Comments from two vastly different commentators on “conservatives” and “liberals” in the USA shed light on why President Obama is so cautious about the emerging health care bill in Washington (and, with some far northern twists, maybe on the strange Canadian dance of Conservatives and Liberals in Ottawa today as well). First is progressive journalist […]
The second volume of John English’s biography of Pierre Trudeau – Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau 1968—2000– hits the bookstores today. All of us who enjoyed the first volume – Citizen of the World: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau 1919—1968 – will want to read the new book, which deals […]
On Thursday, October 22 Ontario finance minister Dwight Duncan officially informed the provincial legislature that Canada’s most populous province will be running a deficit of some $24.7 billion for the current 2009-2010 fiscal year. It has been noted that “while high by historic standards” this provincial Liberal number “is roughly proportional to Conservative Ottawa’s $55 […]
The news that the Ontario provincial government will now be running a deficit of some $24.7 billion for the current 2009-2010 fiscal year has induced much hyperbolic, knee-jerk hand-wringing among certain observers, who rely more on ideology than on the tedious task of reading the actual public documents, with all their mind-numbing numbers and hard-to-digest […]
[UPDATED OCTOBER 22]. Yesterday Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff told reporters that “we won’t support the government but, at the same time, we won’t try to defeat the government each time” the opportunity arises either. Or, the “Liberals will have at least three more opposition days before Christmas but … they won’t use those days to […]
Manitoba New Democratic Party leadership conventions are not always as poignant as the one that took up the better part of a Saturday afternoon on CBC Newsworld yesterday. But in this case Canada’s alleged social democratic party was also choosing a provincial premier – to replace the retiring Gary Doer, who is going to Washington […]
[UPDATED OCTOBER 22]. Charles and Camilla will arrive in Canada just two weeks this coming Monday. Even if you don’t think the British monarchy has any long future in 21st century Canada (and I share this opinion myself with what recent opinion polls report as a growing majority of Canadians), the visit of the Prince […]
One of the more intriguing sidebars to current Canadian federal politics is the relationship between Conservative minority Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Governor General Michaelle Jean, who was (rather brilliantly, some say) appointed by Liberal minority Prime Minister Paul Martin, not too long before he was turfed from office, by a gang of conservatives, socialists, […]
Just last week, on October 5, 2009, the Governor General of Canada, Michaelle Jean, gave a speech to a United Nations cultural group in Paris, in which she called herself – and not just once but twice – the Canadian “head of state.” This soon enough brought a surge of protest from the diminishing forces […]
Inevitably, the opposition parties at Queen’s Park are salivating over the auditor general’s special report on “Ontario’s Electronic Health Records Initiative,” released yesterday. And the report has already prompted the resignation of health minister David Caplan, and a slight cabinet shuffle. Yet initial reactions from opposition politicians do little to suggest that they seriously understand […]
