It may be hard to get a word in about anything but the Malaysian airplane disaster in east Ukraine today (or possibly the new Israeli ground offensive in Gaza) – and with good enough reason. But life in our own small corner still goes on. This week we’ve been at the receiving end of two […]
The genius of the traditional “Westminster” or British-style cabinet system is or at least was supposed to be that it is an authentically collegial or team-management approach to the increasingly complicated adventures of government by popularly elected officials. Any modern parliamentary democracy is far too complicated to be navigated by the mind of just one […]
UPDATED JULY 9: At least some Ontario Progressive Conservative members of the Legislative Assembly reacted quickly and nastily to their party’s (and their party leader’s) considerably worse-than-expected results in the June 12 provincial election. So far, the Ontario New Democrat reaction has been quieter and less noticeable. (Partly, some might say, because Andrea Horwath’s NDP […]
GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. SATURDAY, MAY17, 2014. 2:00 AM ET. Before I lay me down to sleep this morning, I have been asked to put the counterweights’ Ontario election watch 2014 to bed for this 24th of May holiday weekend. (Which takes place on Monday, May 19 this year. Even though we are still apparently commemorating the […]
What is still only potentially the most interesting Ontario election campaign in years has not yet come to any tight focus, some 10 days after the at least unofficial start. A question raised on this site back this past January may come closest to where things almost seem to be : “Is an uber right-wing […]
The late great Canadian literary critic, Northrop Frye – who came to Toronto via Sherbrooke, Quebec and then mostly Moncton, New Brunswick, “to compete in a national typing contest in 1929” (!!!!) – once called Ontario “surely one of the most inarticulate communities in human culture.” And there is something about the still very youthful […]
GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014. 3:00 PM ET. So (as the premier often begins her remarks on any subject) … a lot has happened in Ontario politics today – and sooner, it seems fair to say, than the smart money thought. This morning NDP leader Andrea Horwath announced that her party would not be […]
One of Canada’s leading go-to guys on political opinion polls, Éric Grenier, posted some intriguing Ontario politics notes last Saturday – under the headline “Tim Hudak And Ontario PCs’ Polling May Be On The Rise (Maybe).” Grenier pointed out that : “A survey conducted by EKOS Research for iPolitics between March 27 and April 3 […]
Last Week Susanna Kelley at ontarionewswatch.com noted that “former Liberal MP Ken Dryden” has been pointing to “a palpable anger out there amongst the citizenry.” This probably has some heightened resonance in Canada’s most populous province. And in the same context Ms Kelley has observed : “Few with any political sense are willing to make […]
In the land of the friendly giant next door, the year began with the at least somewhat hopeful inauguration of Barack Obama’s second term. (And then ended, sadly for us at any rate, with a progressive American president in more trouble than we’d like to see.) Meanwhile, much closer to our particular home and native […]
