Archive for July 2009

Two new polls on Canadian politics say .. no wonder John A. Macdonald was an alcoholic?

Jul 31st, 2009 | By | Category: In Brief

Two opinion polls made public on July 30 just point to continuing gridlock in Canadian federal politics: “A survey by Angus Reid Strategies for the Toronto Star shows the federal Liberals with 34 per cent support and the Conservatives with 33 per cent — a statistical dead heat … The NDP was at 16 per […]



Health care statistics tell real story : Canada and the United States

Jul 27th, 2009 | By | Category: In Brief

As the Canadian newspapers report, “the Canadian health-care system is coming under increased scrutiny south of the border,” as President Barack Obama and the US Congress struggle to “reform the US system.” A recent letter to the editor of the suburban Chicago Daily Herald, from a US resident, does a nice job of summarizing what […]



No great expectations for EI working group in Ottawa

Jul 23rd, 2009 | By | Category: In Brief

OTTAWA. The still mysterious Employment Insurance Working Group is apparently meeting for the first time this afternoon. The rain is setting the right kind of  mood. You may or may not recall that this group was hastily nailed together last month to avoid a Canadian federal election this summer. If it comes up with some […]



Ontario Bandido biker murders trial moves into high gear

Jul 22nd, 2009 | By | Category: In Brief

It is now more than three years and three months since we first reported on what is still being described as “the largest mass murder in Ontario history.” It involved the assassination of eight Bandidos biker gang members and associates from the Toronto region, on a farm in the same old agrarian democratic heartland of […]



Why does Hawaii still have a Union Jack in its flag, just like Ontario and BC?

Jul 20th, 2009 | By | Category: In Brief

The Japanese official summary is just called “Statement by the Chief Cabinet Secretary on the Visit to Canada and the United States of America by Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan.” But in Canada their majesties visited the capital city of Ottawa July 3 to part of July 8. Then they were in […]



Alona Bay memories of the 1960s on Lake Superior Day 2009

Jul 19th, 2009 | By | Category: In Brief

According to Ontario politics columnist Jim Coyle, in the Toronto Star this past Monday, today is (more or less officially, it seems) Lake Superior Day. (“A few months back … Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike Brown won unanimous support in the Legislature for his resolution to establish the third Sunday in July …  as Lake Superior Day.”) […]



Guess who else is happy Sarah Palin is quitting?

Jul 16th, 2009 | By | Category: In Brief

No one will be too surprised to hear that among the American people who are pleased  Sarah Palin will soon be resigning as Governor of Alaska are many Alaskan Native Americans (or aboriginal peoples, as we officially say in Canada’s Constitution Act 1982). Take, e.g., Myron Naneng, “president of the Association of Village Council Presidents, […]



Yes, Virginia, passports at the border pick everyone’s pockets .. and don’t catch any more terrorists either

Jul 16th, 2009 | By | Category: In Brief

Just in case you had any doubts, two current events in the USA today confirm that the increasingly “tighter border” between the United States and Canada, in vain pursuit of US anti-terrorism policy over the past eight years, “hurts [the] economy” on both sides of the line. To start with, about “500 officials, experts and […]



Look who’s supporting Senate reform in Canada now!

Jul 14th, 2009 | By | Category: In Brief

Those who still think nothing serious in Canada is ever going to change should take a second look at the editorial on Senate reform in the July 13, 2009 edition of the Toronto Globe and Mail. Hardly anyone reads editorials. (Or anything having anything to do with Senate reform in Canada.) But it still says […]



North American deep integration .. just another conspiracy theory?

Jul 12th, 2009 | By | Category: In Brief

It’s hard to know just what to make of the sometimes intense concern about “the fifth annual summit of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, now operating under the title of the North American Leaders’ Summit, scheduled on the [US] State Department calendar to occur in Mexico,” this coming August 8—11. Critics of […]