RANDALL WHITE. FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2026. Among many other things, the 180 forest fires currently burning in (mostly Northern) Ontario — see eg “Ontario firefighters battling record wildfires … Ford government says it has increased resources” — bring a largely still evaded big difference between “Near Northern” and “Far Northern” Ontario into […]

RANDALL WHITE, NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK, TORONTO. FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2/026. One of my approaches to coping with the extreme summer heat and wildfire smoke we are currently assailed by in Toronto (along with many adjacent places in both Canada and the US) has been to sit in my most air-conditioned room, and read the latest […]

RANDALL WHITE. FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. SATURDAY, July 11, 2026. The already hazy early summer probably is a good time for Prime Minister Carney (acting as principal advisor to the Governor General, in strictest 1867 written constitutional terms) to make his first four appointments to the still unreformed Senate of Canada. Appointees include two new representatives […]

RANDALL WHITE, TORONTO. FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2026. Here’s to a belated Happy Canada Day 2026 this past Wednesday, July 1 — the 159th anniversary of the Canadian confederation of 1867 (which gave the old Canada or New France, almost certainly named after an Iroquoian word more or less like Kanata, its most recent modern lease […]

RANDALL WHITE, NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK, TORONTO. FRIDAY, JUNE 26,026. One so far surviving feature of Democracy in America even under Donald Trump II is frequent elections. On the way to the big November 3 federal midterms, this past Tuesday, June 23 offered primary elections (within political parties) in four states : Maryland, South Carolina, Utah, […]

RANDALL WHITE, NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK, TORONTO. THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2026. Today marks the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. In the middle of so much so wrong about the USA today, the event reminds us that some sides of the American past, present, and future still look “close enough for jazz.” Every […]

RANDALL WHITE, NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK, TORONTO. FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2026. It seems likely enough that Doug Ford, Premier of Canada’ most populous province of Ontario , is not too popular with US President Donald Trump these days. See eg : “U.S. Chamber of Commerce event with Doug Ford cancelled after White House complaints, sources say” […]

RANDALL WHITE, TORONTO. FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 2026. Two recent polls suggest this coming fall’s Alberta separatist referendum is not at all likely to lead to any actual separation from the rest of Canada. Ipsos, in the field May 28–June 1, 2026, found “Limited and Declining Support for Separation in Alberta … Only 18% say they […]

RANDALL WHITE, TORONTO. FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2026. In some ways calling Canada’s most populous province of Ontario “Central Canada” is a misnomer. The geographic dead centre of the country is in Manitoba, just next door west of Ontario. (And the current Premier of Manitoba, Wab Kinew, was born in Kenora, Ontario — the real-world metropolis […]

RANDALL WHITE, TORONTO. FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2026. Here, humbly offered, is yet another quick note on the new gathering storm over Canadian separatism. As in : “Leaders across the political spectrum are responding today to news that Alberta’s fall referendum will now decide whether Albertans want a vote on separatism this coming October.” I’m not […]