The grandfather of one of we (various and intermittent) counterweights editors used to say that it was “A Great Day for Canada” on his own birthday. And it has long seemed to us that there is something quite admirably as well as agonizingly Canadian about this kind of practice. In any case, with July 1, […]
Olivia Chow has left no doubt that there is no real fire in Steve Paikin’s speculation about “How Stephen Harper Can Help Rob Ford.” As she has tweeted : “It seems the rumor mill is in full force this morning. Let me be crystal clear, the reports of an LG offer are completely false.” Yet […]
Remembrance Day 2013 – the day before yesterday – is still somewhat on my mind. And I am remembering that the fall of France in June 1940 had a brief dramatic impact across the sea in Canada. As the historian Arthur Lower explained in his old textbook Colony to Nation : “When the fall of […]
What a week! As we write the proroguing Harper government is scheduled to present an allegedly six-point throne speech at 5 PM ET. And it finally seems that there is serious hope for an at least temporary deal to end the almost unbelievable dysfunctional deadlock in Washington. Meanwhile, others at street level are working to […]
Yesterday a Toronto Star editorial opined : “Welcome to the world, eight-pound, six-ounce royal baby boy. While untold others were born on the same day to equally excited parents, no one else is third in line to the throne …” (Ultimately, the future George VII of some place, it has subsequently become clear.) At the […]
Recent attempts by aspiring establishments to salvage the expiring Canadian role of the British monarchy are one measure of how our political system is falling more and more out of step with what our Constitution Act, 1982 calls the “free and democratic society” in Canada today. In some ways, the amazing thing about the latest […]
Still strangely enthralled by legendary Tory oligarchs of the 19th century, the mainstream media usually tries hard not to notice. But there is nonetheless an ardently gurgling Canadian republican activism even in various anglophone parts of the country in the early 21st century. This activism has a number of reasons for wanting to retire the […]
Without any doubt, we would say here, the biggest news of 2012 in the larger universe to which Canada belongs (though quite independently of course!) was the re-election of Barack Obama as president of the USA. And we did at least follow this big story, like everyone else. As early as January 13, 2012 we […]
Among other things, Premier Dalton McGuinty’s recent prorogation of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario has re-surfaced growing concerns about just how governors general of Canada and lieutenant governors of the provinces are chosen nowadays. As the Canadian Press has explained : “Former governor general Michaelle Jean came under intense scrutiny for twice agreeing to controversial […]
As a kind of coda, footnote, or l’envoi to various recent postings on this site (including the October 4 tribute to the late great Charles Roach), we’d just like to offer a quick thumbs up to a provocative passage in Chantal Hébert’s October 5 column in the Toronto Star, “Here’s how the Liberals can make […]
