This morning the CBC reports that, during the G8 and G20 summits three years ago, the Harper government was a “partner” with the National Security Agency. Together, they spied on our allies. The American whistle blower Edward Snowden has released another batch of documents: The briefing notes, stamped “Top Secret,”
Continue readingAuthor: Owen Gray
Northern Reflections: Harper’s Credibility Gap
Stephen Harper has never been a man to admit a mistake. And now — confronted by the biggest mistake of his political career — he refuses to admit that the problem he faces is of his own making. Lawrence Martin writes: In the face of Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair’s heavy
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Going South
The damage keeps piling up. Yesterday the Conservatives won Brandon-Souris by a mere 391 votes. In Provencher, Vic Toews’ former riding, Liberal numbers went from 7% to 30%. And, Michael Harris writes, if Nigel Wright’s claim that Stephen Harper gave him a “good to go,” Harper will join Toews as
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Time To Resign?
Over the weekend, Tom Walkom wrote that, if Stephen Harper were as smart as his enablers claim he is, he would declare victory and resign. Harper has achieved much of what he set out to do: First, he is a political success. He managed to knit two parties at daggers
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Fifty Years Ago
Fifty years ago, I was sitting in a high school geometry class in Montreal when the intercom came on, piping in a live radio report that John F. Kennedy had been shot. The same thing had happened a little more than a year before, when the intercom and radio
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Cornering The Artful Dodger
The prime minister’s story, Andrew Coyne writes, hangs by a thread: The Prime Minister has hung onto that single thread even as every other part of his story has fallen apart: as “acted alone” became “very few,” as “full confidence” turned to “acted honourably” turned to “deceived,” as “resigned” turned
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: It’s Hard To Miss The Pattern
Lawrence Martin writes that the Harper government can’t account for $3.1 billion and no one appears to be too upset about it: The money was initially targeted for public security and anti-terrorism funding. There was $12.9-billion allocated. Only $9.8-billion has been accounted for. Mr. Ferguson asked the Treasury Board, which
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: At The Nadir
Rob Ford declared “outright war” on Toronto’s City Council yesterday — comparing his situation to Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait. Never mind that the analogy was inappropriate and stupid. Inappropriateness and stupidity are two badges Ford wears proudly. Andrew Coyne writes that Canadian politics have reached a new low: Something snapped
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Facts Are Catching Up With Them
Haroon Siddiqui writes that, in the end, buffoonery won’t bring Rob Ford and Stephen Harper down. Eventually, the truth that they are not who they say they are will catch up with them: Both play the outsider. Harper of Etobicoke, pretending to be a Calgarian, says he “didn’t go to
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: A Tale Of Two Economies
Last week, Jim Flaherty announced that Canada would run a surplus — just in time for the 2015 election. Scott Clark and Peter Devries suspect that Mr. Flaherty is playing with magic numbers. But, while Flaherty was trumpeting his projected surplus, Statscan released numbers that were far from magical. The
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Hollow At The Core
The Rob Ford Circus has laid bare the void at the centre of modern Canadian Conservatism. Michael Harris writes that the party — and what it stands for — has degenerated into what he calls ROFO Madness: ROFO madness is when you smoke crack cocaine and show up in videos
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Making Accountability Real
At the beginning of the last century, the heyday of Progressivism, a new tool was given to voters — the recall election. The Rob Ford saga has many lessons. But one of them is that Ontario voters should be given the right to recall their politicians. Tasha Kheiriddin writes: If
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Who Will Follow Harper?
Murray Dobbins writes that it’s easy to become obsessed with Stephen Harper. But whoever follows him could make things worse. After all, Paul Martin made Stephen Harper possible, just as Brian Mulroney made Martin possible. Together they established corporate government in Canada: No one was prepared for what Finance Minister
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Price Of Integrity
One has to wonder what Nigel Wright really thinks of Stephen Harper. After all, in the prime minister’s estimation, Wright has gone from the soul of virtue to the source of political putrefaction. Michael Harris writes: Think about Harper’s “narratives”. First, it was full support for Wright and no resignation;
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: A Silver Foot?
Ann Richards, the late governor of Texas, claimed that George Bush the Elder was born with “a silver foot in his mouth.” Justin Trudeau runs the risk of being tagged with the same epithet. His reference to China last week was another example of his tendency to speak before he
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Breaking Faith
Today we honour the dead. And that’s as it should be. “If ye break faith with us who die,” John McCrae wrote, “we shall not rest.” It’s easy to keep faith with the dead. It doesn’t cost much. But we have broken faith with the living, the veterans who have
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: A Self Unmade Man
In his review of Paul Wells’ book, The Longer I’m Prime Minister, Crawford Killian writes that Stephen Harper has a history of political misjudgement: One of Wells’ key points is that Harper is the author of most of his own misfortunes. He’s the guy who ignored China until the Keystone
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Living in Ford Nation
Mitchell Anderson writes that we’re all living in Ford Nation now: Mayor Ford’s puzzling popularity in the face of one salacious scandal after another seems to be propelled by his cheapening effect on values — and how that appeals to a morally lazy electorate. Like a pair of drunks egging
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: A Rogue State?
Noam Chomsky writes that the United States has become a one party nation and a rogue state: The U.S. is still a one-party state, the business party. But it only has one faction: moderate Republicans, now called New Democrats (as the U.S. Congressional coalition styles itself). There is still a
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Burning The Bridge
Conservatives are congratulating themselves. They believe that — having disposed of Senators Duffy, Wallin and Brazeau — they have achieved a great victory. But, Michael Den Tandt writes, it was no victory at all: For clues as to why, let’s examine Canadian Conservatism today from the point of view of
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