On Monday, Olivia Chow was elected mayor of Toronto. Max Fawcett writes: Chow is taking the reins of a city that’s in much worse shape than it was when she unsuccessfully ran for mayor the first time in 2014. The housing market is actively hostile to anyone who didn’t buy
Continue readingAuthor: Owen Gray
Northern Reflections: A Pup Tent In Their Own Backyard
Chantal Hebert writes that Pierre Poilievre’s performance has not been stellar. He appears to be taking the same road that his two predecessors took: Nine months into his tenure, there is no denying that the latest CPC leader is having a measurable impact on Canada’s federal dynamics. But is it
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Complete And Utter Insanity
The United States House Of Representatives has voted to impeach Joe Biden. Dana Milbank writes: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) rose in the House Tuesday evening after the last vote. “For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Colorado seek recognition?” asked the presiding officer, Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.). The gentlewoman sought
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Whopper King
Pierre Poilievre is using Donald Trump’s playbook to claw his way to power. He specializes in telling whoppers. Michael Harris writes: As adroitly pointed out by Gary Mason in The Globe and Mail, Poilievre’s claims that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is responsible for the housing crisis is patently false. Speculative
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: National Cowardice
Tom Friedman begins his latest column with a series of rhetorical questions: What if Mitch McConnell, at the close of his scalding speech on the Senate floor blaming Donald Trump for the riot that occurred at the Capitol on Jan. 6, had promised to use his every last breath to
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Bonnie And Clyde Factor
Donald Trump will be indicted for a second time today. Michael Harris isn’t convinced that he’ll ever face justice. To begin with, a judge who twice ruled in Trump’s favour — until she was reversed by a higher court — will preside over the trial. But there is something else
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: A Train Wreck
David Johnston is gone. He was last week’s sacrificial lamb. Intergovernmental Affairs leader Dominic Leblanc has suggested that the opposition parties construct their own solution to the problem. Susan Delacourt writes: Only the most optimistic political observers, who have not been watching the antics in the Commons this spring, would
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Finally
Donald Trump has finally — finally — been indicted. Ruth Marcus writes in The Washington Post: For me, a seven-count indictment — though we haven’t seen all the specific charges and accompanying details — is an amply justified demonstration of the rule of law in action and the principle that
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Zombie Economics
There is an idea that should have died decades ago. Unfortunately, like a zombie from the film The Night of the Living Dead, it refuses to die. The idea is trickle-down economics. It’s an idea that the Conservative Party of Canada keeps selling. Les Wittington writes: As the next federal
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Bottom Of The Barrel
Michael Harris doesn’t pull his punches. What the opposition parties are doing to David Johnston, he writes, is a “ghastly shitshow:” The slimy assault on the reputation and character of David Johnston is unforgivable. If he had recommended a public inquiry into China’s alleged interference in Canadian elections, the same
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The DeSantis Boomering
Florida governor Ron DeSantis is desperately trying to weaponize his state’s public education system. But a rebellion is brewing. The rebellion is coming from teachers. Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman write: By now, it’s obvious that the reactionary culture warriors who want to reshape American education are inspiring a serious
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Up To No Good
Jagmeet Singh has introduced a resolution to remove David Johnston from his role as special rapporteur. Michael Harris writes: So David Johnston is a hack cashing in on a jammy per diem, the prime minister is a rank manipulator, and the report by a former governor general into alleged Chinese
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: To The Right
Judy Rebick writes that things are shifting to the right in Canada. In Alberta, it’s beginning to look like Danielle Smith will squeak through with a victory this week: No less of a conservative than Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne has written: “It would be easy to dismiss the
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: DeSantis’ Path to Power
At Joe Biden’s inauguration, a young black poet, Amanda Gorman, read her poem “The Hill We Climb.” Recently, the poem was removed from a school library on the objection of one parent. Greg Sargent writes: That parent’s complaint, which was obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project, was that
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Bonnie Crombie
Bonnie Crombie — the mayor of Mississauga — wants to lead the Liberal Party of Ontario. Martin Regg Cohn writes: Crombie made big news last week as the mighty mayor who engineered Mississauga’s liberation from Peel Region. Score one for Her Worship, who persuaded the mighty premier to let her
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The American Right To Be Stupid
What’s going on in the United States is truly puzzling. Michael Enright writes: In February, 2013, in one of his first public utterances as U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry told a group of Europeans that in America, people have the right to be stupid. As his listeners choked on
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Debt Debacle
They’re having a fight these days in Washington about paying the nation’s bills. It’s not about new bills. It’s about paying the bills that have already been put on the national credit card. Twenty-five percent of that debt was racked up in the last four years under Donald Trump. No
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Temperamentally Incapable
Readers of this space know that I have no patience for Pierre Poilievre. I took a break recently, thinking that I had obsessed too much about the man, and that I needed to regain some perspective. But this morning the newspapers are full of Poilievre’s refusal to meet with David
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Enforcing Ignorance
In the United States, there is a movement — and it’s gaining momentum — to make students ignorant. Exhibit A is the state of Florida. Jennifer Rubin writes: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who earned two Ivy League degrees, has apparently decided that making Florida schools and universities the laughingstock of
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Not The Facts
Americans think that the economy is terrible. That’s strange — because the data suggests things are pretty good. Paul Krugman writes: Since December 2021 the U.S. economy has added almost six million jobs while the unemployment rate has fallen from 3.9 percent to 3.4 percent, a level not seen since
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