Rolling Stone magazine is the latest American media outlet to fall under the hypnotic spell of Justin Trudeau. The Perfect Prime Minister got the full Rolling Stone cover treatment this week, an occasion that had much of the Canadian news media in full snicker and guffaw mode. The article, some
Continue readingAuthor: Maurice Tougas
In This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 27: The right moves; Spicer quits, comics cry.
Well, that was decisive. The Wildrose and the Progressive Conservatives — the Hatfields and the McCoys of Alberta politics — agreed to a merger on Saturday. And it wasn’t even close. Rank-and-file members of both parties voted in shocking numbers in favour of the merger of the two conservative parties.
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 26: Greasy haired man caught with pants on fire.
The Donald Trump presidency has stumbled from one self-created crisis to another in the six months (is THAT ALL??) since he was inaugurated. Somehow, he has managed to brush them all away, predominantly because a new crisis/scandal/shocker has overwhelmed the previous crisis/scandal/shocker. But this past week there was a new
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 25: Khadr’s big payday a big pain for Trudeau
I’ve always found the Omar Khadr story infuriating. That $10 million smile. Khadr is, of course, the Canadian-born former child soldier (just 15 at the time) who was forced to join al-Queda by his despicable parents. His upbringing could be described as child abuse. His father was a pal of
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 24: Enough Canada already … eh?
I am now, officially, Canada’d out. Canada celebrated the 150th anniversary of Confederation on Saturday with an orgy of government-sponsored patriotism. Now, I’m as patriotic as the next person, but I feel like I’ve OD’d in the most Canadian way … on maple syrup. Even that joke is too Canadian
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 23: Bill Cosby wants to share his secrets
The other day, my son told me that Bill Cosby, comedy icon and professional predator, was going to start instructing men on how to avoid accusations of sexual assault. I scoffed at the notion. “Scoff,” I said. “That’s clearly fake news.” Well, is my face red. The story is true.
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 22: Sears Days are numbered
Good news from the retail front — there’s going to be a giant sale at Sears Canada in the near future. Bad news from the job front — a lot of Sears Canada employees are going to be looking for work. The retailer (sorry, that should be struggling retailer) admitted
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 21: Alberta’s legal disgrace
This week we heard one of those stories that just makes you shake your head (if it hasn’t already lowered in shame) and wonder how this kind of thing can happen. Here’s the shocking story. An Aboriginal woman (there is a publication ban on her name, a typically Canadian thing
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 20: RIP, USA
Donald Trump, the Leader of the Free World crown, officially relinquished the title on Thursday when he announced that the U.S. – the second-biggest polluter in the world –would withdraw from the Paris Climate Change Accord. In stepping aside from the Leadership of the Free World position, the U.S. has
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 19: Will there be ‘Scheer madness’?
At long last, the federal Conservatives have a new leader … and it’s NOT Maxime ‘Mad Max’ Bernier, who would have been the first deeply libertarian leader of a major Canadian political party. After a vote counting process that was only slightly less difficult to understand than watching Game of Thrones
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 18: Will the right united; the ‘I’ word is spoken.
There was a seismic shift in Alberta politics this week. Only time will tell if it’s a real earthquake that brings down two (or maybe three) parties, or whether it just grunts and groans and nothing happens. On Wednesday, Wildrose party leader Brian Jean and new Progressive Conservative party leader
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 17: Comey is one letter away from comedy; B.C. on the brink
When the presidency of Donald J. Trump comes to its inevitable premature conclusion — either through resignation, impeachment, or a massive, fatal overdose of KFC — the events of May, 2017 will be seen as the beginning of the end. On Tuesday, Trump stunned the country with his entirely unexpected
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 16: I’m done with the NHL.
When the Oilers are eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs — maybe tonight, maybe Wednesday, maybe in the next series — I can officially quit watching hockey. I can’t do it right now. That would be like watching 90 minutes of a two-hour movie and turning it off, or reading
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 15: O’Leary out; the return of softwood lumber
Just as Conservatives across the country were about to begin voting for their next leader, one of the front runners threw a wrench into the works. Kevin O’Leary, the bombastic TV star (sort of a hairless, much smarter Donald Trump), pulled out of the race, causing a collective jaw drop
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 14: Trump casts his lizard eyes on Canada; I solve the Toronto housing crisis
This week in Donald Trump Land: Remember last week, when Donald Trump sent an “armada” (actually just an aircraft carrier) towards North Korea as a warning to the maniac kingdom? But the New York Times, thanks to a photo send out from the ship, realized that the ship was actually
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 13: Dumb, dumber, dumbest
Remember last week, when Pepsi was eviscerated for its incredibly tone-deaf ‘Pepsi brings world peace’ ad? Ah, such innocent times. This week, United Airlines made the Pepsi debacle look no worse than a misplaced apostrophe. By now, you’ve seen or almost certainly heard about the violent removal of passenger from
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 12: BULLETIN: Trump does right thing; world reacts with shock
I guess it was bound to happen — Donald Trump actually did the right thing this week. I never thought we would see the day, but as the saying goes, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then. On Thursday, Trump actually looked decisive and — dare
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 11: Seriously, Conservatives, THIS is the best you can do?
The Conservative leadership race passed a critical milestone this week, with the cutoff for new party memberships. It was also an opportunity for any of the 14 — yes, that’s FOURTEEN — candidates to come to what little sense they have and drop out. Montgomery Burns And as of this
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 10: The beginning of the end for The Donald?
So, what’s the over/under on the Trump presidency? I would have thought two years before he was impeached, but now I’m leaning towards one year. Eighteen months, max. Trump has now lost his first big promise, to repeal and replace Obamacare. His plan alienated his own party to such a
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 9: Jason does Alberta
As expected, Jason Kenney easily won the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta at a convention in Calgary on Saturday, with about 75% of the vote. Kenney was a steamroller who flattened his two remaining challengers, an inconspicuous MLA named Richard Starke, and an even less conspicuous guy
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