I doubt that Stephen Harper reads anything that Robert Reich writes. But, as a trained economist, the prime minister might take a look at Reich’s most recent blogpost. Reich writes that the most recent American job numbers signal that the American economy has stalled: Most of the job gains in
Continue readingAuthor: Owen Gray
Northern Reflections: Let The Bells Ring
The Harper government is intent on passing its 421 page Budget Implementation Bill in seven days. If Stephen Harper were the Leader of the Opposition, he would be up in arms. In fact, as Leader of the Opposition, he was. “In the interest of democracy,” he fumed, I ask how
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Distorting History
On the thirtieth anniversary of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Harper government made no mention of the event — other than to point out that the germ of the Charter was contained in John Diefenbaker’s Bill of Rights. The Harper version of history is highly selective. It ignores
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Coyne On Harper
The naive among us predicted that, after winning a majority, Stephen Harper’s governing style would change. Secure in the knowledge that he had the votes to get his way, they argued, he would act like a statesman. But on the anniversary of his victory, Andrew Coyne writes, nothing has changed:
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: On The First Anniversary
On this, the first anniversary of Harperland, the Globe and Mail opines: On most of the issues that matter, on the economy, on reining in public spending, on addressing the long-term structural challenges of Old Age Security, on immigration and on the sustainability of health-care funding, the government headed by
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Taking Parliament Hostage
Globe and Mail columnist John Ibbitson writes that Stephen Harper has been “unbound.” What that really means is that he has neutered Parliament. If you don’t believe that’s true, writes Andrew Coyne, take a look at Bill C-38, the government’s “omnibus” budget bill: When the Harper government packages legislation these
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: A Lost Generation
Mitt Romney and George Bush the Elder share at least one characteristic. As former governor Anne Richards used to say, each “was born with a silver foot in his mouth.” Last week, Romney advised the young to “take a shot, go for it, take a risk, get the education, borrow
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Angry Young
The student protests roiling through the streets of Montreal are not about spoiled young people who want something for nothing. They are about a generation who know they are paying the price for their parents’ folly. And the protests stretch far beyond the old streets of Ville Marie. In Greece
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Mockery Has Set In
Thomas Mulcair rose in the Commons on Thursday and asked the prime minister, “Will he keep our troops in Afghanistan past 2014, yes or no?” Stephen Harper hasn’t answered a question for quite while now. This time he responded with yet another slur: “Unlike the NDP, we are not going
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: How Much Self Respect Do We Have?
“Technically, we might still call it a democracy,” Lawrence Martin writes this morning. But, “in practice it’s a democracy in name alone.” Martin, perhaps more than any other Canadian journalist, has tracked the decline of Canadian democracy. And he has not been partisan about it. He brought the same careful
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: This Isn’t About Jobs and Growth
Jim Flaherty claims that his budget is about “jobs and growth.” Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page makes a much stronger counter claim. He reports that, while the Harper government’s cutbacks will result in a balanced budget, they will create significant drag on the economy: The spending restraints and cutbacks will
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Square Heads
David Olive is right. Michael Ignatieff does not understand Canada. Certainly his conclusion that Quebec independence is inevitable must have Pierre Trudeau hurling curses at him from beyond the grave. On the other hand, it’s hard to disagree with Jeffrey Simpson’s conclusion that, “not since the first Diefenbaker government of
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Making Integrity The Issue
Lawrence Martin suggests Thomas Mulcair and the New Democrats have an opportunity to expose the Harper government’s Achilles Heel — integrity. If they can mount “a judicious and innovative handling of the integrity issue, the mockery of democracy that’s played out by the Conservatives week after week,” they may, indeed,
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Things Fall Apart
On the day that the Wildrose Party appears to be on the verge of shaking things up big time in Alberta, Canadians would do well to consider what Janice Kennedy wrote over the weekend in The Ottawa Citizen: Across the country, it seems, we Canadians are being drawn to the
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: All The Prime Minister’s Men
With the Public Accountants Committee getting ready to take up the F35 fraud, a fight is brewing over which witnesses will be allowed to testify before the committee. The Hill Times reports that Andrew Saxton, the ranking Conservative on the committee, has revealed the government’s game plan: “The government is
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Stephen Harper And The Charter
Stephen Harper has refused to recognize the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as a significant Canadian achievement. There are many reasons for the prime minister’s ill will. Chief among them, Roy Romanow has said, is that Harper is on the wrong side of history. He harbours a burning resentment for
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Double Booking
Michael Freguson revealed that, when it came to the purchase of the F35 JSF, the Harper government was keeping two sets of books. Now parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page has revealed that, when it comes to federal spending cuts, the Harperites are adopting the same strategy. According to yesterday’s Ottawa
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Fallacy That Government Is A Business
Don Lenihan writes that Canadian politics has been corrupted by a powerful fallacy. Simply put, that fallacy is that government should be run like a business. And, because successful businesses identify and fulfill consumer wants, politics has transformed citizens into consumers — who expect to be satisfied, and who feel
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Bob Rae’s Record
Those attack ads, branding Bob Rae a “Failure,” are ubiquitous these days. But Tim Armstrong, a former deputy minister of Industry and Trade in Rae’s government, sets the record straight in this morning’s Toronto Star: For 18 months I worked closely with Bob Rae on two of his highest priority
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Socking It To The Cities
When Jane Jacobs moved from the United States to Canada, she looked around at Toronto and concluded that Canada’s largest city provided a model for wise urban development. “Here is the most hopeful and healthy city in North America,” she wrote, “still unmangled, still with options.” Twenty-five years later —
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