I am never sure myself just who figures these things out, and/or exactly how they do it. But according to three different mainstream media reports: “Provincial leaders debate topped TV ratings in Ontario” ; “Ontario leaders debate …  most-watched program of the evening” ; and “1.45 Million Viewers Watch Televised Ontario Election Debate.” To a […]

Probably the fairest thing that can be said about last night’s Ontario election debate on TV is that supporters of all three major parties represented can take some comfort from the performance of their leader.  (See, eg : “Hard hitting exchanges – but no knockout in Ontario leaders’ debate.”) Beyond this, it is intriguing to […]

With debates last night (French – well sort of, at any rate) and tonight (English), and the actual vote now a mere nine days away, you might think the outcome of the October 6 Ontario provincial election is a little clearer than it used to be. And you would be at least partly right. As […]

It is not entirely clear that Europe ought to get most of the blame for the latest bout of international financial neurosis – all too reflected in such other places as the Toronto Stock Exchange this past week. But the once mighty continent is certainly playing that role in the eyes of the concerned global […]

Way back in the late 19th century Oliver Mowat, the Ontario Liberal premier who still holds the  local record for longevity in office (some 24 consecutive years, 1872—1896), declared in a statement to a Knights of Labour branch in his home riding : “I am glad to believe that there is little antagonism between the […]

One of the things keeping democracy in Canada alive – in the face of recurrent improbable odds, in Ottawa and elsewhere – has been a steady supply of very good people who watch over and write on the Canadian political scene (in all its vast diversity and both official languages). A historical list could go […]

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2011. The Canadian House of Commons returns to work today, after its usual long summer vacation (once an essential break for family farmers, for whom summer was the crucial busy season). According to the lovely Jennifer Ditchburn at The Canadian Press, after “tributes to late NDP leader Jack Layton” are paid in […]

A little too unhappily, this week began with reports from our Canadian banks on slower growth prospects for the domestic economy. See, eg, on Monday, September 12: “Canada’s growth to slow, RBC says” ; and then, just one day later: “Canada could be 1st into recession, bank warns.” At the bottom of these prognostications were […]

Before non-Tory partisans get too excited about such headlines as “Ontario voters trending to McGuinty, poll suggests” (Globe and Mail) or “Liberals inch ahead of Tories in two new polls” (Toronto Star), they might want to at least consider “Tories leading the pack: Poll” (surprise, surprise – in the Toronto Sun). The poll in the […]

“Can Lloyd George Do It?” is the title of a 1929 tract by John Maynard Keynes and Hubert Douglas Henderson on the economic policy of the fading British Liberal Party of the day. (As the Duke University economist E. Roy Weintraub put it a few years ago, in commenting on a New York Times column […]