Even in Toronto the local intelligentsia are moaning: “No Torontonian can look west … without feeling a pang of jealousy. The election of Naheed Nenshi as mayor of Calgary is the most exciting political event of the year. He makes the trio of candidates for mayor of Toronto look like stale remnants of another age.” […]
You may feel that the pope in Rome has no real power to sanctify anyone. And we share that view. But if you harbour any attachment to Canada’s interesting province of Quebec, you may also feel some warmth towards the news that, this past Sunday “Pope Benedict XVI canonized the first male saint born on […]
Toward the end of the first full week of October 2010 (or 10/10: and apparently marriages at the local city hall for this coming Sunday 10/10/10 are way over-booked), Canada seems to be doing somewhat better in the Commonwealth Games. As we write (“Friday, October 08, 2010″ in New Delhi, but still just Thursday, October […]
As the Edmonton Journal aptly explained this past Wednesday: “Whether or not this country remains a monarchy, Canadians appreciate the need for an official, largely ceremonial national figure – the sort Americans lack – who serves as an embodiment of the nation’s best qualities and aspirations, untainted by the daily dross of partisan politics.” In […]
“Well, it’s a long, long time from May to December. But the days grow short when you reach September.” The Canadian House of Commons did not return from its leisurely summer vacation until Monday, September 20 (also the day when “Dancing With the Stars” started its new season in the USA). But even before the […]
[UPDATED JANUARY 26, 2012: scroll to bottom of page]. Canadian political junkies following the still uncertain results of this past Saturday’s Australian federal election are entitled to feelings of amazement at the snowballing complexities of what is going down down under at the moment. In some ways Australia, as a fellow former self-governing dominion of […]
Our very first counterweights article, “John Ibbitson’s next Canada,” appeared on August 19, 2004 – exactly six years ago today. Since then the “next Canada” Mr. Ibbitson was talking about has actually arrived, with the accession of the Stephen Harper minority government in Ottawa, in February 2006. Our own assessment in August 2010 (like that […]
Guess who has just commandeered our new “Ontario tonight” feature (see bar at top of page), and turned what is supposed to be a home for “brief intermittent reports on comings and goings in Canada’s most populous province” into accommodation for yet another extended tirade on Ontario’s “founding Liberal Premier of the later 19th century, […]
Today, August 4, 2010, is Barack Obama’s 49th birthday. It seems to say something about who he is that his wife and daughters are on vacation at the moment. He is travelling to Chicago for fund-raising events tomorrow, and will “spend the night in his Hyde Park home” there. It has been fashionable for some […]
[UPDATED AUGUST 6: SEE BELOW]. Our first thought was just a very short post on “Conrad Black released from jail on $2-million bail.” No more than two sentences say – to underline the point that this news is not important, even in Canada where Mr. Black was born. But part of the trouble with Conrad […]
