Author: brian gibb

You have to admit that when it comes to maintaining their stranglehold on political power in Quebec, the two major parties, the PLQ (the Quebec Liberal Party) and the PQ (the Parti Québécois) can be very ingenious. They need to be.  Revelations at the Charbonneau Commission indicate that both parties

The more we find out how corrupt the leading figures are in Quebec, the more it makes me want to move across the river in Ontario.  Where does it stop?  Nobody knows and I think the Charbonneau Commission is just scratching the surface. With regard to politics, we have learned that

We are a fat folk, myself included.  One out of three of us are overweight and one out of five are obese.  And boy do we love to eat.  Trouble is we have no idea how to go about eating in a healthy manner.  We jam out gullets full with fat, sugar,

There was a time when Canadians could feel a quiet pride about their country: peacekeeping roles with the United Nations, generous social programs, young Canadians cavorting around Europe with Canadian flags stitched onto their backpacks. We were the quieter, gentler version of America. Well, this year all those notions got

As the holidays draw nearer, it appears that, judging from president Obama’s speech on economic inequality last week, he finally gets it: America has been scrooged. I think that this year enough people finally honed in on the fact that while many Americans stuffed themselves at the dinner table on Thanksgiving

In other words, just dessert Canada for not taking care of your political institutions. Take a look around: an out-dated voting system, scandal in the Senate, documented voter suppression through robo calls, rampant corruption in the province of Quebec, and a big, fat, crack smoking mayor of Canada’s largest, world class (but

That’s it.  After forty years of watching NFL football, it’s over.  I cannot in good conscience watch another game, especially knowing what I know about the league and the devastating effects playing the game can have long after the players have hung up their cleats. I loved football and I

Over the last few days, I have watched with great interest how the media and people I know reacted to the latest release of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that updates its prognosis for the planet. As you can well imagine, there wasn’t much of a response nether in

Truth be told, I was a political activist that worked for about ten years trying to get the voting system changed so that each and every vote cast in an election would count and that the composititon of our elected legislatures would reflect accurately the manner in which people had

The most tangible cornerstone that lies at the heart of the American Dream, at the heart of middle-class life, is the chance to own your own home.     (Barack Obama) Before I get started, here’s a quick glance at the history of political geography. During the classical period, politics

As the twenty-aughts gave way to the twenty-teens, it became readily apparent that the recovery from the Great Recession was not working its way throughout the entire population.  As was the case before the onset, the top 1% of revenue earners continued to take the lion’s share of the nation’s economic

This week, I watched the premiere of Josh Fox’s documentary film, Gasland II.  Very troubling.  The story line confirms that America has lost its moorings and has veered off in a new direction, casting off the poor lost souls who have the misfortune of standing in the way of corporate