It sometimes seems that little of real interest would happen in Canada without the first people who called themselves Canadians in Quebec. (This is also a good argument against real Quebec “separation,” for those Canadians outside Quebec who value interesting things.) To take just one current case in point, the first meeting of provincial premiers […]

Dr. Dave Town from Orillia, Ontario offered an intriguing comment on my recent post about Senate reform,  “Is doing anything sensible with the Senate of Canada just a vain fantasy?” (And I believe he is the same person I have now intriguingly discovered on the “gossip-stew of the internet” : successful chiropractor by day, public-spirited  […]

I have now collected 32 recent press articles on Senate reform in Canada, and the current senator expenses scandal in Ottawa. They start with “Canada PM calls for Senate reform amid expenses scandal” on Tuesday, May 21, 2013. They end on Friday, May 31 with : “Move to elected senate, says former Liberal leader … […]

“Great Britain, the United States and Canada” is the title of a now 65-year-old essay by Harold Innis, Canada’s pioneering great economic historian (and the godfather of Marshall McLuhan). As winter at last gives way to spring north of the North American Great Lakes, a few vaguely parallel thoughts about our time today have been […]

Sometimes, when not much seems to be happening on the current political scene, you can catch glimpses of a more fascinating long-term future in the minor events of the day. The headline on Andy Radia’s recent interview with the now retired Stockwell Day, in the wilds of BC, may qualify under this heading, despite all […]

[UPDATED FEBRUARY 14, 16]. According to a Canadian Press report by the estimable Joan Bryden yesterday, Justin Trudeau has now come out as an opponent of any major democratic reform of the unreformed Senate of Canada. (The CP report appeared in at least two places on the net : ”Forget Senate reform and just appoint […]

GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY8, 2013. 3 PM ET. I have now shovelled twice, and it’s still coming down. I hope the forecast that it will end early this evening is right. But even if it is, I’m guessing I‘ll be out shovelling probably two more times, at least. I can in any case appreciate the […]

[UPDATED FEBRUARY 2]. Unlike many of its other actions, the Harper government’s longstanding plans for what used to be known as step-by-step reform of the unreformed Senate of Canada have been broadly supported on this site since their beginnings, many, many moons ago. (For just a few recent cases in point, see “Three strikes and […]

Somehow it seems right to be thinking about Senate reform in Canada in the dead of summer. Like almost everything else this time of year in the true north strong and free, it seems quite agreeable (to some of us at any rate) but not entirely serious. (It will not last, etc, etc.) What is […]

It says a lot about the ongoing problems of Senate reform in Canada that the main source for news on the latest wrinkle in Bert Brown’s “Triple E” Senate concept is the Edmonton Journal. (And what we’re talking about here, I should make clear, is not PM Harper’s two “step by step” and non-constitutional reform […]