Several commentators have suggested that Alvin Bragg’s case against Donald Trump is weak. Jennifer Rubin isn’t so sure. She writes: Any pundits who speculated ahead that the case was weak, misreported the “intent” requirement under New York law or ignored obvious “tolling” arguments putting the charges in compliance with the
Continue readingAuthor: Owen Gray
Northern Reflections: Riding With The Truckers
When the Truckers Convoy arrived in Ottawa, the Conservative Party of Canada hopped on its bandwagon. Michael Harris writes: The Conservative party lurched to the populist right in the very first days of dysfunction in Ottawa. It abruptly changed leaders, championed the truckers, and came after Justin Trudeau personally. They
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Republican Death Wish
Paul Krugman has been crunching some numbers. And he’s made a grisly discovery. He writes: America’s dismal Covid performance was part of a larger story. I don’t know how many Americans are aware that over the past four decades, our life expectancy has been lagging ever further that of other
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: What Goes Around
Pierre Poilievre practices the politics of personal destruction. Michael Harris writes that practitioners of that dark art have a limited appeal: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre set the bar low when he effectively called the prime minister a traitor who was covering up alleged Chinese interference in Canadian elections, instead of
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Beginning
Some people believe that the Manhattan D.A.’s case against Donald Trump is small potatoes. Michelle Goldberg disagrees: It is a mistake to treat this indictment — which, according to The New York Times, includes more than two dozen counts — as tangential to Trump’s other misdeeds. The conduct at issue
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Extinct
Erin O’Toole has resigned from Parliament and from the Conservative Party — proof that the party is still Stephen Harper’s party. Harper has been offering advice to the Conservatives. Susan Delacourt writes: Harper, on the other hand, offered this advice when he appeared on stage last week at a big
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: It’s On
Yesterday, a grand jury in Manhattan indicted Donald Trump. Trump called the indictment “unthinkable.” Apparently not. Jennifer Rubin writes: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg made history on Thursday, indicting a former U.S. president for the first time. The indictment is under seal. From all indications, however, former president Donald Trump
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Right To Repair
Susan Delacourt writes that buried in the Trudeau government’s budget is something called “the right to repair.” What does that mean? It is intended to give Canadians another alternative when faced with broken appliances, electronics or machinery. Too often, the government says, people “are pushed to buy new products rather
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: A Vast Empty Space
Marjorie Taylor Greene claims that Canada is helping Mexicans invade the United States. Alex Panetta reports: Here’s an attention-grabbing charge: the idea that Canada might be assisting an invasion of the United States by the other country on the continent. Even more surprising? The comment came from a member of
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: A Society That ignores Its Young
Today is budget day. Lots of people have tried to capture Chrystia Freeland’s ear. But the young don’t have any representation in the budget process. Max Fawcett writes: They are, after all, getting hosed on any number of fronts right now. That begins with housing, where massively overpriced markets in
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Beware Netanyahu
The United States is not the only democracy where the rule of law is under attack. Michael Harris writes: In Israel, the government is run by a prime minister under indictment for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, offences that could carry a sentence of more than a decade in
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Poor Donald
Yesterday, we got a preview of what Donald Trump will be talking about for the next year. The New York Times reports that: Former President Donald J. Trump spent much of his first major political rally of the 2024 campaign portraying his expected indictment by a New York grand jury
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Biden’s Visit
Joe Biden’s visit to Ottawa gave Justin Trudeau a boost — precisely when he needed one. Susan Delacourt writes: The entire Biden visit, awash in cross-border warmth, doesn’t rescue the prime minister from his domestic political troubles — the ongoing furor over foreign election meddling, for instance. But it is
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Beware The Madness
In Ottawa, politicians are working themselves into a lather over China. It’s the kind of thing that’s been going on in the United States for almost a decade. Glen Pearson writes: There are those occasions when scandals appeal to citizens and institutions alike. The clearest example has been occurring 24/7
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Profiting From Experience
Joe Biden will arrive in Ottawa this afternoon. He and Justin Trudeau will have a lot to talk about during his short visit. Linda McQuaig hopes that Biden will offer Justin some good advice on how to tax the wealthy: Joe Biden is proposing a number of measures, including an
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Getting It Wrong
Things are not going well for Canada’s oil advocates. Max Fawcett writes: Timing, as they say, is everything. And the timing right now for opponents of the federal government’s much-maligned Impact Assessment Act couldn’t be much worse. Arguments around the constitutionality of the act, which has been widely branded as
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Why They Hate Trudeau
There are lots of Canadians who have a viscerally negative reaction to the name Trudeau — father and son. Susan Delacourt writes: Justin Trudeau has now said it twice — there are Canadians, he admits, who won’t believe him, no matter what he says. Who are these Canadians? They are
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: A Very Bad Place
Michael Harris writes that populism is destroying our politics: Opposition politics has always been the process of casting the appropriate lights and shadows over the other guy’s record—and the facts. No surprise there. The job of opposition is to oppose, so the characterization of incumbent governments has almost never been
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Same Man The Same Danger
Donald Trump is doing it again. He’s summoning the mob. The Washington Post reports: Former president Donald Trump called for protests Saturday in response to what he claimed would be his imminent arrest in a Manhattan criminal investigation, even as his advisers said Trump’s team does not have specific knowledge
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Problem With Boomers
I referred to a column by Paul Kershaw a while back. His subject was the financial burden we baby boomers are leaving on the young. He returns to that topic in today’s Globe and Mail: Boomers came of age as adults around 1976, when total government debt was approximately $39-billion.
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