“In Ottawa,” Michael Den Tandt wrote last week, “money sloshes around like water in a tub.” Things have gotten worse since Stephen Harper ditched Jean Chretien’s modest attempt to provide some public funding for elections. Some defend the status quo; but voters are furious. They demand transparency: Some will lament
Continue readingAuthor: Owen Gray
Northern Reflections: Creative Destruction?
The Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter wrote that capitalism encouraged “creative destruction.” Tom Walkom writes that The Great Recession has been all about destruction: In Canada, we are said to be doing well. The official unemployment statistics show Canadian joblessness at a high but tolerable level of roughly 7 per cent.
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: With Friends Like Harper, You Don’t Need Enemies
Rob Moore The Grace Foundation, the New Brunswick charity which complained last week about Justin Trudeau’s speaking fee, now says it’s “deeply distressed” by the way things have turned out. Ian Webster, chairman of the foundation’s board, is upset. Supposedly private correspondence was made public: “There was never any
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Rae The Public Servant
A Trudeau led the Liberal Party when Bob Rae entered the House of Commons. And a Trudeau leads that party as Rae leaves. The Dippers were never sure Rae was one of them. And the Liberals were never sure if he belonged in their camp, either. That is why they
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Gulf Gets Bigger
Two reports — one released yesterday, the other today — paint a pretty grim picture of where the country is. The Huffington Post reports that Canada’s wealthiest continued to do well last year: The stock markets came roaring back after a shaky 2011, and so did the wealthy. Canada’s high
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Nothing For Something
The Harper government has released ads touting its Canada Job Grants Program. The problem is that the program doesn’t exist. Andrew Coyne writes in the Postmedia papers: Ottawa proposes to foot only one-third of the cost of the grants; the remainder is contingent on the participation of the provinces and
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Hudak Should Watch His Back
When Tim Hudak was elected the leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, he came in with Mike Harris’ blessing. He was, after all, one of Harris’ young guns. But, since his ascension, Hudak has proved repeatedly that he can’t shoot straight. Two elections ago, he began with an overwhelming advantage
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Education Isn’t Enough Anymore
On Friday, Paul Krugman wrote that the technological revolution is leaving even some of the well educated behind: Today, however, a much darker picture of the effects of technology on labor is emerging. In this picture, highly educated workers are as likely as less educated workers to find themselves displaced
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Not A Big Speaker From A Big Country
When Stephen Harper steps out on the world stage, he never fails to offend. Last week, he spoke before the Mother of all Parliaments. He praised David Cameron and Margaret Thatcher: In his speech, Harper told Cameron how much he has admired the prime minister’s “determined efforts and your wise
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Sneaky Steve
You have to admit, the phrase has possibilities, partly because of its alliterative panache. But, Michael Harris writes, the real strength of the phrase comes from its accuracy: Sneaky politicians are a plague on democracy — the dark avenue to something sinister. The prime minister of Canada is the Wayne
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Economics As A Morality Play
Stephen Harper and David Cameron live in a bubble of mutual admiration. That bubble is on display this morning in London. They are congratulating each other on their economic prowess. But the IMF has acknowledged that the policies which Harper and Cameron espouse — and which the IMF used to
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: A Progressive Conservative Revival?
Michael Harris writes that Stephen Harper can’t save the Conservative Party. Neither can anyone in his cabinet: The essential reason that no Harper cabinet minister can ride to the party’s rescue is that they are all part of the problem. They all bought in to the model Harper built for
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: It’s Ethics, Stupid!
Lawrence Martin summarizes Stephen Harper’s central problem very succinctly: The Prime Minister’s problem is that ethics is taking over from economics as the dominant issue in the public mind. That’s a trend he has to reverse; it’s poison. So far, he has ignored the problem. His strategy has been to
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: He’s Perfectly Clear
Those of us who are old enough to remember, recall that one of Richard Nixon’s pet — and pat — phrases was “perfectly clear.” And, therefore, it is particularly ironic that Stephen Harper — who appears more Nixonian with each passing day — has adopted that phrase. As evidence, I
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Democracy and Efficiency
Corruption is always rooted in human character. But these days — at least in Canada — Robert Sibley suggests that it might also have something to do with the cult of efficiency: Indeed, our culture of expediency is in some ways the consequence of a technologically-minded attitude that regards efficiency
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Follow The Money
Deep Throat advised Woodward and Bernstein to “follow the money” — because that trail would lead them back to the White House and the plumbers who committed the Watergate burglary. Greg Weston has done that — and the trail leads back to the PMO. Tom Walkom writes in today’s Toronto
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Things Fall Apart
Humpty Dumpty is teetering on his wall. Michael Den Tandt writes in the Postmedia papers: Edmonton MP Brent Rathgeber’s resignation from the Conservative caucus, which dropped inside the Ottawa bubble like a little concussion grenade late Wednesday, represents more than the loss of a single MP among the 164 Tories
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Rebellion On The Right
Stephen Harper’s most loyal supporters are deserting him. Tom Walkom writes in The Toronto Star: The latest stress point is a damning critique of Harper’s economic policy by the head of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a right-of-centre organization that is usually friendly to, if not always onside with, the federal
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: It’s All About Money
The standard narrative on Nigel Wright seems to be that he is a straight arrow who took one for the boss. But Linda McQuaig suggests that narrative is what the Harperites would like you to believe. The truth is more complicated: Less attention has been paid to Wright’s role as
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Stepping In It
All political parties have their own manure machines — propaganda shops, whose task is to sell their program. But, under Stephen Harper, political propaganda has been redefined. It’s now all about ad hominem attacks; and it’s non stop, all year round. The Harper brand of manure relies on several carefully
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