TORONTO. Friday, July 15. 4:00 PM. It is very hot in this part of the world these days. News about politics and the big picture comes as so many short summer breezes. For avid fans of the almost prime-time soap opera in Canadian federal politics, the July 9 death of Chuck Cadman, independent MP from Surrey North in […]
OTTAWA. Tuesday, June 28, 2005. 11:30 PM. So third and final reading on the Bill C-38 gay marriage legislation has now passed in the Parliament of Canada, by a 158-133 vote. As CTV News has put it: “After the same-sex vote was put to bed, the House immediately adjourned for the summer, thus ending one of […]
OTTAWA. Wednesday, June 15, 2005. 2:00 AM. Paul Martin’s Liberal minority government has now survived “16 confidence votes” in a marathon late-night parliamentary session Tuesday. You might almost think the MPs were trying to show how they sometimes do have to work very late. But they were also just rushing to finish up for the summer holidays. There […]
The members of the 38th Parliament of Canada have returned to Ottawa “for what is scheduled to be the final four weeks of the spring session.” And the “Conservatives say they will attempt to block the government’s two budget bills from being passed before the House of Commons summer recess.” Conservative leader Stephen Harper has indicated […]
Now that Canadians do not have to rush into another federal election right away, the national commentariat has time for assorted post-mortems on the recent events in Ottawa. As Terry Weber of the Globe and Mail has reported, the ultimate razor-thin survival of Paul Martin’s Liberal minority government on Thursday, May 19, by a final parliamentary […]
SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2005. 5 AM. According to CTV News, all four Canadian parties “have now agreed to sit down and meet to discuss a fair strategy for dealing with some of the MPs who are sick and unable to attend the vote,’ NDP Leader Jack Layton said Friday evening.” Jack Layton’s comments have apparently been […]
VANCOUVER. Monday, May 2, 2005. Nothing brings fevered speculation about Canadian federal politics back down to earth quite as nicely as the Vancouver Sun‘s recent poll of Chuck Cadman’s Surrey North riding. Mr. Cadman is one of the two as yet uncommitted federal MPs whose vote in parliament could determine whether Canadians have a fresh election in the […]
TORONTO. Sunday, April 24, 2005. It would be nice to think the simplest truth is just that Canadian politics has suddenly entered one of its intermittent actually interesting phases. And the democratic electorate is responding by actually getting interested. Yet readings from deep downtown in Canada’s largest big city over the April 23-24 weekend also suggest that all […]
Even if you remain sceptical about just how much good a fresh Canadian federal election can do, it’s hard not to be duly impressed by the latest numbers on the impact of the most recent Gomery testimony. A dramatic new EKOS poll commissioned by the Toronto Star has even raised some dim prospect that Stephen Harper’s Conservatives might win a […]
As still further evidence that extending the vote to women was a sound idea, the ladies’ home website handbag.com has compiled a tidy collection of “Bush Bloopers” – engaging examples of the mangled wit and folk wisdom of President George W. Bush.I have taken the liberty of selecting the fourteen bloopers I like best myself, on […]
