When good people do bad things in groups
The headline is taken from a piece on Science Daily on a study about how groups change personal behaviour and morality. The study is reported on the MIT website. I’ve…
June 2014
Which half of Ontario voters voted?
It is sure getting tough for a person to accurately forecast election results. Watching Tom Clark during the excellent election night coverage by Global Television, he asked a lovely looking…
Why I Promoted the Ontario Liberals. A Personal Story
Kathleen Wynne’s incredible victory last night was a shock to some and an inspiration to others. For Andrea Horvath, who triggered the election by turning down a budget practically written…
140 Law – Leading Legal Headlines for Friday, June 13, 2014
Here are the leading legal headlines from Wise Law on Twitter for Friday, June 13, 2014: My post today @SlawTips The ‘Law Office Backyard Retreat’ Report Grocers sue Vt over…
Absent urgency police need judicial authorization to get IP address
R. v. Spencer, 2014 SCC 43: Whether there is a reasonable expectation of privacy in the totality of the circumstances is assessed by considering and weighing a large number of…
Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Neera Tanden points out that a wide range of citizens rely on a strong safety net at one time or another – and…
Was Tim Hudak Ontario’s version of Michael Ignatieff circa 2011?
I was thinking about that comparison as I digest a surprising Liberal majority in Ontario this AM (but the folks at Forum and Ekos with their last polls called it…
Standard of review of administrative tribunal
Canadian Artists’ Representation v. National Gallery of Canada, 2014 SCC 42: Reasonableness is the presumptive standard of review when a tribunal is interpreting its home statute or a statute closely…
His Cheese Is Slipping
Not long ago, Stephen Harper mused about scoring a hat trick in Ontario — a Tory at Toronto City Hall, a Tory at Queen’s Park and himself — the Big…
Ontario Votes 2014 Results – Don’t Call It a Comeback (Long Post)
While I’m pretty sure anyone who reads this blog regularly is quite aware of the last night’s results, I think it might take a while to sink in just how…
wmtc: happy birthday to me
I have been alive and kicking on this planet for 53 years today. I’m pretty damn happy about it. I’m celebrating my birthday by taking the day from work, reviewing…
Ontario Election – the dangers of overselling
Advocates learn early that it makes sense to underplay their case. Clients don’t like that – they tend to want their lawyer to take an extreme position – but the…
I might sound like a broken record…
…because over and over I have said that Nanos is the ONLY pollster worth watching. Here is why (emphasis mine): Some key observations on this evening’s Ontario election: Tonight’s election…
Polarized Pipeline Debate is Preventing Real Dialogue on Oil Sands
This is a guest post by award-winning environmental campaigner and author Tzeporah Berman. It was originally published in The Globe and Mail and is republished here with permission. I have…
Things We Learned During Ontario Election 2014: Conservative Ideologues Should Be Convulsed With Doubt And Self-Loathing
Take Andrew Coyne, for example. This guy is known among Canada’s literati as “the journalist who knows math”. He’s always saying “Well, the iron laws of Economics will prevent that!”…
Arthur Potts Elected to the Ontario Legislature
Welcome the newest Member of Provincial Parliament for Beaches East York, Arthur Potts.
The Amazingly Awesome Destruction of the Con Loser Tim Hudak
Well at the end of this long day, I guess it's safe to say that the people of Ontario weren't too impressed with Tim Hudak's vision of the future.They didn't…
Criticism #nlpoli
Take a gander at this letter to the editor of Overcast by someone using the name Samuel Wilkes. It’s about a problem in the arts community with criticism. We’re shit…
Dean Clifford: Still #Winning
It's been a while since we wrote about Dean Clifford on the blog. In our last update in march, Clifford (who, we must stress, was in jail at the time)…
Ontario election: OK, that didn’t really work … can we get back to being New Democrats now?
Ontario’s victorious Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne last summer. Below: Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak. Well! That didn’t work out quite as well as we’d…