I’m a longtime Liberal but I’m going to say it — I like the looks of Stephen Harper’s new cabinet. The Prime Minister has framed a government he hopes will be able to deal with the big economic problems that lie ahead. I like its youth. I like the new MPs the Prime Minister has [...]
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: Federal cabinet, James Moore, Jim Flaherty, Jim Prentice, Leona Aglukkaq, Lisa Raitt, Peter Kent, Stephen Harper, Tony Clement | 2 Comments »
Frank McKenna, the highly regarded former premier of New Brunswick has decided, as I predicted he would, to pass up the race for leadership of the Liberal party of Canada. He made the announcement this afternoon. Last week, I wrote that I did not expect “McKenna to give up a cushy bank job to begin an [...]
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: Bob Rae, Dominic LeBlanc, Frank McKenna, John Manley, Liberal leadership, Martha Hall Findlay, Michael Ignatieff, Stephane Dion | Leave a Comment »
For years, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, has been ranked as the No. 1 gathering place for the smart and the powerful in business, politics, and the media. The annual sessions attract the creme de la creme, all vying to put forth their ideas and burnish their images before an eagerly awaiting world. [...]
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: Davos, Economic crisis, Margaret Atwood, Payback, Wall Street, World Economic Forum | Leave a Comment »
My local press in Orillia, Ontario, is all full of stories about a police raid on a massage parlor, one of ten carried out in the past 16 months in the area north of Toronto by the Ontario Provincial Police. Not a word in these papers about the local impact of the global economic meltdown. [...]
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: bawdy house laws, OPP, Orillia massage parlours, police | Leave a Comment »
I voted for Stephane Dion when I attended the Liberal leadership convention as a delegate from Toronto Danforth in December, 2006. I do not regret the choice I made, given the conditions and circumstances in which the party found itself at that time. Now that Mr. Dion has led the party in a failing campaign [...]
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: Bob Rae, Frank McKenna, Gerard Kennedy, John Manley, Liberal leadership, Martha Hall Findlay, Michael Ignatieff, Ruby Dhalla, Stephane Dion | Leave a Comment »
Anybody here seen Passchendaele, the Canadian movie about this epic World War I battle, one of three fought for the little Belgian town which cost a total of 600,000 lives? The film opened across Canada Friday night and my partner Deborah and I saw it at the Varsity theatre in Toronto on Saturday. The Passchendaele [...]
Filed under: Culture | Tagged: Canadian election, Passchendaele movie, Paul Gross, World War I | Leave a Comment »
Stephane Dion gave his best speech of the election on election night. His English was very good, he spoke forcefully and with clarity, and he addressed the most important issue facing Canadians: the problems of the economy. It’s an irony of politics that his remarks came in a concession speech. Had he been able to [...]
Filed under: Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged: Conservatives, Dion, Election, Harper, Liberals, May | 1 Comment »
It’s Election day in Canada — and what a difference a couple of seats might make! At the Democratic Space site, the prediction is 126 seats for the Stephen Harper Conservatives and 128 for the Liberals and NDP combined. That sets up some interesting possibilities. Let’s suppose, as the site forecasts, that the election gives the Liberals and [...]
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: Coalition, Dion, Election, Harper, Layton | 1 Comment »
It’s a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend and Orillia sparkled as the neat little city it is when Stephane Dion and two busloads of national media drew up to the Farmers’ Market behind the Orillia Opera House for a noontime rally. I’d come along to see what kind of reception Dion would receive from small town Ontario [...]
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: Clarke, Dion, Federal election, Harper, Jones, Orillia | 2 Comments »
