Current Argentine president Cristina Kirchner, widow of former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner, is viewed by many observers of such things as one of the “Hottest Female World Leaders” extant. So you might think that when she and UK Prime Minister David Cameron bumped into each other at the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, earlier […]
A week can be a long time in politics, as the legend has it. And getting back to the home and native land from the counterweights Western Europe conference circuit suggests that two weeks and a few days can be even longer. It’s almost as if since we’ve gone the nights of Canadian politics have […]
It has now become clear beyond any reasonable doubt that, in the language of the first people who called themselves Canadians: “Le Globe and Mail écrivait hier que le ministère de l’Immigration et de la Citoyenneté avait accordé un permis de résidence temporaire d’un an au magnat de la presse déchu,” Conrad Black. Moreover: “M. […]
I had just waded through an even two dozen articles on Michael Ignatieff and his latest thoughts about what Pierre Trudeau’s book of 1968 called Federalism and the French Canadians. (Well … that’s not exactly true : the first of the two dozen was actually an article by Michael Ignatieff himself – a review of […]
“And Barbara it’s starting to rain, very gently.” So a youthful Peter Mansbridge told David Frum’s mother – and TV viewers across Canada – as Elizabeth II approached the table to sign the proclamation of the Constitution Act, 1982, 30 years ago, on Saturday, April 17, 1982. The ceremony was held outdoors on Parliament Hill […]
I seldom agree with what Margaret Wente writes in her Globe and Mail column. She is speaking from and for a different universe than the one I inhabit. But there are exceptions to every rule. And I think Ms. Wente is at least half right today, in “Justin Trudeau for leader! Okay, maybe not.” She […]
There is something to be said for the argument that sowing confusion among his enemies has become one of the mature Stephen Harper’s most skilfully wielded political weapons. And, whatever else, yesterday’s 2012 federal budget succeeds brilliantly at the task. As a case in point see “Ministers tout ‘modest’ Tory plan to slash spending, shrink […]
TORONTO. SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 2012. One thing I’ve remembered this weekend is watching the convention that founded today’s New Democratic Party on TV, as A Teenager in North Toronto, so to speak (humourously, ironically, sarcastically, satirically, or whatever), in the middle of the summer of 1961. Inevitably, I am not as enthused and hopeful as […]
Today’s by-election for Jack Layton’s old seat in Toronto-Danforth just kicks off two weeks of intense political mania at all three levels of government, in what was once mistakenly called the Toronto-Centred Region by Ontario government planners. Inevitably all this is of most interest to actual residents of the region. (See “Jack Layton’s Toronto-Danforth riding […]
Like millions of others in North America who remain far more interested in politics than common sense suggests we ought to be, last night I watched the HBO TV movie “Game Change” – about Sarah Palin’s run as US Vice Presidential candidate in 2008. And I agree that it “is gripping throughout, because it’s ‘well-acted.’.” […]
