The theory that consultants of any description will always at least try to give their clients what they want is nicely stiffened by a new “Harris-Decima survey for the [unabashedly right-wing] Manning Centre” (named after Preston and his father, etc, etc). This work of applied social science “conducted through phone interviews with 1,000 adult Canadians [...]

You of course hear nothing about Canadian politics via the ordinary media in Florida, where I spent the counterweights late January prorogue. And I didn’t take a laptop computer with me. On the theory that a week is a long time in politics, one of my first tasks on returning to the northern deep freeze [...]

I don’t usually admire the Conservative guru Tim Powers. But his January 2 note of caution on recent Canadian federal election speculation — from no less than John Ibbitson, Don Newman, and Norman Spector — seems at least somewhat wise. (Even if he left Jim Travers off his list, probably because Travers published on January [...]

This past Friday, December 11, 2009 the British Columbia government and the Haida First Nation signed a “broad-reaching land use and economic development agreement that included officially renaming the Queen Charlotte Islands with the traditional native name Haida Gwaii.”
The deal will strengthen the Haida First Nation in the regional economy of Canada’s Pacific Coast. And [...]

It seems that the great Tiger Woods is just getting in deeper and deeper. See, e.g., today’s Vancouver Sun: “Tiger Woods voicemail to alleged TV girlfriend released, third woman named as Tiger apologizes.”  Or the Yahoo Canada site: “Golfer who introduced Elin to Tiger tees off on Woods.”
To save his reputation someone is going to [...]

So Stephane Dion’s wife, Janine Krieber, posted a “scathing message attacking Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff” on facebook this past Saturday. Shopping for groceries the same day, a little further west, I bumped into a similar scathing message face to face, urging that Iggy should resign, to make way for Ralph Goodale as head of the [...]

The prize-winning economist Paul Krugman recently wrote: “Every once in a while I feel despair over the fate of the planet.” Earlier this year he also wrote about his “Financial Policy Despair.”
One of the arguably good things about Canada has been that nothing quite important enough to despair over ever quite happens here. But two [...]

Comments from two vastly different commentators on “conservatives” and “liberals” in the USA shed light on why President Obama is so cautious about the emerging health care bill in Washington (and, with some far northern twists, maybe on the strange Canadian dance of Conservatives and Liberals in Ottawa today as well).
First is progressive journalist E.J. [...]

[UPDATED OCTOBER 22]. Yesterday Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff told reporters that “we won’t support the government but, at the same time, we won’t try to defeat the government each time” the opportunity arises either. Or, the “Liberals will have at least three more opposition days before Christmas but … they won’t use those days to [...]

BRITANNIA VILLAGE, ONTARIO. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2009. According to some imperfect plan apparently devised some months ago now, this was supposed to be the week when the Ignatieff Liberals led the majority opposition parties of the 40th Parliament of Canada in bringing down the Harper Conservative government.
Instead: “The House of Commons voted 144-117 on Thursday [...]