role in the Canadian confederation: “Ontario Liberals brace for a tumultuous year” (Adam Radwanski) ; “Flaherty’s corporate-tax plan hits stumbling block in Ontario” (Bill Curry) ; “Saving John McCallum’s seat will be true measure of Liberal […]
