As the end of the first month of 2013 looms, in the middle of yet another vaguely puzzling Canadian winter, a few less than crucial events have raised the oh-so-boring question of “Quebec independence” yet again. (Last night’s TV news videos of a flooded Sherbrooke Street in Montreal were more interesting than the NDP’s Sherbrooke […]

TORONTO. COLLEGE PARK FOOD COURT. SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013. 9:00 PM ET.  So it is now official – and the “pleasant surprise” vainly hoped for on this site just two days ago has come to pass. Kathleen Wynne is the new leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. Very soon she will also officially become not […]

Without actually wanting to add to my colleague Frank Bunting’s recent over-effusive references to the work of Thomas Walkom at the Toronto Star, I have been drawn in spite of myself to yesterday’s further ruminations by the same authority,”Do Canada’s, or Ontario’s, Liberals matter any more: Thomas Walkom.” At least on the surface of things, […]

TORONTO, CANADA.  TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013.  According to mastermind Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), the official theme for President Barack Obama’s second inauguration yesterday was “faith in America’s future.” As elaborated on National Public Radio’s live blog: “Schumer says that ‘America always rises to the occasion. America prevails and America prospers,’ no matter the challenges.” No […]

It is now less than  10 days until the Ontario Liberal leadership convention opens at the old/new Maple Leaf Gardens in the provincial capital city. According to one observer : “Unfortunately, the race has been incredibly dull in terms of candidates and substance, and the party is unlikely to see any spike in the polls […]

Still strangely enthralled by legendary Tory oligarchs of the 19th century, the mainstream media usually tries hard not to notice. But there is nonetheless an ardently gurgling Canadian republican activism even in various anglophone parts of the country in the early 21st century. This activism has a number of reasons for wanting to retire the […]

I have just compiled a list of more than two dozen news articles from the past several days – all meant to enlighten me (as I see things, at any rate) about just what may or may not happen in the year 2013 that lies ahead. My particular perspective, I should confess, is that of […]

One of the many intriguing things about the year which has just ended is that it marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Marilyn Monroe, in the Brentwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles (more or less due north of Santa Monica), on August 5, 1962. Adding somewhat to this intrigue, in the no-man’s-land days between […]