There seems at least some significant agreement within the Canadian federal punditocracy (which I admire a great deal) that our new former-astronaut Governor General Julie Payette badly blotted her copy book, when she gave spirited opening remarks at the recent 9th annual Canadian Science Policy Conference in Ottawa. I nonetheless feel driven to confess that […]

TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA ETC, Mid-to-late February 2017. RE : Steinmeier in Germany, Rosenbaum on Trump, Carlos Fraenkel on a mosque in Quebec City, and a footnote on changing the name of the Langevin Block in Ottawa to the Pontiac (or Louis Riel) Block. I first started pondering this quartet of obscure but deep political thoughts […]

We watched the TV coverage of various 2015 Remembrance Day ceremonies in the office lounge this past Wednesday. And there was general agreement that they were unusually crowded and poignant this year. Some attributed this to a greater sense of fragility about the struggles of the global village, that seems to be in the air […]

So what does the Governor General of Canada actually do again? A press release from this past Monday suggests at least one thing : “His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada, is visiting Canadian Armed Forces members and civilians at Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Alert, Canada’s most northerly military […]

If you are the kind of Canadian who avidly follows American politics from the safe distance of your TV set, you will know that another Armageddon is about to be unleashed in the Excited States. (Well, probably. Nothing will be dead certain until Tuesday.) For the mind-numbing details consult, eg, “As government shutdown nears, lawmakers […]

FEBRUARY 28, 2012. Today marks the 60th anniversary of the swearing-in of Vincent Massey as “the first Canadian” Governor General of Canada. (“Until 1952, Governors General were British. The 1952 installation of Vincent Massey, the first Canadian to hold the office, reflected Canada’s new sense of autonomy and identity in the post-war era.”) In our […]

So … we have just learned that “Charles, the Prince of Wales, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall will be touring Canada as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations marking her 60 years on the British throne,” this coming May 2012. For many Canadians (and we confess we are among them), this is just yet […]

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 […]

Canada, the late Robertson Davies used to say, is the kind of country you worry about. And even though the present Canadian confederation has now been in business for 143 years (or at least will be this coming July 1), it is still all too easy to imagine that soon enough it will disappear off […]

Three days after the prorogued federal Parliament returns to work in Canada, the people of Iceland will be voting in an unusual referendum. It has been called, in effect, by the ceremonial head of state, who has doubts about recent controversial actions by the Icelandic parliament and prime minister. Here in Canada, the Iceland example […]