All entries by this author

Will Jagmeet Singh’s New Democrats steal Trudeau Liberals’ majority government? (And/or does it really matter?)

Aug 12th, 2021 | By | Category: In Brief

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, EAST TORONTO OFFICE. AUGUST 12, 2021. Today’s news that “Canada PM Trudeau planning snap election, seeks approval for COVID response” bears out much of the particular prediction in Abbas Rana’s August 1 Hill Times piece : “Others are preparing for the writs to be issued on Aug. 15, with an election to take […]



“With politicos across the country caught in election fever” – is Canadian federal vote coming very soon .. or just sometime this fall .. or even spring 2022 ????

Aug 4th, 2021 | By | Category: In Brief

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, EAST TORONTO OFFICE. AUGUST 4, 2021. In the capital cities of both Canada and Ontario in the middle of the summer of 2021 – and who knows where else from coast to coast to coast – there have lately been rising rumours of a Canadian federal election very soon. The mood as of […]



Summer 2021 adventures of the Ontario flag reflect bigger issues .. how long can this keep going on?

Jul 20th, 2021 | By | Category: In Brief

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, EAST TORONTO OFFICE. Back on Canada Day 2021 Mano Majumdar, a lecturer at Western University’s Ivey Business School, started a petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, “to replace the provincial flag with a more distinct and inclusive flag, chosen by democratic means.” For those who may have forgotten (“You mean Ontario has […]



Eight short stories, early summer 2021 – from socialism in Buffalo and Kiran Ahuja to Pat Riccio, Mike Digout, Larry Olsson, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra

Jun 24th, 2021 | By | Category: Entertainment

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, FROM THE EAST TORONTO OFFICE (NORTH OF THE LAKES AS THE OLD AGRARIAN DEMOCRACY USED TO SAY). JUNE 24, 2021. The weather is more than just agreeable here today. The sun is shining. Early summer is in full bloom. And we are cheered, dismayed, and/or puzzled by eight different stories in the recent […]



Senate reform for better regional representation still a great idea .. but it has to recognize the cross-Canada democracy

Jun 20th, 2021 | By | Category: In Brief

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. JUNE 20, 2021. We (well most of us anyway) like Justin Trudeau’s current Liberal government of Canada more than some we know. It is not even close to half-perfect, but to us it’s still head and shoulders above any available alternative. One thing we do not at all admire from the […]



Taking a Zoom meeting on the Chrétien and Martin years – and the royalist mythology in Canada today

Mar 20th, 2021 | By | Category: In Brief

FROM THE COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. SAT 20 MAR 2021 : Our most immediate news is that our colleague and friend (and intermittent self-declared editor-in-chief), Randall White (PhD), has finally handed in the almost next-to-last chapter of his long-meditated current work in progress, tentatively entitled Children of the Global Village : Democracy in Canada Since […]



Basic income in Canada, US GDP, small towns for people who flee Toronto, and waiting for new Governor General

Mar 2nd, 2021 | By | Category: In Brief

FROM THE COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. 2 MARCH 2021, 1 AM ET. UPDATED 14 MARCH 2021. We have no idea what Prime Minister Trudeau’s Liberal governing establishment thinks about Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz’s private member’s “BILL C-273 … An Act to establish a national strategy for a guaranteed basic income” – which received first reading […]



Good morning America how are you?

Jan 7th, 2021 | By | Category: USA Today

FROM THE DESKTOPS OF THE COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA. JAN 7, 2021. 4:15 AM ET. We just want to make clear that, like so many others in so many parts of the world today, we are altogether appalled by the happenings at the US Capitol (and various state capitols as well) on Wednesday, January […]



Happy New Year 2021 : (+ Jan 4: US politics really crazy now?), Indigenous Edmonton, Saul Alinsky’s democracy, Trump etc, old New York jazz clubs

Jan 1st, 2021 | By | Category: In Brief

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS’ VIRTUAL NEW YEAR’S PARTY 2021 (UPDATED 9 AM ET, MONDAY JANUARY 4, 2021), FERNWOOD PARK, ON. To start with, we’ve moved our January 4, 2021 update on US politics right up front here instead of at the end of our original comments as usual, for what we think should be obvious reasons! We […]



Canada’s new finance minister tells it like it is (just after National Review attacks “Disgraceful Endgame” down south)

Dec 2nd, 2020 | By | Category: In Brief

FROM THE COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. WED 2 DEC 2020 : The main focus of our November 30 gathering was federal finance minister Chrystia Freeland’s economic and fiscal update for the Government of Canada – on cable news TV at or about 4 PM, direct from the Canadian House of Commons in Ottawa. The Government […]