Just as Stephen Harper radically remade the Conservative Party, Michael den Tandt suggests that Justin Trudeau and his inner circle plan to rebuild the Liberal Party from the ground up: Almost to a man and woman, the people closest to Justin Trudeau are “Greeks” (a cross between a Grit and
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Northern Reflections: No Gateway
Northern Gateway, Jeffrey Simpson writes this morning, is dead: Yes, regulatory hearings before the National Energy Board will continue until the NEB approves the project. And yes, Enbridge will keep pushing for it. And yes, the Harper government, which is so publicly committed to the project, will continue to extol
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Remember Walkerton
Tom Walkom writes in this morning’s Toronto Star that the ever widening meat recall is Stephen Harper’s “Walkerton Moment.” The tainted water scandal in that small Ontario town marked the beginning of the end for Mike Harris’ government. Walkom writes: Neither Harris nor Harper invented deregulation. In Ontario, Bob Rae’s
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Crumbling Castle
John Ivison reports that cracks are beginning to show in the Conservative Fortress. The backbenches are getting restless: Simply put, I think MPs on the government side of the House who have been around since 2004, 2006 or 2008 are thinking about their legacy and resolving that always voting at
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Engaging The Young
Today — when Justin Trudeau formally enters the Liberal leadership race — his mission, Lawrence Martin writes in the Globe, will be to shake up the system: At 40, Justin Trudeau isn’t terribly young, but he has the aura of youth. As such, and given the other marketing advantages he
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Losing Candidate Or Losing Party?
As Republicans bemoan the growing lead Barack Obama has over Mitt Romney in the polls, they are turning on Romney, calling him a bad candidate. That’s passing strange. Romney has espoused all the party’s current positions — even if they are contrary to positions he has held in the past.
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Khadr Comes Home
The Conservatives aren’t happy about it, but Omar Khadr has come home. They have done everything in their power to avoid this outcome. John Ibbitson writes this morning: Not only did the Harper government continue its predecessors’ policy of not assisting Mr. Khadr’s efforts to return to Canada, they made
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Justin’s Time
Justin Trudeau has concluded that it’s now or never. He’s probably right. But we still need to know whether or not he’s the right choice. Andrew Coyne writes: We have no idea what kind of leader he would make for the Liberal party. We don’t know what his plans are
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Waldorf Doctrine
Last night, in accepting the “Statesman of the Year Award” at the Waldorf Hotel, Stephen Harper proclaimed the core value behind Canada’s foreign policy. He clearly views the world in Manichean terms. Tim Harper, in today’s Toronto Star reports that the prime minister used the world “evil” to frame Canada’s
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Following In Nixon’s Footsteps
On the day Stephen Harper will receive the Statesman of the Year award from the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, Yves Engler writes a Swiftian op-ed, suggesting that Harper should really receive the first ever Richard Nixon Prize. “The decision to grant Harper the Richard Nixon Prize,” Engler writes, “was made
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Taxation Without Representation
Carol Goar writes that Stephen Harper has violated the first principle of democracy: a government only rules with the consent of the governed. That principle is most apparent when it comes to the question of taxes. Citizens have the right to know how their money is being spent — and
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Martin’s Dismay
After cataloguing the numerous attempts to subvert democracy during the Harper regime, a dismayed Lawrence Martin concludes his column in this morning’s Globe and Mail with the following observation: At the same time, many other voices are raised in protest. But they don’t get enough traction. The dogs bark and
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: An Interesting Number
Polls at this point aren’t much of a harbinger of anything. But a new poll by Abacus Data puts Stephen Harper’s negative numbers at 50%. One out of every two Canadians disapprove of the prime minister. And the Conservatives and the New Democrats are tied, each with 35% support. What
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Coyne On Politics
Andrew Coyne is no Pollyanna. He does not expect much from politicians; and, he says, we should not be surprised by the state of our politics. For politics is rarely noble; and politicians are rarely heroic: Politics has been better before, and it has been worse. But politics, whatever one
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Creating His Own Reality
Some of the best and most insightful reporting on the Harper government has been done by Stephen Maher. Yesterday he wrote: Stephen Harper took a bold step forward this week to a new kind of creative, performance-based politics, uncoupling himself from the mundane world of facts and deftly using confusion
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Republican Contempt For The Working Class
Micheal Kingsley famously defined a “gaffe” as when a politician unwittingly tells the truth. And the truth behind Mitt Romney’s “47%” gaffe, Paul Krugman writes, is that Romney and his party have nothing but contempt for the working class: Needless to say, the G.O.P.’s disdain for workers goes deeper than
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The People Who Don’t Count
Two days ago, Mark Garneau asked the prime minister what he was going to do about youth unemployment: “Yesterday we witnessed the very sad spectacle of the Conservatives and the NDP trading insults over their cap-and-trade plans. Is this what Canadians want, at a time when the economy is suffering,
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: History Repeats Itself
Jeffrey Simpson, in today’s Globe and Mail, refers to an essay written by British MP and historian Rory Stewart. The subject of the essay is the British invasion and occupation of Afghanistan from 1838 until 1842: “Whatever decisions were made, there would have been no happy ending. A foreign army,
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: More Hypocrisy
Stephen Harper likes to claim that his party is a party of principle. But, of course, that’s all jiggery-pockery. Whether it’s huffing and puffing about China’s human rights record then pulling out all the stops to sell bitumen to the Chinese — or refusing to declare asbestos a dangerous substance,
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Moving Towards Merger
Paul Adams argues at ipolitics that whoever wins the Liberal leadership race must consider some kind of entente with the New Democrats. The Liberals’ old guard has floated the idea: For a starter, there was Jean Chrétien, the most successful modern Liberal prime minister. There was his experienced strategic sidekick,
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