The big story this week was a trade deal. Wait, wait! Please don’t stop reading. Canada has joined 11 other countries in something called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a collection of countries including big dogs (the U.S., Japan), middle-sized dogs (Canada, Mexico, Australia) and some pups (Vietnam, Brunei). The combined gross
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In This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 39: Big (yawn) trade deal; Harper plays niqab card; Notley bombs
The big story this week was a trade deal. Wait, wait! Please don’t stop reading. Canada has joined 11 other countries in something called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a collection of countries including big dogs (the U.S., Japan), middle-sized dogs (Canada, Mexico, Australia) and some pups (Vietnam, Brunei). The combined gross
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 38: Too close to call; ‘stuff happens’ in Oregon; what was the Pope thinking?
The finish line of the federal election is in sight, but we’re no closer to seeing a winner than we were weeks ago. The latest polls indicate that support for the NDP is beginning to fall — turning their famous Quebec ‘orange crush’ into an ‘orange crash’ — while support
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 38: Too close to call; ‘stuff happens’ in Oregon; what was the Pope thinking?
The finish line of the federal election is in sight, but we’re no closer to seeing a winner than we were weeks ago. The latest polls indicate that support for the NDP is beginning to fall — turning their famous Quebec ‘orange crush’ into an ‘orange crash’ — while support
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 37: He’s Pope-tastic; cabbies go wild; NDP plays giveaway.
Pope Francis made his North American debut this week, and he was boffo. The pontiff, who is not very popular with the right-wing of the Catholic church (which means he is doing something right) drew ecstatic crowds in his first U.S. visit. English, however, is clearly his second or third
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 37: He’s Pope-tastic; cabbies go wild; NDP plays giveaway.
Pope Francis made his North American debut this week, and he was boffo. The pontiff, who is not very popular with the right-wing of the Catholic church (which means he is doing something right) drew ecstatic crowds in his first U.S. visit. English, however, is clearly his second or third
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 36: Another (yawn) debate; Trump blows hard; new look Journal just blows
The federal election is now into the home stretch, which in previous years would have been referred to as ‘at the starting line’. The Big Three (The Little One, Green Party leader Elizabeth May was no invited) debated the economy on Thursday, and just like everything else in this campaign,
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 36: Another (yawn) debate; Trump blows hard; new look Journal just blows
The federal election is now into the home stretch, which in previous years would have been referred to as ‘at the starting line’. The Big Three (The Little One, Green Party leader Elizabeth May was no invited) debated the economy on Thursday, and just like everything else in this campaign,
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 35: Refugees keep coming; Liz sets employment record
The European refugee crisis continued unabated this week, and the numbers are staggering. For example, Germany has announced that it will accept 500,000 refugees. Every year. For several years. Germany is a big country, with 81 million people, but a half-million refugees every year for several years is an awful
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 35: Refugees keep coming; Liz sets employment record
The European refugee crisis continued unabated this week, and the numbers are staggering. For example, Germany has announced that it will accept 500,000 refugees. Every year. For several years. Germany is a big country, with 81 million people, but a half-million refugees every year for several years is an awful
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 34: One little boy changes everything.
The Syrian refugee crisis has convulsed Europe for weeks now, while making only the tiniest dent in the North American conscience. But that all changed this weeks thanks to one little boy, and one gut-wrenching photograph. All this year, thousands of desperate Syrian refugees have been pouring into Europe in
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 34: One little boy changes everything.
The Syrian refugee crisis has convulsed Europe for weeks now, while making only the tiniest dent in the North American conscience. But that all changed this weeks thanks to one little boy, and one gut-wrenching photograph. All this year, thousands of desperate Syrian refugees have been pouring into Europe in
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 33: Markets return to normal … whatever that is
The world’s stock markets did what they do this week — go up and down. And as always, investors and the media reacted as if this was something they had never seen before. Following last week’s plunge/freefall/spiral (chose your adjective) in prices, there was more panic on Monday as prices
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Pain Campaign, week 4: Nothing happens, so I make some stuff up
The interminable Canadian election campaign is now one-month old. In the pre-Harper days, the election would have been over by now, and we would all be celebrating the end of the Harper horror show (let us pray). But thanks to Harper’s shameless manipulation of the system, the campaign has barely
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 32: Markets dive; Calgary has arena envy
OK, now I don’t want to panic anyone, but if you’re in the stock market, I have a few words of advice. GET OUT NOW!! IT’S A BLOODBATH, PEOPLE!! Just a suggestion. On Friday, markets around the world went in the crapper. the reason being, apparently, China. Seem the world’s
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Pain Campaign: Election 2015, week 3: Harper rejects your premise.
After months of being labelled “just not ready” by the Conservative attack machine, the Liberals have launched a counteroffensive. Let’s call it the Just Not Ready for Being Just Not Ready campaign. The Liberals aired a campaign ad this week that featured Justin Trudeau — no tie, no jacket —
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 31: Oil falls, gas goes up … again.
If you’re a regular reader of this blog (and if you are, ask yourself why), you’ve probably grown tired of my ranting about Big Oil’s rip off of the Canadian consumer. From the Globe and Mail, a little proof: “Crude prices have tanked since early May, but gasoline prices have
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Pain Campaign: Election 2015, week 2
Thomas Mulcair had a bad start to the week when a high-profile Toronto NDP candidate said one of those things that actually makes some sense, but in an election campaign is immediately torqued into something terrible. Linda McQuaig, a high-profile journalist tuned star candidate, said on a CBC election panel
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 30: HitchBOT bites it in Philly; the Trump circus rolls on
U.S. president Barack Obama unveiled a hugely ambitious, perhaps game-changing attempt to tackle greenhouse gasses this week, pushing ahead with tough curbs on coal-fired power stations. He is moving ahead because, he said with some emotion, “I believe there is such a thing as being too late … I am
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Pain Campaign: Election 2015, week 1
Welcome, reader(s), to the Pain Campaign, your weekly recap of the longest and certainly ugliest election campaign in modern Canadian history. First, a probably unnecessary warning. Don’t come here if you’re looking for reasoned, balanced analysis. I just can’t do that, because I loathe Stephen Harper, more than any other
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