Archive for July 2015

Two-thirds of Canadians want change in Ottawa .. but it’s not going to be so easy to change Stephen Harper

Jul 30th, 2015 | By | Category: In Brief

Those of us who have been wondering just what exotic political toy Stephen Harper would be pulling from his now well-worn bag of inside Ottawa tricks next can stop wondering. He has produced the device in question and – whatever it is, exactly – it has apparently worked. (So far, at any rate. There are […]



Defence minister’s grandmother leaves PM Harper ironic campaign theme song

Jul 19th, 2015 | By | Category: In Brief

The truth seems so easy to forget. Maybe because it so often reminds us of unpleasant facts? Or at least facts we would just as soon not remember? So we counterweights editors here have been wondering. Why, in the middle of July 2015,  is the Citizen X posting for January 31, 2015 still dragging in […]



More joy in heaven for Heather Mallick’s change of heart on the British monarchy in Canada .. but ..

Jul 16th, 2015 | By | Category: Canadian Republic

Up here in the northern woods, watching the Canadian sunset over the lake in July, I am starting to think that Andrew Coyne was on to something last month. He told us  there “has never been an election campaign like the one on which we are now embarked. There’s a weird fin-de-siècle glow in the […]



Is there a case for Grace of Monaco as what George Orwell might have called a good bad movie ??

Jul 12th, 2015 | By | Category: Countries of the World

A few days ago my TV viewing partner and I caught up with the more or less new Grace of Monaco movie (aka Princess Grace on some listings), which in our part of the world apparently debuted on cable at the end of May this year. It’s directed by Olivier Dahan (from France) with a […]



Happy Canada Day 2015 .. when there’s “a weird fin-de-siècle glow in the air, a sense of things coming unstuck .. ”

Jul 1st, 2015 | By | Category: In Brief

One thing we’ve done to celebrate Canada Day 2015 is post C.M.W. Marcel’s long awaited report on the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s visit to what is now Ontario in the summer of 1615.  ( See “Huronia/Wendake 2015” above and/or CLICK HERE.) Meanwhile, Happy Canada Day 2015 – a year when there “has never […]