McGuinty says no coalition (again) .. counterweights offices closed for autumn retreat, October 8—18, 2011

Oct 7th, 2011 | By | Category: In Brief

The last seven posts on this blog – on the October 6 Ontario election, in which Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals have now won a so-called “major minority” – have all been written by the same individual (and he is very individual). So why, you might well ask, are the rest of the counterweights editors, and other contributing staff, tired too? Why does everyone need to go on a 10-day retreat in an alleged foreign country?

Family cottage in Pacific Grove, California, where John Steinbeck lived in first half of 1930s, as he struggled to make a name as a writer.

There are as many answers to this question as there are counterweights editors – or even more. And it would be tedious to dwell on any of them. Meanwhile, if you are still thirsting for more on Canada’s most populous province, see: “Confident in ‘major minority,’ McGuinty rules out coalition” and “No deals in minority, McGuinty vows.”Â  And as a beginning to what, we very much agree, needs to be an extended deep debate: “Ontarians should not be surprised at record low voter turnout in provincial election.”

May 1, 2010 Pancake breakfast at Firestation 63, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Venice, California. (And guess who we think the lady on the right is?) Our thanks to Venice Paparazzi.

Meanwhile again, we have been encouraged by various recent developments – including this one in a place that bears some relation to some holiday destinations of some counterweights editors and staff: “Los Angeles firefighters won’t be disciplined for allowing use of fire trucks in porn movies … One incident involved Firehouse 63 in Venice. The fire truck was used for a film starring adult actress Charley Chase …” (This, we think, is the kind of thing that keeps democracy in America alive and well.)

On other fronts, we’ve recently been struck by, eg: “George Soros likens troubles in US, Europe to Soviet collapse” ; “Is it time to just shut down the US Army Corps of Engineers?” ; “Warren Buffett defends his proposal to tax ‘super-rich’” ; and “Canada and the US reach $1 billion perimeter security deal.”

Approaching Sausalito by sailboat, on San Francisco Bay.

On this last issue – the alleged new Canada-US security deal (or as it is no doubt known down south the alleged US-Canada security deal) – we’ve been especially encouraged by such reports as: “‘It’s very incremental … not big and visionary,’ said a source with detailed knowledge … The deal is not expected to include full-scale harmonization of immigration and refugee policies … ‘I don’t think it’s going to be a big agreement,’ said Jayson Myers, president of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters. ‘What they are looking at is an action plan on a number of priority items’ … ‘The Americans are distracted by deep economic problems at the moment – a crisis that will thwart serious efforts at continental integration,’ said Daniel Drache, a political science professor at York University in Toronto … ‘I think it will be quite modest …’”

Finally, as an example of why we will keep coming back to Canada, Canada, Canada – no matter how far elsewhere we may roam, see this excellent piece from a few days ago, by the excellent Globe and Mail “National Reporter,” Tu Thanh Ha (or Thanh Ha Tu): “Pardon my F-bomb: Quebec’s political curses get lost in translation.”Â  (And our very best wishes to everyone, everywhere, who may somehow come across this posting, by mistake or accident or otherwise –  over the next 10 days, that probably will not exactly shake the world, but …)

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