Author: Cathie from Canada

Excellent column from Greg Fingas on what to watch for in this debate: the overarching theme should be one of judgment under pressure…. only the debates tell us how a leader relates and responds to competing parties and philosophies in the heat of the moment. He also ways to watch

Quel suprise! The Harper Cons have announced another tax credit, this time for home renovations: The tax credit would apply to renovation costs between $1,000 and $5,000, allowing a taxpayer to get back up to $750 a year.“The home renovation tax credit helps every homeowner regardless of income,” said Harper

Well, those annoying Harper Con ads we’ve been seeing all summer appear to have convinced Canadians that Trudeau “is not ready” to be Prime Minister.But they haven’t made The Kitten Whisperer any more endearing.So who is left standing?Yes, you’ve got it:  NDP surges past Conservatives, Liberals in latest poll |

Everybody is talking about the Harper Cons fiscal advantage if he calls a mid-October election this weekend. I have another question about such an early election call: what information will Canadians NOT be hearing about during the next eleven weeks? Does Stats Canada still get to release or update unemployment

I have often enjoyed reading Gawker, particularly for goofy posts like this: Not to mention how they single-handedly made Rob Ford’s cocaine use into a major story in the United States, where it would otherwise have been ignored.But what I don’t like about Gawker is its juvenile and parochial tendency

Did you know there is an “anti-vaccine” movement now for dogs? Today I Learned About The Anti-Vaccinating Dog Movement. How incredibly stupid can some people be?And I didn’t know that judges could be this stupid — there are three children in Michigan who were “sentenced” in June to an indefinite

Now the United States will experience “gay marriage”, just like dozens of other countries already have. With this, plus yesterday’s Obamacare decision, the United States has been pulled kicking and screaming into the modern world. I can only hope that people in the United States will have the same epiphany

When I first read a tweet about this article, I thought it had to be an Onion joke: White supremacists on Thursday quickly tried to distance themselves from the suspect in the mass shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, worried that a white man killing nine people in

So the Canadian military explains rape with a “boys will be boys” statement: Military sexual misconduct due to ‘biological wiring,’ Gen. Tom Lawson says. Is he saying ‘boys will be boys’? Deplorable excuse! #CDSFail — Joyce Murray 梅麗喬 (@joycemurray) June 16, 2015 Actually, assholes will be assholes and jerks will

Brilliant column by Tabatha Southey on Caitlyn Jenner and how bizarre and inappropriate the pundit reactions have been to her. Tabatha points out this essential truth: …[transgendered] people are not a dilemma that needs to be solved, by you or anyone else.

xkcd: Placebo Blocker: I recall talking to a psychologist once about how people reacted to getting a diagnosis of a life-threatening disease.  So we thought perhaps we could do an experiment where we gave half the group a case of the flu, and the other half a life-threatening disease, and

What a triumph! The Australian minister of agriculture had kept his country safe from rabies now that Johnny Depp’s little dogs have left the country. They will soon be followed by Johnny Depp himself, and by every other film star and film production company on the planet.

After 13 years, Omar Khadr is finally out of jail. The Harper Con reaction to Omar Khadr’s release on bail reminds me of The Wire: I can laugh at the ridiculous over-reaction of the Harper Cons to the news of Omar Khadr’s release, but this has been a shameful episode

So much for boring old Canadian elections, eh?NDP wins stunning majority in Alberta election, Jim Prentice resignsNow, of course, the NDP will have to figure out how they can possibly run the province — 40 years of pent-up frustration, everybody wanting everything changed RIGHT NOW! and they’re stuck with a

From Liberal finance critic Scott Brison, remarking on the Auditor-General report: “A Liberal government will restore evidence-based decision-making and replace Harper’s decision-based evidence-making,” Brison said.” Decision-based evidence-making. Yes, that’s exactly what the Harper Cons have been doing.Also, I have to say I was amused by the auditor general recommending that

Tabitha Southey’s column is priceless: TS begins work – as TS has begun work at every job TS has ever had – that is, with one clear objective: Whatever else TS may actually accomplish today, TS will try not to do anything that might cause a massive public outcry leading

A commenter on Christie Blatchford’s latest Duffy story says: Duffy should have been put in charge of payments to veterans and thalidomide victims so efficient is he at getting the money out there. Yes, at least then Duffy’s greediness would have done somebody some good.And earlier I predicted that the

I think it is wonderful that Hillary Clinton is running again for president — after her last experience, I had been concerned that she wouldn’t try again. She came through Saskatoon a few weeks ago on a speaking tour and the auditorium was packed — she was warm, intelligent, extremely

I have been saying for months that the Harper Cons are going to call a snap election this spring.Of course, what do I know about it really.But I believe all the signs are there — First, the Harper Cons have all their nominations made and retirements announced. Second, the federal

A minor quibble in the larger scheme of things, but I found it offensive that Air Canada would try to “spin” the Halifax crash as merely a “hard landing”.The plane came in too low and slow, touched ground behind the runway, hit a landing guidance tower that sheered off the