RANDALL WHITE, TORONTO, SEPTEMBER 20, 2020 : John Napier Turner (June 7, 1929 — September 18, 2020) sat in the Canadian House of Commons for the Montreal electoral district of St. Lawrence-St.George, 1962—1968, for Ottawa-Carleton, 1968—1976, and finally for Vancouver-Quadra, 1984—1993. He served as Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs in Lester Pearson’s Liberal cabinet, […]

UPDATED SEP 21 RE BC ELECTION CALL : Premier Blaine Higgs, Progressive Conservative leader in New Brunswick, called Canada’s “first election during the COVID-19 pandemic,” after the province’s opposition Liberals declined to support a plan that would have allowed his minority government to “stay in power until October 2022 or the end of the pandemic.” […]

QUIKNOTES FROM THE DESKTOP(S) OF THE COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS. SAT/SUN/MON, SEP 5/6/7, 2020. Canadian federal politics – at least trying to compete for attention with the serious world-historical circus next door – is now tilted toward the Trudeau Liberals’ “better-life-in-the-new-future” Throne Speech on September 23, 2020. Meanwhile there is a new Conservative leader, who is at […]

FROM CITIZEN X ON STAYCATION IN EAST YORK CONDO. TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2020. 10:45 PM ET/7:45 PM PT. We do live in uncertain times. Just as I was stumbling across welcome news that some Canadian New Democrats are contemplating a workable Universal Basic (or Guaranteed) Income, I also stumbled across less happy evidence on the […]

[UPDATED AUGUST 21]. COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS’ CURRENT ISSUES NOTE. TORONTO, ON. AUGUST 18, 2020. 11 PM ET. Like others, it seems, we were somewhat surprised by Bill Morneau’s resignation as Canadian federal finance minister last night. There had been reports that Mr. Morneau and Prime Minister Trudeau were having disagreements about the future of public finance […]

TELEGRAM FROM RANDALL WHITE. GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. It is no doubt only to be expected that strange things will happen during such historical eras as the COVID-19 global pandemic – in public as well as private life. That any rate strikes me as the most sensible context in which to view the summer 2020 controversy over […]

EMAIL FROM CITIZEN X, OLD SANDY COVE, ON : Marie-Danielle Smith at Maclean’s has published two different accounts of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unusual appearance before the Finance Committee of the Canadian House of Commons yesterday. One – the more drearily conventional (and overly rhetorical) – is called : “Three key takeaways from Justin Trudeau’s […]

UPDATED JULY 24, 2020. (Click on “Read the rest of this page” and/or scroll down to “BACK TO CRAZY TOWN CANADA” below). CW EDITORS : The real “embarrassment” in parliamentary ethics committee calls for such things as receipts from Trudeau family WE charity speeches ultimately focuses on far too many of the 338 elected members […]

RANDALL WHITE : In all this early summer 2020 heat and coronavirus worry, I am struggling in spare moments with my Long Journey to a Canadian Republic chapter on the Chrétien (and then Martin) years in Ottawa (1993—2006) – with special reference to the almost big surprise of the second Quebec sovereignty referendum on October […]

CW EDITORS : GETTING SUBTLY MORE AGGRESSIVE WITH CHINA IN TRUE NORTH Along with the disturbing case of “the two Michaels,” headlines like “New nationwide polling conducted for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute reveals that 4-in-5 Canadians believe Ottawa must speak up about China’s human rights abuses” are telling us that it is time for even the […]