On yelling at Chrystia Freeland
This still image from a video posted to social media shows Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland being verbally accosted as she visits Grande Prairie, Alberta, August 26, 2022. Irrespective of…
Canadian Politics
Happy Labour Day: the tide of workers who wish they had a union is growing
Happy Labour Day! Overall union membership may be shrinking, but the number of workers who wish they had a union and would vote to join one if they could appears…
The insults hurled at Chrystia Freeland Friday are nothing new: Alberta’s UCP has long encouraged such abuse
Many Canadians were shocked by the profane verbal attack on Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland in Grande Prairie Friday by a thuggish convoy goon. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who…
Splish-splash! Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe channels UCP frontrunner Danielle Smith’s cynical Sovereignty Act performance
CALGARY – Is there something in the water in Saskatchewan? Or has Premier Scott Moe’s government just been paying too much attention to the success of the separatist pish-posh served…
Doug Ford’s ‘strong mayor’ system is an anti-democratic power play
Doug Ford and John Tory pose for a photo during a charity cricket match in 2014. Photo courtesy Toronto Sun. “If I ever get to the provincial level of politics,…
Conservatives should search for a better analytical lens
As an Ideology, Conservatism tends to use already developed ideas. Conservatives tend to go back into the past and look for the best ideas to lead us in this time.…
The political death of the ‘moderate’ Tory
Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre walks with James Topp, a former army reservist and key figure of the far-right so-called trucker convoy. Photo courtesy Pierre Poilievre/Twitter. There was much alarm…
National Post Letter
Electoral reform opponents are once again pulling out the old Israel canard. I’ve responded with a letter attempting to set the record straight in today’s National Post: Electoral reform Re:…
Independence Day, freedom, the dog days of summer, and Pierre Poilievre’s profundities … plus the care and treatment of wood
“As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden.” — Chauncey Gardner An Internet wit spots how Mr. Poilievre’s old…
electoral reform is way overdue (but ranked ballots won’t help)
Canada’s 2021 federal election made the case for proportional representation very plain. While Canada’s electoral system isn’t as insanely nondemocratic as the US’s winner-take-all (or “first-past-the-post”) by state, with the…
Berman Flails Over Jurisdictions
Sure, most Canadians are appalled at the recent decisions by the Talibangelists on the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS), and the loss of rights and freedoms their overturning Roe v. Wade…
Canada Day 2022 – doesn’t look like this national holiday will herald the best summer ever, either
Last year on this day traditionally reserved for national celebration, the headline of the post that occupied this space read: “While Jason Kenney promises the best summer ever, it’s hard…
The Talibangelists Are Winning
I imagine what I’m feeling now about the rise of the extremist, pseudo-Christian right (aka the Talibangelists, aka Christofascists) in the USA, Canada, and in other democracies is what my…
A thought on how Sundre can start to put the embarrassment of the racist jackassery in its rodeo parade behind it
Surely there must’ve been a few folks in the Central Alberta town of Sundre who, when they noticed the racist jackassery of the now notorious “the Liberal” manure-spreader parade float…
Protecting free speech on campus? Forget about it, Pierre Poilievre is just dog-whistling
Federal Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre seems to have generated a lot of publicity for himself lately with a much re-tweeted pledge to force Canadian universities to “protect free speech”…
As predicted, Canadian Conservatives want you to shut up about U.S. Supreme Court’s repugnant Roe v. Wade ruling
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling stripping half the United States’ 330 million people of their constitutional right to abortion, Canadian conservatives were busy trying to deny…
Portraying Alberta and federal Conservative parties as hot messes, Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner says she won’t join UCP leadership race
Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner has declared herself out of the race to lead the United Conservative Party in a scathing, 2,800-plus Substack article that dissects the in-fights and extremism…
Parliament’s budget watchdog concludes TMX is almost certainly a loser – no matter what Ottawa does
The soaring cost of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion has pushed the still-uncompleted megaproject Ottawa bought for Alberta further into the red, says a report released yesterday by the Parliamentary…
Ontario election post-mortem: Strategy shift needed for the progressive left?
On paper, one could argue there were winning odds stacked for the progressive electoral left in Ontario ahead of the 2022 provincial election. Doug Ford as premier of Ontario mishandled…
Ontario election: Where did 825,000 swing voters go?
On June 2, after four turbulent and often chaotic years, Ontario voters handed Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservative party a second majority government. Every single PC cabinet minister was…