Author: Matt Guerin

Today’s lament: “Doug Ford is dumbing down Ontario” by @maxfawcett  ‘There’s fierce competition in the unofficial race for Canada’s most dangerous premier, with Alberta’s Danielle Smith deliberately destabilizing her province’s health-care system and Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe literally breaking the law so he can thumb his considerable nose at the carbon

Today’s tonic: “Why do so many ignore facts, like the carbon tax works? Because we’re hard-wired to follow the pack,” by columnist Andrew Phillips of the Toronto Star.    This piece is a great reminder about how most people choose to think and approach the issues of our time.  Here’s an

Today’s tonic: “Crappy as it is, the @CBC may turn out to be the hero we need,” by Rick Salutin in the Toronto Star.  Here are excerpts below: “In true melodramatic fashion, now that it’s on the brink, it may’ve become indispensable to our very survival   “CBC was created

I read this story today and felt relieved that responsible professionals who are charged with the care of children and youth are taking action to hold gluttonous, unethical social media companies accountable for how they’ve targeted all children and youth for addiction to their platforms.  “Four major Ontario school boards

Winnipeg South Centre Liberal MP Ben Carr is one of many Liberals in the federal caucus torn between his strong support for Israel as an ancestral home for Jews the world over, and the horrors that country’s right-wing government and armies have inflicted on innocent Palestinian civilians in reaction to

“Report finds falling happiness among youth of North America and western Europe, but rise in sub-Saharan Africa and eastern Europe, says the Guardian.  “Young people are becoming less happy than older generations as they suffer “the equivalent of a midlife crisis”, global research has revealed as America’s top doctor warned

Today’s tonic: In his State of the Union speech last night, “Biden projects a vision of strength that’s been missing from his presidency but will be needed in 2024 campaign”  Like many decent, progressive people, I’ve been alarmed by the return of the lying, criminal, rapist, fraud, anti-democratic, narcissistic, ineffectual,

I wanted to highlight this Xtra article this week by trans writer and activist Faye Johnstone, “The new generation of gay Conservative sellouts.”  Here’s an excerpt below:  “Never underestimate the willingness of rich, cis, conservative gay people and so-called allies to sell out the rest of us. “In the 1970s,

Intelligence agency says risk will ‘almost certainly continue’ over the coming year “Canada’s intelligence agency is warning that extremists could “inspire and encourage” serious violence against the 2SLGBTQI+ community — a threat the Canadian Security Intelligence Service says almost certainly will continue over the coming year. “CSIS’s comments come as provincial policies on gender-affirming

Sadly, it was probably only a matter of time before Alberta Premier Danielle Smith used her majority government power as Conservative premier to try to control and even put at risk the lives of queer youth.   Smith’s history supporting queer rights isn’t stellar.  Just 12 years ago, she didn’t think

Actor Andrew Scott I couldn’t agree more with this charming, smart actor, Andrew Scott (currently starring in the awesome feature film All of Us Strangers) that the phrase “openly gay” is old school and needs to be retired, as writer Ryan Gilbey highlights in this Guardian piece. “I’m going to

It’s been a tough year for the world.   Fascism and dictatorship are on the rise, while democracies are under constant attack.  War continued in Ukraine thanks to the most evil person on the planet: Putin.   Fascist Islamic antisemitic hatred in the form of Hamas also lashed out and brutally

Barry Keoghan in Saltburn   I’m happy once again to share my annual list of my favourite films released this past year.   I haven’t seen all of the 2023 feature films I want to see.  I have been waiting to check out All Of Us Strangers, the new British fantasy

Wow! Leadership on protecting trans youth from a Republican governor! How refreshing!   “Ohio’s Republican governor has vetoed legislation that would have barred transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming care, he said Friday. “Signing the bill would “be saying that the state, the government” knows what’s better for youth than their

Today’s tonic: “Will Trump provoke a crisis of legitimacy for the US supreme court?” by Simon Blumenthal of the Guardian.   “Donald Trump’s packing of the supreme court, to which he appointed three members, to create a reliable conservative majority, has been hailed by the right as his greatest achievement. The

Me with Bonnie Crombie at Hamilton AGM I attended yesterday’s Leadership Announcement at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and left pleased as punch.   My top choice Bonnie Crombie won a convincing majority of the points to take the top spot on the third ballot.  A huge sigh of relief came

Congratulations to the Green Party’s Aislinn Clancy, the newly elected Member of Provincial Parliament for Kitchener Centre after last night’s byelection win.   Her win gives the Greens two seats in the provincial legislature, including leader Mike Schreiner who represents nearby Guelph.    The Greens stormed to a big win with

Liberal leadership candidate, MP and former Kathleen Wynne cabinet minister Yasir Naqvi doesn’t mean most of what he says.    I simply do not think highly of the man nor of his promises and attempted positioning in this race.  As a spouse of a foreign-trained doctor who will struggle to get

The horrific attacks on innocent Israeli civilians on October 7th by Hamas terrorist thugs truly shocked me and I continue to reel over the details of the brutality, as well as the glee with which the thugs did their murdering.  I condemned these horrors on Twitter weeks ago, and retweeted

I’ve been doing a tonne of thinking about which candidate will get my first choice on my ranked ballot in the Ontario Liberal leadership vote later this month.  A lot of my thoughts on the party’s past mistakes and my hopes for the future were summed up in this August