To subsidize or not

Michael Hammond

May 16, 2012 | 1 Comment

Amid all the chaos in Quebec over the government’s decision to hike tuition fees, there lies an essential debate that has been lost. Affordable education is something worth discussing. Too bad this debate has been lost after months of protests, bull-headedness and now violence. From what I’ve read in the English media, and in some [...]

Talk about the issues, please. No, really.

Michael Hammond

April 20, 2012 | 1 Comment

Apparently, the Canadian media just refuses to learn from its own mistakes. The Alberta provincial election seems like a recurring nightmare. In this case, a lot of people are talking but no one is really saying anything. And, no, I’m not talking about the party leaders. In this case, the media is just as guilty. [...]

Shoot thy neighbour

Michael Hammond

March 26, 2012 | 1 Comment

A friend of mine recently shared an observation about the tragic death of Trayvon Martin in Florida that revealed a much deeper truth about American justice. This friend, who has travelled for business in the United States for years and lives on the Ontario-Michigan border, is a keen observer of American culture, to put it [...]

Big Brother is watching you riot

Michael Hammond

March 19, 2012 | 1 Comment

My inner grumpy old man was seething last night and this morning as I watched the disturbing images of a St. Patrick’s Day student riot in London, Ont. I’m sure many a Londoner is probably thinking along of the lines of what’s-wrong-with-kids-these-days and I can’t blame them. I actually wrote an editorial for this blog [...]

Attawapiskat: Hardly A Day of Reckoning

Michael Hammond

December 6, 2011 | No Comments

Shawn Atleo, Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said the Attawapiskat crisis marks a “moment of reckoning” in Canada’s policies regarding First Nations. I would like to believe him. But, recent history suggests otherwise. After all, the E. coli crisis in the northern Kashechewan reserve in 2005 was large enough to warrant a [...]

Enough already!

Michael Hammond

October 14, 2011 | 1 Comment

Stop the presses. Apple has released a newer, slicker, faster operating system for its latest iPhone. Is this news? Apparently, it’s front-page news. Type iPhone in Google News and look at how prominent this release is on news pages. When did a product release merit such attention? I’m not sure when the media began openly [...]

McGuinty and his Houdini act

Michael Hammond

October 6, 2011 | 2 Comments

So, another election for the premier Ontarians call Dad. Like the last election in this province, I think he should consider himself fairly lucky. I’m not sure how he managed to escape from this election with only scant debate of his government’s record in office. Sure, the PCs and the NDP went to great lengths [...]

Jack Layton: The True Measure of a Man

Michael Hammond

August 23, 2011 | No Comments

For a brief moment, he had me. Jack Layton was an extraordinary talent. I say this based on my one experience I had with him. I was working for a lobby group during a brief sojourn from the media. Our group, which lobbies on behalf of Canada’s municipalities, was holding its annual conference in St. [...]

Apologies in advance to Toronto

Michael Hammond

August 4, 2011 | No Comments

While reading Christie Blatchford’s column about Nycole Turmel’s so-called separatist past, I reread the following line a few times. “It means that us têtes-carrées in the ROC just don’t get it. Such nuance is beyond us.” Blatchford was suggesting that English Canada (ROC equals rest of Canada) doesn’t understand what Quebeckers do: political allegiances don’t [...]

Will and Kate’s excellent adventure

Michael Hammond

July 7, 2011 | 6 Comments

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, yet the naïve journalism student in me still reels at the site of such frivolity (I use that word deliberately, see below). I was perusing the Globe and Mail this week when I saw this headline about Kate Middleton: “Kate’s finally in pants: hit or miss?” My first reaction was [...]

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The Commons has brought together a diverse cross-section of unique and intelligent voices to generate meaningful debate and discussion. All contributors have made the solemn commitment to cultivate respectful, honest, vigorous, and open dialogue—and to promote that very kind of dialogue within the larger Canadian political discourse.