The Canadian Culture Wars
The Conservative Party is deeply divided. But there is one thing that unites them. Alan Freeman writes: Conservatives may be divided on all sorts of questions, like gay marriage and…
Owen Gray
The Easy Path
It’s beginning to look like Peter MacKay will have an easy path to the leadership of the Conservative Party. Martin Taube writes that easy victories can lead to disasters. He…
King Donald
The man who claimed he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it keeps getting away with it. When Republicans voted down the Democratic motion for witnesses…
Give Me A Break
This morning, the divorce is official. The UK has left the European Union. And, Ian McEwan writes, it was all done with “magic dust”: The only certainty is that we’ll…
The Conservatives’ Big Problem
The Conservatives have a big problem: they don’t know what to do about the social conservatives in their midst. Susan Delacourt writes: Social conservatives are definitely falling out of fashion…
No Room For Anybody Else
Yesterday, Donald Trump signed NAFTA 2. Lawrence Martin writes that Trump was full of self congratulation: At the White House Wednesday, he was a picture of contentment owing to a…
Bolton’s Last Laugh
John Bolton has probably planned it this way. After all, when he left Donald Trump’s employ, he declared that he would eventually have his say. Frank Bruni writes: Bolton is…
Mnuchin’s Madness
Last week, at Davos, Steve Mnuchin told Greta Thunberg to go back to school and study economics. Paul Krugman writes: One can only surmise that Mnuchin slept through his undergraduate…
How Long Can He Get Away With It?
John Bolton’s book is now floating around in manuscript form. Peter Baker writes in The New York Times: In another time, in another Washington, this might be the moment that…
Can We Do It?
Robin Sears wonders if Canadians can come together to fight climate change. He writes: Great social change rarely succeeds as a partisan project. How did we forget that lesson where…
A Job Not Worth Having
It was interesting to see which people said no to the Conservative Party this week. Rona Ambrose, Pierre Polievre and Jean Charest all said, “No, thank you.” Susan Delacourt writes:…
Margaret ‘s Ghost
It’s time to remember Margaret Chase Smith. Michael Harris writes: She took on Senator Joe McCarthy, denouncing his vicious demagoguery before anyone else had the courage to confront his campaign…
Climate Justice Means Extremism
George Monbiot writes that, if you’re going to stand for climate justice, the powers that be will label you an extremist: The police have always protected established power against those…
They’ve Learned Nothing
Recently, I’ve devoted a lot of space to the escalating confrontation between the Ford government and Ontario’s teachers. My interest in this situation is obvious. But, in the end, what…
The McCarthy Presidency
Jonathan Chait writes that we now know what would have happened if Joe McCarthy had been elected president: McCarthy is surely the closest parallel to Trump that can be found…
Horatio Alger Myths
The Horatio Alger myth is still central to North American politics. Alan Freeman writes that, in the United States, candidates are falling all over themselves to present themselves as 21st…
Why The Liberals Are On Top In Ontario
All of Ontario’s teacher’s unions are now prepared to strike. The teachers claim there are several issues in the mix — class sizes, e-learning, all day kindergarten. The government claims…
What Would Pierre Do?
We live in a chaotic world — not unlike the beginning of the 1980’s. Pierre Elliott Trudeau was prime minister then. And Tony Burman wonders what Trudeau the Elder would…
The Old Divisions
John Crosbie was laid to rest yesterday. And, Susan Delacourt writes, the old and ugly divisions in the Conservative Party were on full display at the funeral: While one former…
The Cornerstone
Sean Illing writes that we live in an age of “manufactured nihilism:” The issue for many people isn’t exactly a denial of truth as such. It’s more a growing weariness…