RANDALL WHITE, TORONTO. FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2026. Here, humbly offered, is yet another quick note on the new gathering storm over Canadian separatism. As in : “Leaders across the political spectrum are responding today to news that Alberta’s fall referendum will now decide whether Albertans want a vote on separatism this coming October.” I’m not […]

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS. GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2026. Alberta is much in the Canadian news lately. One point of departure is : “New deadline for pipeline deal. Lower industrial carbon price. Carney government, Alberta strike deal to fast-track building new pipeline by 2027” (Tonda MacCharles). Or : “Carney, Smith sign carbon price deal, suggest fall […]

RANDALL WHITE, TORONTO. FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2026. As an introductory aside this past Sunday, May 3 marked the 557th anniversary of the birth of the first modern political scientist, Niccolo Machiavelli, in the old city state of Florence, Italy (aka Firenze, in Italian). Machiavelli has an inapt reputation as “an immoral cynic.” But his writing […]

RANDALL WHITE, NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK, TORONTO. FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2026. Among Canadians it has become a commonplace that the belittling attacks of President Trump in his intermittent 51st state war on Canada have finally inspired a new wave of Canadian patriotism, deeper and tougher than anyone alive today can remember. Similar breezes may be at […]

RANDALL WHITE, TORONTO. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2026. Two key current political events — one international and the other national — have helped cheer up we progressive voters on the north shore of Lake Ontario (most easterly of the North American Great Lakes). The international event is of course the April 12, 2026 election in Hungary. […]

RANDALL WHITE, NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK, TORONTO. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2026. Robert Reich, Democratic President Clinton’s secretary of labor, 1993–1997 and retired UC Berkeley professor, is far from the only eminent US commentator who has been raising deeply serious questions about President Trump’s mental health in the early spring of 2026. Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNOW, as […]

RANDALL WHITE, NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK, TORONTO. SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2026. According to Yahoo News : “More than 8 million people turned out at over 3,300 ‘No Kings’ protests across all 50 states on Saturday, organizers said, calling it the largest single-day demonstration in U.S. history. The first two rounds, in June and October 2025, drew […]

RANDALL WHITE, NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK, TORONTO. MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2026. This coming weekend, in particular Saturday, March 28, 2026, will see the third No Kings protest in Donald Trump’s wild and crazy USA, part deux — one expression of the progressive impulse in the historic Democracy in America, currently under siege. As the No Kings […]

RANDALL WHITE, NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK, TORONTO. THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026. The long and short in Canadian federal politics is that Lori Idlout, New Democrat MP for Nunavut (a far-northern Inuit-majority constituency geographically larger than Mexico, PM Carney notes) has now crossed the floor in the House at Ottawa, to join the Carney Liberals. This gives […]

GREG BARNS SC. HOBART, MELBOURNE, BRISBANE, PERTH, AUSTRALIA. TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2026. On Thursday this week (Australian time) Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney will address the Australian parliament in Canberra. He is the first to do so in nearly 20 years. Mr. Carney is meeting with his center left counterpart Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. […]