On the face of things the big Canadian political excitement this weekend is the last federal Liberal leadership debate in Toronto today, Sunday, October 15. But the 2006 race to lead the legendary old Grits – “Canada’s natural governing party” for at least about two-thirds of the 20th century – won’t quite catch fire (if […]
On Canada Day a young man’s thoughts – or woman’s of course – turn to … well, Canada. And Canada, the late Robertson Davies used to tell anyone who might be listening is “the kind of country you worry about.” On Canada Day 2006 it seems wisest to concentrate on Canada in its deepest and […]
Mr. John Ibbitson is arguably the most stimulating and even brilliant political columnist in Ottawa today. He is always worth reading, and often right. But for growing numbers of the Canadian people he is just wrong in his recent Toronto Globe and Mail column on “Why we need a Queen of Canada.” Electing the governor-general […]
It is an inescapable part of Canada’s fate that it lives right next door to the pioneering democracy of the United States of America. And, according to Akhil Reed Amar’s recent much-praised book on the subject, the Constitution of the United States, as officially adopted on June 21, 1788, is “one of the most important […]
The Ad Hoc East Toronto Republican Constitution Committee has prepared some preliminary working notes on a draft strategy for shorter-term republican political reform and longer-term constitutional reform in Canada. If you would like to comment or raise queries use the form at the end of the text below. The notes focus on retiring the current elusive “constitutional […]
MONDAY, APRIL 3, 2006. FIRST DAY OF THE 39TH PARLIAMENT OF CANADA. As strange as it may seem, in theory the ultimate source of sovereign authority in Canada even in the year 2006 is still Queen Elizabeth II, who lives in Buckingham Palace in the United Kingdom. She is a remarkable lady. But carrying on […]
What the Canadian Press had earlier called “a small knot of demonstrators,” who “plan to show up, calling for an end to what they see as an undemocratic vestige of the colonial past,” actually did appear among the protesters at the otherwise radiant official “installation” of Canada’s new Governor General Michaelle Jean, on the sunny […]
OTTAWA. Thursday, August 4, 2005. So it would seem that the wily federal Liberals in Canada have done the trick again. In one sense it is impossible to object to Prime Minister Paul Martin’s pick as the new governor general – “48-year-old Montreal journalist Michel Jean – the first black woman ever to anchor a network TV news […]
The recent Iraq election no doubt ought to give some form of guarded encouragement to almost everyone everywhere who believes in freedom and democracy, and all that. But for those hardy citizens of Canada who would especially like to see their own country turned into a proper sovereign, independent, free and democratic republic at last, […]
