It’s no secret that Stephen Harper likes to swap notes, and speeches, with his Australian counterparts in the conservative Liberal Party. Mr. Harper once shamelessly plagiarized a speech about the war in Iraq from the man he fairly swooned over, former Australia Prime Minister John Howard. It seems that Mr. Harper and/or his advisers have […]
You may feel that the pope in Rome has no real power to sanctify anyone. And we share that view. But if you harbour any attachment to Canada’s interesting province of Quebec, you may also feel some warmth towards the news that, this past Sunday “Pope Benedict XVI canonized the first male saint born on […]
If you search “Gilles Duceppe” in the online editions of either the Washington Post or the New York Times at the moment, you will just get “No Results Found” or “Your search – Gilles Duceppe – did not match any documents under Past 30 Days.” Even if you try the same game on Le Devoir.com, […]
[UPDATED OCTOBER 14]. According to the customary North American prejudice, South America, while sometimes entertaining (like Ricky Ricardo on the old “I Love Lucy” TV show, eg), is for most purposes not quite up to handling the real world. At the time of writing here (October 13, 2010, 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT), […]
It is a strictly parochial contest. But on this Canadian Thanksgiving holiday weekend (some six-and- a-half weeks before the real Thanksgiving in the USA) the competition among the four daily newspapers that Canada’s largest city is still so lucky to enjoy may have been won by the Toronto Star. For me at least two particular […]
Toward the end of the first full week of October 2010 (or 10/10: and apparently marriages at the local city hall for this coming Sunday 10/10/10 are way over-booked), Canada seems to be doing somewhat better in the Commonwealth Games. As we write (“Friday, October 08, 2010″ in New Delhi, but still just Thursday, October […]
As the Edmonton Journal aptly explained this past Wednesday: “Whether or not this country remains a monarchy, Canadians appreciate the need for an official, largely ceremonial national figure – the sort Americans lack – who serves as an embodiment of the nation’s best qualities and aspirations, untainted by the daily dross of partisan politics.” In […]
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 is the 10th anniversary of the death of Pierre Trudeau, 15th prime minister of the modern Canadian confederation (and in office for 15 years, five months, and a little more than one week:1968—1979, 1980—1984). Bruce Cheadle in the Globe and Mail and Randy Boswell in all of the Vancouver Sun, Windsor […]
Ever since Canada definitively became An Actual Democracy in the early 20th century (at the very least), its unreformed, “relic-of-the-19th-century” Senate has generally refrained from trying to defeat legislation duly passed by a majority of the democratically elected Canadian House of Commons. A merely appointed Senate in an actual democracy that tried to actually exercise […]
[UPDATED SEPTEMBER 22, 11 PM ET]. There is still probably a small question mark beside the fate of the long gun registry in the Canadian House of Commons on Wednesday, September 22, sometime after 5:30 PM ET. But as the Globe and Mail has reported, assuming no further surprises between now and then, the decision […]
