Marching To Oblivion
Republicans must be furious with David Frum. The man who wrote George W. Bush’s “axis of evil” speech is increasingly at odds with his party. On Saturday he wrote that…
Owen Gray
Scared As Hell
Paranoia drives the Harper government. If you don’t believe that, consider what is happening at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Michael Harris writes: Fisheries and Oceans Canada, where a…
Appalling and Disappointing
The travails of Patrick Brazeau and Mike Duffy have once again led for calls to reform or abolish the Senate. The argument is that the Senate has always been a…
Robothugs
Yesterday, Lawrence Martin asked a question, the answer to which has been obvious since Stephen Harper became prime minister: Does the fish rot from the head down? The story behind…
Mad Men
Frances Russell writes that the Mad Men who currently reside in Ottawa’s executive suites are destroying the Canada that their wiser forebears built after World War II: In keeping with…
The Hammer
Errol Mendes wonders if the Harper government is bidding its time, waiting to use a constitutional hammer to get the Northern Gateway Pipeline up and running: Some legal supporters of…
Shilling For Benefits
Last week the press was all a twitter — because Stephen Harper was tweeting. It makes you wonder what kind of critical thinking skills our press barons possess. Michael Harris…
Regression
The Conference Board keeps churning out reports which should embarrass the Harper government. The Board’s latest report ranks Canada 7th out of 17 developed countries in terms of quality of…
The Reckoning
As the present Masters of the Universe survey what they have wrought, they dismiss the young as lazy and pampered. But, Henry Giroux writes that, across that universe, youth are…
They Want In
When Preston Manning’s neo-conservatives rode into Ottawa twenty years ago, their rallying cry was, “The West Wants In.” They claimed that they had been outsiders for too long. And, with…
A Time For Sublime Madness
Chris Hedges believes that we face a dark future. What awaits us is an era of upheaval: The planet we have assaulted will convulse with fury. The senseless greed of…
A Man Of His Word?
After meeting with First Nations chiefs three weeks ago, Stephen Harper vowed that his office would give native issues “enhanced oversight.” Shawn Atleo got the impression that the government was…
Going To War — Secretly
The Harper government doesn’t like to release information — on Afghan prisoners, on the cost of fighter jets, on budget cuts. It has now applied the same strategy to Canada’s…
No Discretion, No Valor
There was a time, when all parties welcomed a new party leader with a standing ovation. There was a time when all parties allowed that leader time to adjust to…
A Market Society
Michael Den Tandt writes in this morning’s National Post that Stephen Harper’s Conservatives: view every file, including those traditionally related to social justice, through an economic prism – the thinking…
Whither Wynne?
Ontario’s Liberals have a new leader. They cannot call her “Premier Dad.” But, even though she can leave the epithet behind, she will not have an easy time. As Thomas…
Toronto Has Been Forded
Christie Blatchford is ecstatic that Rob Ford won his appeal and will remain in the mayor’s chair. She has nothing but contempt for Clayton Ruby, who took on the case…
Leading The Lemmings
It’s disappointing to listen to the federal Liberals these days. With the exception of Joyce Murray and Martin Cauchon, they’re all saying the same thing. Their chorus confirms that they…
The Blue Eyed Sheiks
For Stephen Harper, Canada’s future is about oil. Everything he has done in his last two omnibus budget bills has been about transforming Canada into an energy superpower. If you…
Anything To Win
Under Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister’s Office was given a new prime directive: character assassination. So, the office produced animations of puffins pooping on Stephane Dions’s shoulder; it trumpeted the…