Working For The Man
Back in October, when 6,800 Air Canada workers rejected a second offer from Air Canada, the Harper government intervened immediately, claiming that the strike endangered the Canadian economy. Air Canada…
Owen Gray
Fathers And Sons
In the wake of Mitt Romney’s eight vote win in Iowa, Maureen Dowd offers a column on the volatile relationship between fathers and sons: “American politics,” she writes,”bristles with Oedipal…
Whose Brain Is Half Full?
Kelly McParland recently nominated the Occupy Movement for The National Post’s “brain half full award.” He scornfully described the movement as: People lying around in tents in downtown parks because…
The Wrong Analogy
No doubt the folks at the Heritage Foundation will pillory Paul Krugman for his column in this morning’s New York Times. Their disrespect for him matches his own disrespect for…
It’s All About Contempt
When the Harper government was found in contempt of parliament, the prime minister defined the problem as a not having enough votes. It was, he said, “simply a case of…
Quebec Awaits
It has been remarkable how sanguine political commentators have been about the place of Quebec in Stephen Harper’s Canada. Back in August, in the Globe and Mail, John Ibbitson wrote:…
Canada’s John Bolton
John Bolton, the former American Ambassador to the United Nations, once quipped that: There’s no such thing as the United Nations. If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost…
To The Right, March!
In his review of the year which has almost ended, Lawrence Martin writes: In 2011, Canada took its sharpest turn right in its history. It will go down as the…
Unleashing The Ugly
Conservatism, like Dr. Jekyll, has undergone an ugly transformation. Those who claim that mantle these days say they stand for liberty. However, they have long forgotten Edmund Burke’s caveat:: “But…
Dickens for the 21st Century
Every year, as Christmas approaches, I think again of A Christmas Carol. The world has always been opposed to the idea of Christmas — unless it can be turned into…
Hell Hath No Fury
When Helena Geurgis melted down almost two years ago at the Charlottetown Airport, she received little sympathy. When she was asked to take off her boots for a security screening,…
Lies and Damned Lies
The Harper Conservatives refused to admit that they were spreading misinformation when they told the constituents of Mount Royal that Irwin Cotler’s retirement was imminent. But the prime minister claims…
The Man Who Hated Health Care
Anyone who has followed Stephen Harper’s political career should not be surprised by Jim Flaherty’s take it or leave it offer to the provinces. And those who fear for the…
Leadership By Bean Counter
In his academy award winning film, Roger and Me, Michael Moore documented what happened to the world’s largest corporation after a bean counter was put in charge. After Stephen Harper…
Is Keynesian Economics Dead?
Robert Samuelson asks that question — and gives his answer — in this morning’s Washington Post: Governments have ceded power to bond markets by decades of shortsighted behavior. The political…
Our Third World
Anyone who has been to a northern reserve knows that Attawapiskat is not an aberration. Bob Rae is right. Northern native communities are “our third world.” And it’s most revealing…
Punishing the Young
At Durban two weeks ago, a young woman rose and addressed the delegates: I speak for more than half the world’s population,” declared Anjali Appadurai of Maine’s College of the…
What Do You Think Of Me Now, Dad?
Jeffrey Simpson writes this morning that: Those who thought the Harper government would ease up a bit after winning a majority were wrong. Noblesse oblige is out, or, rather, was…
Fuddle Dudde Encore
Justin Trudeau had his fuddle duddle moment yesterday. When Environment Minister Peter Kent responded to Megan Leslie’s criticism of the Conservatives performance at Durban by saying she had no right…
Bait and Switch
Stephen Harper claimed that, with a majority, his government could focus — laser like — on the Canadian economy. But since their return to Parliament Hill, the Conservatives have paid…