The Liberals have answered the first of the Conservative attack ads against Justin Trudeau. That ad blew up in their faces. As Michael Harris wrote earlier this week: In a word, instead of defining their political enemy, the Conservatives have defined themselves. Through years of incumbency, the Harper crowd has
Continue readingAuthor: Owen Gray
Northern Reflections: Gum On Their Noses
The international community knows by now that the Harper Government — remember, the moniker is now on official documents — is full of navel gazers. And navel gazers aren’t concerned with facts. The ramifications for Canadian foreign policy are deeply disturbing. Natalie Brender writes in The Toronto Star that: The
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Permanently Unemployed
Paul Krugman writes in The New York Times that America is creating a new social class — the permanently unemployed: Now, some unemployment is inevitable in an ever-changing economy. Modern America tends to have an unemployment rate of 5 percent or more even in good times. In these good times,
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: It’s About Fair Trade, Not Free Trade
Canada’s three major parties now endorse Free Trade. Tom Walkom writes: Free trade is now orthodoxy in Canada. It used to be debated fiercely. It no longer is. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives embrace free trade. So does Justin Trudeau, the new Liberal leader. As part of their ongoing effort to pretend
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Removing All Doubt
At Margaret Thatcher’s funeral this week, Stephen Harper couldn’t resist the opportunity to attack Justin Trudeau. Even though the reporter who asked the question made no mention of Trudeau’s comment that we should try to understand the “root causes” of terrorism, Harper said: “When you see this type of violent
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Vampire Government
Claiming “We Can’t Afford It,” The Harper government has been killing all arms length entities whose job has been to hold the government to account. Its latest target is the Health Council of Canada. Michael Harris writes: HCC’s work has never been more important, as evidenced by the dour conclusions
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: No "There" There
Taking his cue from Andrew Coyne’s recent column on the utter vacuity of Canada’s three major political parties, Zack Paikin writes that the Conservative Party has replaced values with venom. Whether or not you agreed with them, the Reform Party — which gave birth to the Harper Party — was
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: It’s About Selfishness
“The modern conservative,” John Kenneth Galbraith wrote, “is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” He might have added that modern conservatives take extreme measures to hide that exercise.That is why, in yesterday’s budget speech, Jim
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Lectures From Hypocrites
Jim Flaherty’s lecture to Manulife caused the company to reverse its mortgage rate — and it caused a kerfuffle in the Conservative chorus. Mad Max Bernier publicly disagreed with his cabinet colleague. Even Stephen Harper’s favourite economist — Jack Mintz — says that mortgage rates are not Flaherty’s business. What
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Propagating A Lie
Truth is always the first casualty of war. But, on the tenth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, Richard Gwyn writes that truth died before that war started: In Bush’s version of the maxim, it wasn’t the fact every war once begun makes lying inevitable: each side always blames the
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: No Progressive
The Harperites — not surprisingly — accused Thomas Mulcair of traitorous behaviour when, during his recent Washinton gambit, he did not give his full throated support to the Keystone XL pipeline. He was, they said, damaging Canada’s international reputation. But four of Canada’s former prime ministers have recently suggested that
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Escalating War on Labour
We hear that Ontario’s ongoing dispute with teachers is about extra curricular activities and the deficit. It’s about neither. Tom Walkom writes in the Toronto Star: At its heart, this fight is about work. It is about the implicit deal struck between governments, employers and employees more than 50 years
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Disposable Citizen
Several years ago, the American educator Henry Giroux moved to Canada to take the Global Television Network Chair in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. From there he has continued to write about the land of his birth. His criticisms have been clear-eyed and stark. Writing
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Aboriginal Anger
Stephen Harper must feel he has dodged a bullet. Theresa Spence has left the island; and all appears calm along the banks of the Ottawa River. Now, as he did with the premiers on healthcare, Harper is dictating terms to Canada’s First Nations. Michael Harris writes: Senior Idle No More
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Life In The Land Of The Muzzled
When Hugo Chavez died last week, Stephen Harper said, “At this key juncture, I hope the people of Venezuela can now build for themselves a better, brighter future based on the principles of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights.” Mr. Harper likes to lecture the
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Conservative Snake Oil
For thirty years, neo-conservatives have been selling a myth. From Ronald Reagan, through George W. Bush to Stephen Harper, they have pitched the idea that they know how to manage government finances. Berating the “tax and spend” heresy of a previous generation, they have claimed that they will lead their
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Getting Tired And Tiresome
Lawrence Martin wrote in yesterday’s Globe and Mail that those who predicted Justin Trudeau would be this decade’s Kim Campbell may yet live to eat crow: When the poll numbers first came out last fall showing that Liberals led by Mr. Trudeau would beat all comers, no one took the
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Co-operatism Vs Corporatism
Paul Adams writes that it will probably take another election defeat before the Liberals and the NDP decide there is good reason for them to work together. Each party has its champion of cooperation: Like Nathan Cullen in the NDP race last year, [Joyce] Murray has presented a credible progressive
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Manning’s True Colours
After attending the 1993 Reform Party Convention, the late Dalton Camp wrote: “The speechifying gives off acrid whiffs of xenophobia, homophobia, and paranoia—like an exhaust—in which it seems clear both orator and audience have been seized by some private terror: immigrants, lesbians, people out of work or from out of
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Imprisoning The Disadvantaged
Howard Sapers, the ombudsman for Corrections Canada, released a report yesterday on the aboriginal population in this nation’s prisons. His findings should disturb all Canadians, native and non-native. The lead editorial in today’s Toronto Star repeats some of Sapers’ findings: Sapers points out that the 3,400 First Nations, Metis and
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