Author: Constant Vigilance

The SNC-Lavalin “scandal” is certainly the top story in the news these days.  Even if it is the contention of the central figure, Jody Wilson-Raybould (the former Attorney-General, probable source of the leak to the Globe and Mail etc), that nothing illegal occurred. Why all the fuss?  That is still

I am just finishing up The Plot to Destroy Democracy by Malcolm Nance.  In addition to being a compendium of the evidence of Russian meddling into the 2016 United States election, this book catalogues the success of Russian efforts to infiltrate conservative movements throughout the western democracies.  The pattern consists

I don’t often wade into the pipeline debate because (horrors!) I proudly work in the Canadian oil and gas industry but this presentation is very much bringing to the attention of as many people as possible.

Pontypool changes foresaw everything. I watched this indie Canadian movie a long time ago.  So long ago that I rented a DVD of it.  It was an enjoyable and well done take on the zombie genre. I saw it advertized on the CBC app as a tie-in to Hallowe’en and

Any rational thought process would illustrate that P. M. Scheer would be like President Pence.

I couldn’t change the channel quickly enough so I heard a segment on Stephen Harper on As It Happens.  I suppose there are those that would laud Mr Harper being interviewed about his recent book.  There are others who would point out he was on Fox. What galled the most,

Wouldn’t it have been better to try and mend fences?  Perhaps show some empathy? You know.  Show some judicial temperament?  Yes, of course that is what a person would do in normal times. Instead we get the angry Wahvanaugh tantrum.  In which he exposes the very thinly covered partisan, mean

In my

Those wise in the ways of the Russian GRU (nee’ KGB) regularly opine that Donald Trump is the exemplar of the person the GRU would target.  This exposure is due to Trump’s known sexual misadventures and financial difficulties following his multiple bankruptcies. Brett Kavanaugh, the nominee of the Manchurian President

Is this the kind of leadership a Kenny government will bring? Alberta’s loyalty to Canada may be waning after the justice system dealt a blow to the province’s pipeline plans. At least that’s what Jason Kenney, leader of Alberta’s United Conservative Party, told CTV’s Don Martin on Power Play Wednesday.

The Harper Conservatives learned the hard way that overt racism is a great way to lose elections.  The Scheer-per Conservative Party has spent a lot of money building a narrative built on (not so) crypto-racism, (not so) crypto-libertarianism and (not so) crypto-social conservatism.  The Conservative “hidden in plain sight” alliance

This doesn’t have to be an either we take the statues down or we don’t situation. Whether the statues are of Sir John A. MacDonald, Hector-Louis Langevin or other “Men of their time”, there is an issue to come to grips with.  There is ample evidence that Sir John A.

This post is dedicated to American family, friends and any other Americans who happen to read this missive. As I witness the events unfolding south of the border, it brings to mind a face off Canada had against the Soviet Union.  They spent decades preparing for an attack at the

Two things. First, bravo to Canada for standing up for human rights.  Perhaps, due to the encroaching tide of nativist hate from starboard, we will have to stand alone.  But I am for standing. On the other hand, Chrystia Freeland did this by tweet?  I have a significant amount of

Like all other sentient beings, I have been aghast at the inconceivable political tragedy playing out to the south.  It has also been heart wrenching observing the stress the election of Trump has caused in my girlfriend’s family back in her New England home.  As a Canadian, I have to

Like all other sentient beings, I have been aghast at the inconceivable political tragedy playing out to the south.  It has also been heart wrenching observing the stress the election of Trump has caused in my girlfriend’s family back in her New England home.  As a Canadian, I have to

If you were as generally loathed as Harper is, I wouldn’t let him fly commercial either.  But the Conservatives led by Harper made great hay out of Don Dingwall’s unfortunate English usage.  The Cons were successfully able to paint him as nickel and diming the taxpayers through expense claims. The

If you were as generally loathed as Harper is, I wouldn’t let him fly commercial either.  But the Conservatives led by Harper made great hay out of Don Dingwall’s unfortunate English usage.  The Cons were successfully able to paint him as nic…

If you were as generally loathed as Harper is, I wouldn’t let him fly commercial either.  But the Conservatives led by Harper made great hay out of Don Dingwall’s unfortunate English usage.  The Cons were successfully able to paint him as nickel and diming the taxpayers through expense claims. The

If he’s set on swearing in his new cabinet as planned next Wednesday, Justin Trudeau may have to do something he likely thought had dropped off his to-do list forever: namely, call on Stephen Harper to resign — not publicly, necessarily, and with the greatest possible respect for the outgoing leader, but definitively.
Or, if he has indeed done so, make a public announcement to that effect.
Because at the moment, it doesn’t appear that Harper has formally served notice to Governor General David Johnston — or anyone else — that he will voluntarily cede power to the incoming Liberal government next week. No official notice has been released to the media, or posted to the Rideau Hall website, nor has Harper’s office issued a statement confirming that he will resign.

Shortly after this story went out, the governor general’s senior communications advisor Marie-Eve Letourneau got in touch to say that, “in keeping with Canadian practice,” Harper “signified his intention to resign when he visited the Governor General at Rideau Hall immediately following the election,” although he won’t formally do so until Nov. 4, “just prior to the swearing-in of the new ministry.”
She also said that the governor-general met with Trudeau following the election as well.
What we still don’t know, however, is why the process has been conducted in such a clandestine fashion, without even an after-the-fact advisory that these meetings had taken place. There is also some uncertainty around whether that secrecy is, as Letourneau put it, “in keeping with Canadian practice.”

It would be a hypothetical bet, but if Harper lost to a minority, who would put money on him actually resigning without a messy fight (or at least a hissy fit).  The quirkiness of our system might have saved us from a big problem.