A Nation Of Men, Not Laws
Last Wednesday, Stephen Harper made a Sherman statement about those he has appointed to the Senate: “All senators conform to the residency requirements. That is the basis on which they…
Owen Gray
Not Very Bright
The Harperites will troll for votes wherever they can find them. That includes immigrant communities. But, at their core, they fear “the other” — those who don’t see the world…
The Second Coming
The word on the street is that the Harper government has informed Washington that, if it doesn’t approve the Keystone XL Pipeline, there will be a catastrophic rupture in Canadian-American…
If Only They Could Ditch The Charter
Frances Russell is puzzled about why we need an Office of Religious Freedom: One question: why not just celebrate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms? It’s right there at…
Sleeping Through Disaster
Jeffrey Simpson has an interesting column in this morning’s Globe and Mail. The Conservatives equate majority government with majority support. But, Simpson writes, despite their attempts to change the Canadian…
No Sam Pollack
Stephen Harper, we’re told, is writing a book on hockey. It will be interesting to see if he has anything to say about the legendary Sam Pollack. The Montreal Canadiens…
The Pinocchio Index
Carol Goar writes, in The Toronto Star, that the C.D. Howe Institute has developed a tool to measure government fiscal accountability. It’s called the Pinocchio Index. She writes: This year’s…
The Perils Of Prediction
The National Post reports that, in a new book, John Ibbitson and Darrell Bricker predict that Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party will be “perpetually dominant” in the 21st century: “Politics in…
Buying Votes
This week, Stephen Harper launched his Office for the Promotion of Religious Freedom. Tasha Kheiriddin is puzzled: Of all the Conservatives’ initiatives to date, the most bewildering is its newly…
Greed And Secrecy
The Neo Conservative revolution has spawned an alliance between government and corporations. What that means in practice is that we now have an alliance between Greed and Secrecy: Michael Harris…
A Personality Cult?
Andrew Coyne –with some justification — is frustrated. The Liberal Party, he writes, is preparing itself for Justin Trudeau. And, to that end, it will “transform itself into a personality…
Headwaiter To The Provinces
Back in 2008, Lawrence Martin wrote that Stephen Harper had truly become headwaiter to the provinces. The phrase, originally coined by Pierre Trudeau to mock Joe Clark and the Conservative…
The Epitome of Folly
The Edmonton Journal reports that Natural Resource Minister Joe Oliver knows about the damage being done by mining the tar sands: Tailings ponds from oilsands production are leaking and contaminating…
Does Anyone Listen To Dick Cheny Anymore?
Speaking at a Republican dinner in Wyoming recently, Dick Cheney opined that President Obama’s national security personnel choices were “dismal.” He was particularly offended by Obama’s choice of Chuck Hegal…
A Morose, Vindictive Man
Speaking at the Salt Spring Forum in December, Tom Flanagan — Stephen Harper’s former eminence gris — said of his former pupil: He is an unusual package of characteristics. He…
They Know They Can Get Away With Them
For the Harperites, denial is Standard Operating Procedure — until they’re caught in a lie. Then they back off their denial. But they do it without blushing. Take the case…
The Stupidity Of Child Poverty
The Conference Board recently took the nation’s pulse and discovered that child poverty is on the rise in Canada. Diane Swinemar, the executive director of Feed Nova Scotia, writes: Most…
Lousy Economists
As a response to the Great Depression, western governments put in place several “economic shock absorbers” — unemployment insurance, welfare and baby bonus cheques — to cushion the negative effects…
The Women Have Arrived
When Kathleen Wynne introduced her cabinet yesterday, she became the fifth woman premier in the federation. Lawrence Martin writes: Now, women run much of the federation. They are at the…