Counting The Ways
How much does Doug Ford covet Ontarian’s votes? Let me count the ways. In the run-up to this June’s provincial election, the premier is sparing no expense (while at the…
Ontario politics
What Is A Conscientious Voter To Do?
I think we all realize that democracy in many parts of the world, including our own, is in a state of malaise. The threats we face are not simply the…
A Peak Inside The House Of Ford
Although the newspapers are apparently shying away from this, there is strong evidence of a breach in the dyke of official solidarity in Doug Ford’s family. And that breach is…
Another Reminder About A Multi-Tasking Premier
As the reinvention of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives continues as we move closer to next June’s election, yet another reminder about the man behind the curtain. H/t Graeme MacKay Recommend…
Just A Reminder
With an election in Ontario next June, Doug Ford has been trying to rebrand himself, somewhat unsuccessfully given his unusual capacity for stepping in it. Nonetheless, a little reminder from…
Designed To Fail
H/t Theo Moudakis In his column today, Bruce Arthur offers the opinion that Ontario’s vaccine passport is a half-hearted effort by Doug Ford that seems almost designed to fail. …as…
Meanwhile, In Ontario, In Search Of A Useful Idiot
The PC government of Doug Ford has an interesting fund-raising scam scheme. It consists of sending an ‘invoice’ to people: Some Ontario residents have received mail correspondence asking them to…
An Olympic Performance
And the gold medal winner in the back flip category is: Andrea Horwath. H/t Theo Moudakis Recommend this Post
An Assault On The Olfactory Cells
To paraphrase a character from the play Hamlet, something is rotten in the state of Ontario. And one needn’t be a master detective to trace its source. Indeed, it is…
Putting The Fox In Charge Of The Henhouse
…. is the metaphor NDP environment critic Sandy Shaw uses to describe Doug Ford’s appointment of Norm Sterling to head the Greenbelt Council in Ontario. Sterling, whose reputation as environment…
Ineptitude Writ Large
H/t Patrick Corrigan Sometimes I feel embarrassed to be living in a province as benighted as Ontario. But then I realize that it is neither me nor my fellow citizens…
On Magical Thinking And Misdirection
I don’t feel particularly inspired to write these days, but I am always on the lookout for aptly expressed sentiments by others. In the print edition of today’s Toronto Star,…
Crisis Deferred, Not Ended
I recently wrote about a plan to bulldoze the Duffins Creek wetlands to make way for an Amazon distribution centre. Facilitated by an MZO (Ministerial Zoning Order), a heavy-handed tool…
The Developers’ Friend
Wetlands, or marshes, fens, bogs, and swamps, are the link between land and water. Wetlands include trees, grasses, shrubs, moss, and other plants that require at least some water coverage.…
Political New Year’s fireworks go off as Alberta learns Tracy Allard, minister responsible for vaccine rollout, is just back from Hawaiian vacation
Happy New Year, Alberta! And welcome to the first United Conservative Party Government scandal of 2021: Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard has been caught vacationing in Hawaii, mid-pandemic. Lethbridge-East MLA…
Social media abuzz with reports of UCP staffers, MLA vacationing abroad despite pandemic travel warnings
Social media is abuzz with reports of United Conservative Party staffers and at least one UCP MLA enjoying vacations abroad notwithstanding the federal government’s pleas for Canadians to cancel all…
Ontario Liberal Party Leadership Delegates Selection Weekend
This is the weekend where OLP members are voting for delegates to help choose the next Ontario Liberal Party leader. This is what the leadership campaigns were doing the membership…
Former Speaker Bob Wanner’s portrait, unveiled yesterday, adds a 21st Century touch to a gloomy 19th Century collection
It’s not just Alberta’s premiers who get their portraits hung in the dingy halls of the provincial Legislature Building in Edmonton, but the Assembly’s Speakers too. Let it be said…
Things Fall Apart
The idea of entropy comes from a principle of thermodynamics dealing with energy. It usually refers to the idea that everything in the universe eventually moves from order to disorder,…
Looking Toward Liberation
I have regular telephone conversations with my friend Dave, who lives in Winnipeg. Like me, he has a very jaundiced view of those elected to ‘serve’ us, and part of…