Ottawa Scene

Can Justin Trudeau be defeated Oct 21, 2019 (& what do Lester Pearson and early Pierre Trudeau say) ??

Dec 27th, 2018 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

One counterweights item from the year now ending that has seen fresh visits in the most recent past is Randall White’s “Can Justin Trudeau be defeated in the next Canadian federal election?,” first posted back on May 8, 2018. In the new age of fixed-date elections (sort of) the campaign for the 43rd Canadian federal […]



Can Justin Trudeau be defeated in the next Canadian federal election?

May 8th, 2018 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

Has the prime minister of Canada reached rock bottom in his current troubles when no less than the UK-based Guardian complains : “Justin Trudeau is waging a phony war against inequality”? And, after some two months too long in the wilderness, does Prime Minister Trudeau (II) now have nowhere to go but up?  (Or is […]



What would the Incredible Canadian Mackenzie King make of Canada today, early December 2017?

Dec 4th, 2017 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. DECEMBER 4, 2017. [UPDATED DECEMBER 11]. Who can doubt that we are now living in challenging times – especially in those realms of fake and other news where “Canada’s top party school” also qualifies as one of the “10 Wildest Party Schools in North America”? (Even as “Sex assault allegations place NS university’s […]



On the new era in Canada .. Alexandre Trudeau, Mélanie Joly, Harjit Sajjan, and Chief Jody Wilson-Raybould

Nov 7th, 2015 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

Not too long before the November 4 swearing-in ceremony finally began at Rideau Hall, the CBC TV cameras came to rest briefly on Justin Trudeau’s younger brother Alexandre (aka Sacha), and his wife Zoe and their three children. They were quietly slipping into their seats, in the row just behind the row where the new […]



Back to the real Canadian future with Justin Trudeau .. maybe?

Oct 20th, 2015 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

As we write in the early morning on Tuesday, October 20, 2015, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have won 184 seats in the Canadian House of Commons with 39.5% of the cross-Canada popular vote. (A mere 170 seats is required for a bare majority government : Mr. Trudeau is the new prime minister elect of Canada.) The […]



Really 5 or 6 different Canadian regional elections on same day in 2015 (or Senate reform where are you?)

Aug 17th, 2015 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

[UPDATED AUG 18TH]. The second week in the long official campaign for the Canadian federal election of 2015 is over. And the congenital regional diversity of it all is what sticks in my mind right now. I’m watching from the old East Toronto, close to the most easterly of the Great Lakes. Reading “Liberal leader […]



Three new October orange wave in Ottawa theories .. Alberta surprise, UK repeat, progressive coalition ??

May 25th, 2015 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

This past Friday two big names on the Toronto newspaper pundit scene explored the sudden surge of New Democratic support in Canadian federal politics, during a key election year. In the Globe and Mail Jeffrey Simpson asked “Can a third orange wave splash across Canada?” And he finally answered : “The failure of the Conservatives […]



The Senate reform elephant in the room at the Mike Duffy trial ..

Apr 7th, 2015 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

The world being what it is at the moment, even (or especially?) in Canada, it is difficult not to be  at least somewhat cynical about the trial of the suspended senator Mike Duffy, that starts in an Ottawa courtroom today. From this angle Andrew Coyne strikes the right note in a National Post article, headlined […]



Of course as current third party the NDP is bound to talk up some kind of Liberal-NDP co-operation, but ..

Apr 3rd, 2015 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

Moving into the second quarter of 2015 may remind political junkies that the much anticipated Canadian federal election this year will probably come in the early fourth quarter. So, as some wise guys argue, the election is still six months away. Things looked different six months ago than they do now. Who knows just how […]



Along the line of smoky hills, the crimson politicians stand .. and wonder what the people of Canada will demand

Oct 14th, 2014 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

[UPDATED OCTOBER 15]. Coming home on the airplane from a recent trip to Europe, I read an article by an eminent Cambridge academic in a British political magazine. And I was almost shocked when it proclaimed that the “two most successful leaders in contemporary western politics are Angela Merkel and Stephen Harper.” This international point […]