It is not easy to know just what to make of the Canadian Office of Religious Freedom, whose establishment  Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced this past Tuesday. Officially, we are just told that it is an organization “within the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, which will be dedicated to promoting freedom of religion […]

[UPDATED FEBRUARY 22]. (1) Here are some quick notes on the first (and some would say last?) throne speech of Kathleen Wynne’s new Liberal minority government in Ontario yesterday. They also serve as an update to “Ontario ‘three-party system in transition’ is back .. but can Premier Kathleen do it, at last?,” which appeared on […]

In the early 1970s John Wilson and David Hoffman wrote : “The strength of the Conservative party in modern times makes it difficult to believe that Ontario was once ‘by large odds a Reform and not a Conservative Province.’ In fact, however, the Liberals were the leading political group in the province for the better […]

[UPDATED FEBRUARY 14, 16]. According to a Canadian Press report by the estimable Joan Bryden yesterday, Justin Trudeau has now come out as an opponent of any major democratic reform of the unreformed Senate of Canada. (The CP report appeared in at least two places on the net : ”Forget Senate reform and just appoint […]

GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY8, 2013. 3 PM ET. I have now shovelled twice, and it’s still coming down. I hope the forecast that it will end early this evening is right. But even if it is, I’m guessing I‘ll be out shovelling probably two more times, at least. I can in any case appreciate the […]

A few nights ago I caught up with the second latest episode of “Downton Abbey” (ie season 3, episode 4), as received here in the wilds of North America (and stored on the “Recordings” section of our current Bell Fibe cable TV service, here in the particular deep wilderness of Southern Ontario, Canada!). I was […]

[UPDATED FEBRUARY 2]. Unlike many of its other actions, the Harper government’s longstanding plans for what used to be known as step-by-step reform of the unreformed Senate of Canada have been broadly supported on this site since their beginnings, many, many moons ago. (For just a few recent cases in point, see “Three strikes and […]