Your local post office used to be a bank — until 1968. That’s when Canada Post got out of the banking business. But, Linda McQuaig writes, there are good reasons for restoring banking services to Canada Post’s mandate:As they’ve turned their attenti…
Continue readingAuthor: Owen Gray
Northern Reflections: The Pressure Is Building
Tim Harper writes that Justin Trudeau will soon be under pressure to approve a pipeline — whether he wants to or not:When the economic cost of this tragedy is tallied, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is going to be under renewed pressur…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Fat Is In The Fire
In a superb piece for the Globe and Mail, Ed Broadbent, Alex Himelfarb and Hugh Segal argue that Canada needs true proportional representation. Nothing else will do:The central problem with our winner-take-all system is that the composition of our ele…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: What A Gift!
Dan Leger writes in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald that a President Trump would be a gift to the enemies of the United States:But if your goal is to undermine American democracy, then wrecking a Grand Old Party is useful. If you’re ISIS or Vladimir Pu…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Bigger, Hotter, More Frequent
Canadians have been appalled by the Fort McMurray Fire. But, Ed Strurzik writes, some people saw it coming:Fire scientists and fire managers actually saw this coming back in 2009 when 70 of them gathered in Victoria to address the issue of climate ch…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Politics As Air Rage
These days, we hear frequent stories about the passenger on an airplane who loses it and has to be restrained by the flight crew. Mark Kingwell writes that air rage has overtaken our politics. The root causes of both are about class:So there we …
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Joe Slept Though The Verdict
If you want to know what the Conservatives have learned since their election defeat, Michael Harris writes, you should read the op-ed which Joe Oliver recently penned for the National Post:Oliver tried to make the argument that the Trudeau government i…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: We’ve Forgotten Recent History
Now that Donald Trump has become the one and only Republican candidate for president, it’s worth returning to a column that Henry Giroux wrote in December of last year. Its title was Fascism in Donald Trump’s United States. Giroux wrote the column afte…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: We’ll Know The Answer
When news broke that John Ridsdel had been beheaded by terrorists, Justin Trudeau sounded like William Tecumseh Sherman: “I do want to make one thing perfectly, crystal clear,” Trudeau said, his ministers standing behind him. “Canada does not
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Owning A Cottage Is Not Enough
In the wake of the Duffy affair, Errol Mendes writes, the Senate has begun reforming itself:The Senate to which Mr. Duffy returns is, in a multitude of ways, much different from the chamber from which he was suspended. The Senate leadership, in parti…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Flying Edsel
Lately, Michael Harris has turned his sights on military equipment — its sale and purchase. When it comes to those Saudi armored vehicles, he says, there’s a skunk in the woodpile. And a familiar stench is beginning to arise — again — over the F-35….
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: From The Same Folks
We’ve been told that the “Sharing Economy” is the way of the future. But a new book by Tom Slee questions that proposition. Tom Walkom writes:But as Tom Slee writes in his authoritative new book What’s Yours is Mine, the original idea, however…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: A Very Old Lesson
Alberta isn’t the only province caught between a rock and a hard place. Newfoundland is in the same boat — and for the same reasons. Alan Freeman writes:We’ve all heard about that special connection between Newfoundland and Alberta — stories of h…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: In Harperland, Stupidity Rules
Perhaps stupidity is a virus. Despite the verdict in the Duffy trial, Michael Harris writes, stupidity still rules in a lot of roosts:A significant part of the Canadian Establishment is not only blaming a victim — it’s blaming an exonerated victim….
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Incredible Shrinking Man
Stephen Harper has disappeared. And, Andrew Cohen writes, his legacy is disappearing as quickly as he did:Stephen Harper was a failure in power. He created nothing lasting. Of prime ministers since 1945 who served a full term or more, his is the thin…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: An Albatross For A Long Time
The Conservative Party of Canada is in a bad place. Even Conservative cheerleader L. Ian MacDonald admits that — as a recent EKOS poll suggests that those who call themselves Conservatives wish that Stephen Harper would rise again from the ashes:There…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Bombardier Gets What It Wants
I used to teach in the Eastern Townships, not too far from where the Bombardiers got their start making snowmobiles. I should be clear at the outset: I acknowledge that snowmobiles are essential in the Far North. But, as recreational vehicles, I find t…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: There Was A Reason For the Judge’s Scorn
In the wake of the Duffy verdict, Michael Harris writes, we should know what was going on in the minds of the RCMP and the prosecutors. He lists a number of questions. For example:Did the Commissioner of the RCMP or his staff have any communications f…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: That’s No Accident
Despite what happened in Edmonton two weeks ago, progressivism is finding new life across the country. Ed Broadbent, Michal Hay and Emilie Nicolas point to a string of issues which are now front and centre in Canada:Across the country, the fight for a …
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Regret Is Everywhere
Kellie Leitch tearfully regretted this week that she had had anything to do with the “barbaric practices” snitch line. And, when Mike Duffy ran afoul of Stephen Harper, he too regretted his decision to go to work for the man:“The sad truth is I allow…
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