Author: Owen Gray

Paul Krugman reminds his readers today that tough economic times can sow the seeds of authoritarianism. He then offers an analysis of what is happening in Europe. The economic crisis there, he writes, is killing the European Dream: Specifically, demands for ever-harsher austerity, with no offsetting effort to foster growth,

Perhaps it was inevitable. Historians for a long time now have been predicting Canada’s eventual integration into the American Empire. The agreement which Stephen Harper and Barack Obama signed last week is just another step along the way. .And, besides, say the commentators, it’s not just inevitable — it’s painless.This

Jeffrey Simpson is full of praise for Richard Gwyn’s two volume biography of Sir John A. Macdonald. And he mourns the place which history holds in modern Canada: In schools, history remains an orphan, barely taught, often entirely neglected. In the media, ahistoricism reigns. Even in universities, it’s alarming to

 Jennifer Ditchburn reports this morning that, having installed a new unilingual auditor general, the Conservatives would rather not hear from him: Five different individuals – inside and outside Auditor-General Michael Ferguson’s office – told The Canadian Press this week that officials there expect the opportunities for him to testify on

David Olive writes in today’s Toronto Star that Canada has many “firsts” to its credit: First in North America with universal health care and prudent branch banking. First on this continent to take up arms against the fascist overthrow of Europe, and first with peacekeeping. First to spearhead the Commonwealth

There has always been an unpleasant stench of righteousness about the Harper Conservatives. I use the word “stench,” because they so obviously do not practise what they preach. They lack a collective conscience. But, Frances Russel writes in The Winnipeg Free Press, “the Conservatives’ penchant for playing hardball and dirty

At the end of his reflection on the border security agreement which Stephen Harper and Barack Obama will sign this week, Lawrence Martin writes: In many respects, we have what might be described as our very own Republican Party at the helm in Canada. Public opinion prevents it from going

When Peter Van Loan admitted this week in the House that the Conservative Party had been behind a campaign to spread the rumour that Irwin Cotler was resigning, he did so without a hint of embarrassment. More than that, Bruce Anderson writes, ” he took cynicism to an new jaw

Stephen Harper despised Pierre Trudeau. He was nine years old when Trudeau became prime minister, and twenty-five when Trudeau retired. Watching Harper pontificate and react, one gets the impression that Mr. Trudeau was the bogeyman who haunted Stephen Harper’s childhood nightmares. Indeed, it’s not too much of a stretch to

Richard Wagamese writes that Attawapiskat is not an isolated case. There is plenty of blame to go around for the tragedy there and on other native reserves. The problem, he writes, is that the elites — in Ottawa and at the AFN — have chosen to look the other way:

Stephen Harper — a fat man in a flight jacket — is promoting Canada’s military. The latest installment in this carefully orchestrated campaign occurred during last weekend’s Grey Cup game. As Lawrence Cannon writes this morning in The Globe and Mail: For our part in the NATO Libya campaign, the

The Harper government has made it official. It will celebrate Christmas by pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol. Peter Kent, the Minister of the Environment, announced Sunday that “Canada goes to Durban with a number of countries sharing the same objective, and that is to put Kyoto behind us.” Admittedly,

Yesterday, Elections Canada released a study on the problem of youthful apathy on voting day. The study suggests that  “young Canadians don’t vote because politicians aren’t able to connect to the issues that matter to them.” That conclusion isn’t all that surprising. But when you dig down into the numbers,

Ezra Klein wonders how smart Republicans were when they talked Barack Obama into automatic spending cuts once the supercommittee failed: Imagine if the Democrats offered Republicans a deficit deal that had more than $3 in tax increases for every $1 in spending cuts, assigned most of those spending cuts to