Barack Obama, it was claimed somewhere on TV during the past few weeks, has aptly bemoaned that the problems of America today are so big, and its politics so small. In Canada we sometimes imagine that we are at least accidentally immune to the worst troubles of this sort. (Nothing up here, beyond the raw […]
THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 2007. The Globe and Mail‘s news of the birth of Pierre- Emmanuel Trudeau, “two weeks ago in a Montreal hospital,” has a perhaps appropriate certain formality to it. Now we the Canadian people know, in any case, that the son of Alexandre Trudeau and Zoe Bedos was born on December 22, 2006. […]
MONTREAL. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2. 7:00 PM ET. The wide-open Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention focused more quickly than many were predicting. This morning’s second ballot results came in at: Michael Ignatieff – 31.6% ; Bob Rae – 24.1% ; Stephane Dion – 20.8% ; Gerard Kennedy -18.8% ; Ken Dryden – 4.7%. On the rules of the game Ken […]
It is a certainty that the American people will be voting this coming November 7. And who knows what wonders may be wrought? But the latest gurglings from Ottawa suggest that the Canadian people could be waiting quite a while longer. (And seeing that the last Canadian federal election was less than nine months ago, […]
Canadian thanksgiving, up north where the leaves fall from the trees earlier in the colder weather, is not quite the national holiday it is several weeks later in the USA. But this year we have at least had some reminders of just how confusing what Prime Minister Stephen Harper has just called the “unique history […]
MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2006. 10:30 AM. [OCTOBER 3 UPDATE AND RESULTS AS OF OCTOBER 5 ADDED]. With more than 85% of the so-called super-weekend results calculated for convention delegates in the Canadian federal Liberal leadership race, Michael Ignatieff enjoys a tidy if far from overwhelming lead. Bob Rae is in a clear second place, with Gerard Kennedy and […]
With the serious summer of 2006 now in its very last gasps it is time for a concluding burst of wild abandon, before settling back into the post-Labour-Day grind. And I have been asked to (briefly) discuss who is the hottest – Paris Hilton or Beyonc Knowles? Other names could be added. Osama bin Laden […]
Some will ask why? During the second full week of July 2006 both Trudeau brothers were in the Canadian news. Justin is about to start a new acting career. And Alexandre is going to become a father (having first met the mother in question through his new sister-in-law, Sophie Gregoire). Others will say that paid […]
The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) is slyly asking people to grade new minority Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s first five months in office, on what passes in English-speaking Canada for national TV. In our book Mr. Harper himself could be graded as high as C+. Whatever else, he has at least tried to gain ground […]
There have been more than a few big surprises in Canadian federal politics over the past year. And, as unlikely as it may seem at the moment, the current Liberal leadership race could prove surprising too. Just how bad the Ontario-dominated crop of 11 “B-team” contenders looks depends on how you see the main objective […]
