The vital last words on the McGuinty government’s new “Open Ontario” throne speech won’t be heard until the provincial budget a few weeks hence.
Some think Premier Dalton just “wants to change the channel … to forget eHealth and the HST.” Others believe that while “his path converged with Harper’s during tough times, [the] Ontario Premier’s [...]

OTTAWA. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2010. [UPDATED MARCH 4]. The Canadian federal parliament is back in the business of democracy, after its controversial prorogation late last year. There will be a throne speech from the Harper minority government, read by Governor General Jean in the Senate Chamber, at 2 PM today, and then a federal budget [...]

In the midst of all the deep excitement about the Vancouver Olympics 2010, who cares about the fate of some obscure arrangements for dealing with an obscure branch of the global financial crisis of fall 2008, in the upcoming March 6, 2010 referendum in the very small if also rather ancient northern nation of Iceland?
For [...]

GANATSEKWYAGON, ONTARIO. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2010. Today — the third Monday in February — is a statutory holiday in five Canadian provinces. It’s called Family Day in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario; Islanders Day in Prince Edward Island; and Louis Riel Day in Manitoba.
Louis Riel, in case you’ve forgotten, was a Canadian  Métis (ie mixed race) [...]

So … it could be that minority Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s late winter 2010 Con game is working at last. The death of the Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was tragic. And the failure of the fourth indoor torch arm to rise was vaguely unfortunate. But otherwise the official opening of the Vancouver Winter Olympics was [...]

For those who may actually be interested, our resident Ontario historian Randall White has now unburdened himself on the Toronto Centre by-election in Ontario politics last week. He also offers some hard and soft information on the March 4 Ontario provincial by-elections, in Leeds-Grenville and Ottawa West-Nepean. CLICK HERE for the complete article, or see [...]

More than 60 years ago Harold Innis, the almost-great Canadian historian (or economist, or economic historian, or communications theorist who inspired Marshall McLuhan, etc, etc), lamented the “futility of political discussion in Canada.” And it is sobering to think that in this respect at least not much has changed since the late 1940s.
Take, for instance, [...]

As a sign of sympathy with the No Prorogue protests right across Canada yesterday the management has decided  to prorogue counterweights for one full week. We will return on Monday, February 1, 2010.

“The Conservatives,” John Ivison at the National Post wrote this past Friday, “think an election is probably at least a year away and are trusting in the public’s political amnesia … They believe the only question that will matter by then is: Who do you trust to lead the country through a period of fiscal [...]

Dr. Randall White’s deep-background (and apparently appallingly detailed and lengthy) investigation of the current great Canadian prorogation debate is now said to be almost complete. It will be posted without fail at some point this coming weekend — probably just before midnight, Sunday, January 17.
Meanwhile, others among us are starting to wonder whether the somewhat [...]