FEBRUARY 28, 2012. Today marks the 60th anniversary of the swearing-in of Vincent Massey as “the first Canadian” Governor General of Canada. (“Until 1952, Governors General were British. The 1952 installation of Vincent Massey, the first Canadian to hold the office, reflected Canada’s new sense of autonomy and identity in the post-war era.”) In our […]

Sunday, February 26, 2010, at the edge of a great lake in the northern North American wilderness. Waiting for Oscar, looking in on the NDP federal leadership debate in Winnipeg (thank you CPAC) … and, despite my better judgment, finally starting to wonder about the May 2, 2011 robocalls election scandal (or whatever it is) […]

[UPDATED FEBRUARY 24, FEBRUARY 27]. Just under a month ago now, the counterweights editors blogged on “The gathering storm down under .. how much longer can Australia’s Labor government last?” This piece noted “a growing uneasiness about [current Australian Prime Minister] Julia Gillard as Labor government leader. Her regime has been polling below its Liberal/National […]

[UPDATED FEBRUARY 23]. It is now a mere 30 days to the big New Democratic Party of Canada leadership vote, on March 24, 2012 – at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building, 222 Bremner Blvd. (Not the nicest address in Canada’s most hated city, but close to the lake in case a need arises […]

As best as I can make out, this is the fourth installment in a series of pleas on this website, written on or about the third Monday in February. Like its predecessors it argues that Manitoba’s inspired moniker for this (in some provinces) newish Canadian public holiday of sorts – Louis Riel Day – should […]

[UPDATED FEBRUARY 18]. If you just feel confused by both the report of Don Drummond’s “Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services … PUBLIC SERVICES FOR ONTARIANS: A PATH TO SUSTAINABILITY AND EXCELLENCE,” and the immediate reaction from assorted business, labour, media, and political powers that be, join the club. Robert Benzie, Queen’s Park […]

Stephen Harper’s new passion for restoring the British monarchy to the kind of position it enjoyed in Canada before the Second World War may be impressing a few people in other parts of the global village today. But others who watch Canadian current events remain unconvinced. On Saturday, February 4, 2012, eg, Greg Barns and […]

The first big wave of data from the 2011 Census of Canada was released yesterday – on “Population and dwelling counts.” And it didn’t take long for what the lovely Sarah Palin used to call the lame-stream media to pounce on the alleged big story. As just a modest introductory sample, see, eg: “Ontario cedes […]

[UPDATED FEBRUARY 8, 11, 2012]. If M.I.A. (aka Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam) gave TV viewers of the 2012 Super Bowl half-time show “that already famous middle finger” in order to spread her name and fame to a much wider audience that includes vaguely out-of-it anglophone white males over 65 years old, I am pleased to report […]

As we note in our latest update of our “Streetcar Named Rob Ford” feature, the Toronto Star resident urbanologist  Christopher Hume recently declared that :  “Just a year into his term, three left to go, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is a spent force.” We think ourselves that this is something of an exaggeration – though […]