GREG BARNS SC. HOBART, MELBOURNE, BRISBANE, PERTH, AUSTRALIA. MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2025. Not for the first time the political landscapes in Australia and Canada are worthy of comparison. This year both nations are holding elections and the opposition parties, the Conservatives in Canada and the Liberals in Australia, are led by right wing populists. The […]

ASHOK CHARLES. THUNDER BAY, TORONTO, SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2025. I am the Executive Director of Republic Now — a non-partisan organization launched in 2013, to press for the replacement of the British monarch, as Canada’s head of state, by a democratically selected Canadian. Early this year we were heartened by New Brunswick MP René Arseneault’s […]

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS. GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2024. Susan B. Glasser in The New Yorker nicely summarized one key but strange political event of 2024 in the USA : “The Weird New Normal of Donald Trump in 2024 … Radical revisionism is a strong contender for the theme of this disruptive year, in which some […]

RANDALL WHITE, ONTARIO TONITE, GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2024. Before setting all such things aside for extended New Year’s celebrations, I had just wanted to say a few quick words about recent statistics that suggest “Canadians sense of pride plummets to lowest level in decades.” (And this was happening for some time before the […]

RANDALL WHITE, NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK, TORONTO . THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2024. According to Wkipedia : “The Ugly American is a 1958 political novel by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer that depicts the failures of the US diplomatic corps in Southeast Asia.” It ”has remained continuously in print and is one of the most influential American […]

RANDALL WHITE, CANADA’S CAPITAL FROM 4 ½ HOURS WEST. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2024. [UPDATED NOVEMBER 30, DECEMBER 3 : See below]. Even a close observer cannot see much of the Canadian House of Commons from the capital city of Ontario (which like both the province and the country at large boasts an Indigenous North American […]

RANDALL WHITE, ONTARIO TONITE, GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2024. Before leaving Remembrance Day 2024 altogether I want to underline one heretofore unique event on the theme this year in Canada’s most populous province. On Thursday, November 7, 2024 Sol Mamakwa, Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for the also somewhat unique far northwestern […]

RANDALL WHITE, FERNWOOD PARK,TORONTO. FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 8, 2024. Like others I am altogether surprised by the Trump Republican victory in the 2024 US election. Over the past few weeks, however, I can claim to have written at least one arguably prescient sentence on the subject : “I also can’t help wondering if America is quite […]

RANDALL WHITE, NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK, TORONTO . MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2024. UPDATED WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6 (SEE BELOW). There is much progressive excitement about the results of a regional poll that shows Harris ahead of Trump in Iowa! No one seems to think she will actually take “ruby red” Iowa Tuesday. But if she comes much […]

RANDALL WHITE, CANADIAN PROVINCES NOTEBOOK, TORONTO. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2024. The final count on the October 19 BC election results is now complete.. In round numbers : David Eby’s BC NDP has 45% of the popular vote and 47 seats in the BC Legislative Assembly (where a bare majority is also 47 seats) ; John […]