Pranab Mukherjee was elected President of India last Thursday, July 19, 2012. The results of the election were announced by the country’s electoral authorities on Sunday, July 22. Mr. Mukherjee will be sworn into office at the Central Hall of Parliament House in New Delhi tomorrow, Wednesday, July 25, by the Chief Justice of India […]
On this very hot and languorous summer day in the Great Lakes region of North America, the news from the mysterious east has finally drifted in on some erotic sunbeams: “Nazril Irham Freed” ; “Peterpan’s Ariel Is Finally, Sort of, Free” ; “Mixed reactions greet pop star’s parole” ; and “Ariel Will Publish A Memoir […]
Somehow it seems right to be thinking about Senate reform in Canada in the dead of summer. Like almost everything else this time of year in the true north strong and free, it seems quite agreeable (to some of us at any rate) but not entirely serious. (It will not last, etc, etc.) What is […]
TORONTO. SATURDAY, JULY 14, 2012. This may not be the greatest city in Canada, whatever that may mean. But it sure is hot here today. I have nonetheless been asked to devote at least part of this sunny afternoon to informing all who may be interested that the relevant staff have now completed their latest […]
Australia’s June employment numbers were released today, and they caused some domestic concern: “Australia’s employers cut 27,000 jobs last month, sending the jobless rate higher.” The national unemployment rate actually increased to 5.2%, up from 5.1% in May 2012. But hey, wait a minute. Our Canada-wide unemployment rate in June was 7.2%. As some like […]
[UPDATED JULY 10]. One progressive view of the Liberal Party of Canada leadership contest – which will have its final moment of truth sometime in April next year (or at least “in the first half of 2013”) –Â is that it no longer matters. Consider, eg, these recent numbers: “Back on June 18 … we […]
At first I thought the estimable Ottawa pundit Lawrence Martin had stolen my idea (well, really just beat me to it, of course) for a Canadian Fourth of July 2012 posting. The Globe and Mail apparently published Martin’s column “Obama Remains Extremely Popular in Canada” yesterday. And it is still worth underlining its main theme: […]
On Canada Day 2012 a recent welcome comment from the unsung great historian of French and Indian Toronto’s great granddaughter has drawn our attention back to an earlier posting on “Canada Day 2009 : Percy Robinson and the reluctant Canadian republic.” Three years ago we urged that Percy James Robinson (1873—1953 and, among many other […]
[UPDATED JUNE 17, 18, 19, 20]. If you are among those in the small crowd of Ontario government and politics watchers who thought the current McGuinty minority government’s budget was more or less secure, and are a bit surprised to suddenly discover that we may actually be having a fresh election on the issue this […]
In the strange spring of 2012 there is more and more evidence that the old Canadian confederation of 1867 is entering some kind of do-or-die moment in what many still see as its improbable history. My own sense is that this moment will last for quite a while (years, certainly, even a decade or more?). […]
