I am afraid I must dissent from the ever-rising hallelujah chorus of adulation being orchestrated by and for the chief justice of Canada, Beverley McLachlin. I admired her lower court rulings in favour of free speech, and in the only case she helped adjudicate in which I was involved, sheContinue Reading
Not the most exciting week in Canadian politics. You know that as soon as you see how much space was taken up in the news over who would attend what leader’s debate. It was interesting to know that Justin Trudeau is already practicing for the October leadership debates. Now whatContinue Reading
Quick comments on some of the events and issues of the past week Polling numbers are getting interesting as a three way race is developing. It is always good for democracy when the public is engaged. The question now becomes where will the anti-Harper vote go? With three opposition partiesContinue Reading
Justin Trudeau has received a fair amount of coverage for his “new” idea to tax the rich and give the middle class a tax break while using the new tax money to help balance the budget. However, one must keep in mind that in modern politics nothing much is new,Continue Reading
Re: Federal parties start to play their economic cards, Jason Fekete, May 5, 2015 http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/federal-parties-start-to-play-their-economic-cards The conventional wisdom is that whichever party forms government will not have much financial breathing room, especially with the collapse of world oil prices. In fact, while there are ideological and eventual real resource restraints,Continue Reading
CFN – Here in Cornwall Bernadette Clement announced that she will be attempting to be the candidate for MP in the 2015 election. There’s been a lot of chatter, but one question that keeps coming up is whether an Independent candidate could win and whether more should run? As someContinue Reading
CORNWALL Ontario – Bernadette Clement is taking another crack at SD&SG MP Guy Lauzon in the upcoming election. She has to win the nomination, but unless some surprise candidate drops in she should be facing another round. In the last election she fared poorly finishing far behind Lauzon, andContinue Reading
CORNWALL Ontario – My phone started ringing far too early this morning. It was surreal, but I live in surreal times in a surreal community. I first have to shoot down and dispel the rumor. I will categorically not be the NDP candidate for this riding in the upcomingContinue Reading
Political types tend to look at every action that takes place as a win or lose situation. This is especially true in today’s hyper-partisan political environment where each side regards the other parties as the enemy, not just as competitors for the hearts and minds of voters. In this superContinue Reading
CFN – The Harper government took another hit as former MP Eve Adams walked over to the Liberals giving them the riding of Mississauga-Brampton South, and will be running for the party in 2015. Mr. Harper is reeling over he loss of one of his key cabinet ministers John Baird.Continue Reading
CFN – John Baird was one of the Harper government’s most interesting Cabinet ministers. Today he announced that he’s stepping down from his post and will not be running again. There’s wild speculation about what has triggered his decision. Could it be that MP’s that retire before theContinue Reading
CFN – It is distressing to witness the waffling and quibbling in both federal opposition parties over Canada’s contribution to the anti-terrorist effort in the Middle East, and even more depressing to note the failure of the opposition to show any recognition of the nature of the intensifying struggle betweenContinue Reading
CORNWALL Ontario – It was another embarrassing night for the local Federal Liberal riding association under President Jamie Labonte. The lightly employed prez saw his guest speaker for the spaghetti fund raiser not show up and a crowd of less than 30 attended at the Knights of Columbus Hall. Sadly itContinue Reading
CFN – Canadians woke up today to the realization that there were two bye-elections yesterday. You have to wonder how many outside of the Ottawa bubble even gave it a second thought. I will hazard a guess and say that more Canadians were probably talking about the weather than theContinue Reading
CFN – A win is a win. In spite of the Del Mastro and Senate scandals. In spite of a past due date being a buzz phrase, in spite of his political obit being written, in spite of media reports of his stepping down for a new leader, StephenContinue Reading
CFN – It seems that there’s a move a foot to kill the CBC. And it’s coming from within. Hubert Lacroix, the reigning President of our Nation’s broadcaster looks like Gordon Gekko a business guy/bureaucrat brought in to dismantle the CBC one block at a time. He didn’t work his wayContinue Reading
CFN – Stephen Harper always complained about the media being so far on the left and favoring the Liberals; but during his years in office there has been a natural sway; chiefly because of the Benjamins. Media is of course controlled by money. Write or say the wrong thing andContinue Reading
CFN – In “The Art of Fiction” Henry James cites “the very obvious truth that the deepest quality of a work of art will always be the quality of the mind of the producer.” Inasmuch as a country is a work of art—a work in progress, to be sure—its deepest qualityContinue Reading