Posts Tagged ‘ Canadian politics ’

Two cheers for Mackenzie King (and Lawrence Martin .. and the unsung Canadian political tradition etc)

Nov 8th, 2011 | By | Category: In Brief

We need to be experimenting more these days, throughout the global village it seems. We can’t do anything of consequence about that ourselves, no doubt. (And look what has happened lately to Yes We Can among the broader community of Yankees to the south of us, who must south of us remain.) But we can […]



So far the biggest impact of PM Harper’s success in Ottawa has been in Alberta?

Oct 25th, 2011 | By | Category: Canadian Provinces

For those who still think the Central Canadian mind is worth pondering, two somewhat contradictory recent Globe and Mail opinion columns on the current state of Canadian federal politics are probably worth a bit of further attention : John Ibbitson’s  “Harper’s moment to entrench Conservative politics has arrived,” in yesterday’s print edition, followed promptly today […]



Two cheers for Nathan Cullen’s “plan to unite the ‘left’ that just might work”?

Oct 20th, 2011 | By | Category: Key Current Issues

Not that anyone is paying much attention (right now). But we’d just like to add our voices of support (or at least special interest) for the federal NDP leadership candidacy of Nathan Cullen – MP for the vast northern BC riding of Skeena-Bulkley Valley. A few weeks ago, Barbara Yaffe noted in the Vancouver Sun […]



John Ibbitson’s “incumbency hypothesis” in this fall’s Canadian provincial elections .. truth or dare?

Sep 21st, 2011 | By | Category: Canadian Provinces

One of the things keeping democracy in Canada alive – in the face of recurrent improbable odds, in Ottawa and elsewhere – has been a steady supply of very good people who watch over and write on the Canadian political scene (in all its vast diversity and both official languages). A historical list could go […]



Can Brian Topp do it .. just how much of a transformation in Canadian federal politics is underway anyway?

Sep 13th, 2011 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

“Can Lloyd George Do It?” is the title of a 1929 tract by John Maynard Keynes and Hubert Douglas Henderson on the economic policy of the fading British Liberal Party of the day. (As the Duke University economist E. Roy Weintraub put it a few years ago, in commenting on a New York Times column […]



Innovation is key to Canadian economic development .. and reviving colonized mind of British monarchy won’t help!

Sep 8th, 2011 | By | Category: Canadian Republic

Sometimes two headlines in the same newspaper on the same day can seem to explain each other. I had that feeling about two headlines in yesterday’s Toronto Star: “Lack of innovation holding Canada back: report” and “Tories order diplomats to hang portraits of the Queen by week’s end.” The first article explained how: “Canada has […]



“Merger” isn’t the real issue for Canadian progressives right now .. but three cheers for Pat Martin anyway ..

Aug 31st, 2011 | By | Category: In Brief

According to today’s Globe and Mail: “The push for a merger between the [federal] Liberal Party and the NDP has quickly become a major issue among the growing field of candidates to replace Jack Layton … The top contenders for the NDP leadership – party president Brian Topp and House Leader Thomas Mulcair – are […]



Following Olivia and Jack’s last walk together .. because all of us need to be able to make a difference

Aug 28th, 2011 | By | Category: In Brief

TORONTO. SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2011. This seems to have been a summer of pipe and drum bands in this city. We went to the Warriors’ Day Parade at the Exhibition last Saturday, to probe the impact of the new Harper conservatism on the city’s old militia culture. (Well … probably more as a sentimental journey […]



Rest in peace Jack Layton .. “Optimism is better than despair”

Aug 22nd, 2011 | By | Category: In Brief

It was less than a month ago (Monday, July 25, 2011) that Jack Layton announced: “ I have a new, non-prostate cancer that will require further treatment … So, on the advice of my doctors, I am going to focus on treatment and recovery … I will therefore be taking a temporary leave of absence […]



Just what was PM Harper thinking .. how about “Canadian Navy, Air Force Name Change Divides NDP Caucus”?

Aug 21st, 2011 | By | Category: Canadian Republic

I agree that over the mid to long term future, Stephen Harper’s “abject colonial” restoration of the “‘royal’ designation to Canada’s air force and navy” last week is almost certainly going to work to the advantage of those of us who see a Canadian republic as our ultimate rational democratic destiny in the true north, […]