Should councillors abstain from voting?
In an earlier post, I wrote that Collingwood’s Integrity Commissioner, Robert Swayze, proposed two changes to the town’s Procedural Bylaw: amending section 13.7 and deleting section 13.8. Last post I…
Provincial Politics
The branding of Premier Wynne: Loser.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has a problem with Ontario voters. They have taken her measure. She has been found wanting. It is not her politics. It is not her demeanour.…
Legal Versus “Personal” Conflicts of Interest
In May, 2013, I wrote my thoughts about Ontario’s Municipal Conflict of Interest Act and the effect it had on the governance and procedural behaviour of municipal councillors. Back then,…
Quebec Premier Marois bobbles bigotry.
Quebec Premier Pauline Marois appears to want to have a provincial election based on the bigotry of her charter of values. She sees it as creating conditions for separatism from…
And the best of luck in Thornhill.
Today, February 13 is hard lesson day for Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. Despite the reasonably good turnout at advance polls, there is no rationale for neophyte Premier Wynne to anticipate…
Ontario’s Beer Store fights back.
There was a robocall from The Beer Store the other day. The cheap bastards would not spend a nickel to call in person. They sent a recording to do a…
No support here for Royal Victoria Hospital.
They must be Babel’s most successful thieves. They are the parking meters and parking lot gate machines at our local hospital. The amount hospital visitors have to pay to park…
In Ontario, if it is worth doing, do half.
Premier Kathleen Wynne and her government have a unique approach to solving Ontario problems. If and when enough of the right people have told them that something needs to be…
The might, the right and the fight.
Back in the 1800s when Oliver Mowat was Premier of Ontario, he had his best fights not with his provincial opponents but with the federal government. His skill as a…
By-elections that matter to the news media.
It is all part of the game with the news media. It is their opportunity to interfere in events. When it comes to reporting on politics, the news media and…
Québéc’s PQ feeds on bigotry.
The Québéc government’s Charter of Values proposal is earning the province ridicule. Premier Pauline Marois and her Parti Québécois government think it will make francophones in the province hunker down…
Ontario needs a dose of reality.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has committed. She has called for pointless by-elections in the electoral districts of Thornhill and Niagara Falls in February. It is a waste of time, money…
The Tory’s Hudak is now an illusionist.
Ontario Opposition Leader Timmy Hudak has a new career in mind. He wants to be a carnival illusionist. In an op-ed opinion page article yesterday in the Toronto Star, he…
Why are Lac-Mégantic murderers at large?
Is Canada some third world country where people can break the law and nobody seems to notice? Can a business knowingly break the law and kill Canadian citizens? When a…
What’s a true Tory to do?
A surprising number of Conservatives read this blog. And sometimes it upsets them. Talking to one of these upset people this morning, he admitted that he had run out of…
Why Horwath has Wynne’s Whigs worried.
It has not been a well kept secret. The Queen’s Park Whigs are worried. They cannot seem to understand why Ontario voters like New Democrat Andrea Horwath more than the…
Selling the LCBO: A primer for MPPs.
This is not ideological. It has nothing to do with right or left wing politics. Selling the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to private citizens has nothing whatsoever to do…
Some political thoughts on 2014
You don’t need a crystal ball to guess, That 2014’s gonna be a political mess. Those city, province, federal hopefuls, Will make promises by the bucketfuls. Years of campaigns don’t…
Should auld acquaintances be forgot?
This is a look at political baggage Canadians are dragging into the New Year. And none is more fascinating than Nigel Wright. The former chief of staff to the prime…
Pension poaching on federal preserves.
That is an interesting strategy. We are supposed to ignore the blunders of the last ten years. Ontario Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne is going to run for re-election as premier…