The fat lady has yet to sing.
Public opinion polls can never replace voting. And the provincial election is not going to happen until New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath says it will. So, you might as well…
Peter Lowry
Is public speaking a dying art?
Listening to a political speech the other day was a disappointing experience. The speech was by someone who already had our vote. You just wished he cared enough about the…
Rogers discovers customers.
Some Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) hearings remind us of acts from Shakespeare’s MacBeth. You can count on the weird sisters—commonly referred to as witches—to be there. You know…
Mac’s Convenience should sue The Beer Store.
Why not cut to the chase? The Beer Store advertising that is currently running on television is slandering every convenience store in Ontario. It is wrong. It is unfair. It…
Rt. Hon. Herb Gray, P.C., C.C., Q.C. 1931 – 2014
Herb Gray was smart, funny, wise, impish, a mentor and a friend. And it was a friendship that lasted over 50 years. We met over copy he had sent to…
The return of the F-35 Lightning.
We thought the aircraft deal was dead. After months free of hype for the purchase of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning (II), we thought the civil servants, the military and…
But what if Tom Walkom is wrong?
Toronto Star writer Thomas Walkom has been an icon for progressives in Canada for many years. If there is a left-of-centre stance possible on an issue, Tom will most often…
They always blame First-Past-the-Post.
They call our Canadian voting system First-Past-the-Post. Some people use more scatological terms for it. Others just castigate the system when it does not work the way they want. It…
“If they just want to play politics.”
In an ill-conceived television commercial introduced Friday, Ontario’s Premier Wynne accuses her political detractors of playing politics. The commercial makes it look as though she is striding after a moving…
Wrong again, Justin Trudeau.
Even in Julius Caesar’s day, the Rubicon was a very shallow river. Caesar’s legion waded across. Justin Trudeau dives in and ends up looking silly. When writing about the metaphorical…
Conservatives confuse justice and retribution.
You can see the desperation of the Conservative government in the bills it is trying to pass while still in office. You can see it in the names of their…
Justin Trudeau is at his Rubicon.
When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River with a single legion, he and his soldiers became outlaws under Roman law of the time. It was the Roman mob that saved…
You should take up gambling Sousa.
Occasionally this commentator gives advice to Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa. It is because we actually like him. He is a nice guy. He is kind of like a slow…
The boredom of bitumen.
The wife does not want to read another commentary on tar sands bitumen. She thinks that some people who worry about bitumen should get a life. You have to admit…
Goddamn the CPR; God save the CBC.
One of our favourite Canadian journalists, Allan Fotheringham, wrote years ago about a Saskatchewan farmer who had everything go wrong who ends up blaming all his problems on the CPR.…
You get what you pay for Charles.
The Ontario Liberals have called in another blue ribbon panel to tell them how to make more money from provincial assets such as the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO),…
Shoring up the declining empire.
If you are destined to become a saviour of the British royalty, you start young. It was eight-month old Prince George who flew in to wow the colonials in New…
Reading the entrails of the Quebec election.
When you kill the beast, rip out its guts and use them to foretell the future, all you really need to do next is have a long, cleansing shower. And…
More musing on TO’s mayoralty marathon.
Obviously the Olivia Chow campaign team must know something we do not. It is hard to believe that John Tory’s mayoralty campaign is that far ahead? It is the only…
Thomas Mulcair has been found lacking.
In a recent commentary about women and politics, we left out Catherine Pinhas, New Democratic Leader Thomas Mulcair’s wife for the past 47 years. The reason she was not mentioned…