Reticence foreshadowed
May 8, 2011 | No Comments
Perhaps we shouldn’t have expected Conservative candidates across the land to flock to all-candidates debates in droves. I’m taking a second look at Paul Wells’ account of Stephen Harper’s rise to power (Right Side Up), and came across this passage just a few pages into the book (emphasis mine)—all about Harper’s radio silence in the [...]
When logic hits a brick Wall
April 20, 2011 | 4 Comments
The premier of Saskatchewan, Brad Wall, just offered Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff some advice—or threatened him, maybe. In any case, I don’t understand entirely how a pair of passages in Wall’s statement can co-exist without contradicting each other. I am deeply troubled by Mr. Ignatieff’s assertion that he may choose to overturn the democratic result [...]
Who I’ll be watching on debate night
April 11, 2011 | No Comments
Every time there’s a federal election, a few weeks in everyone starts talking about the two national debates. They’re labelled as big, important events. Pundits start to talk about potential “game changers”, including “knock-out punches”, that will “shape voter attitudes” in the final weeks of the campaign. They look at voter response in “seat-rich” Ontario, [...]
What Ignatieff told the Herald
April 11, 2011 | 6 Comments
Today’s Sun chain features a story by Brian Lilley that suggests Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff might have voted in the 2004 presidential election in the United States. Lilley quoted from a story in the Glasgow Herald from 21 August 2004, which is available in various capacities online. Here’s the full story (with emphasis added on [...]
Non-confidence, remembered
March 23, 2011 | No Comments
Looks like the opposition is about to express non-confidence in the government, doesn’t it? Since it’s been so many years coming, you’d think that moment—the point at which the government ceases to be in power—would be something to behold. But if experience tells us anything, it’s that the vote itself will actually be pretty anticlimactic. [...]
Never has the status quo been so radical
February 9, 2011 | 1 Comment
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is considering amendments to its regulations that lay out what licensed broadcasters can and cannot say on Canadian airwaves. Currently, CRTC regulations say that no licensee can broadcast “any false or misleading news”. If the regulation is updated according to the amendments on the table, no licensee will be [...]
Tony Blair’s tips on stealing the spotlight from Tories
December 29, 2010 | 7 Comments
Every time a story like this refers to the Conservatives’ utter dominance of the law and order file, I’m reminded that the governing party seems to have free reign on the issue. It doesn’t matter how many media-savvy experts or opposition politicians point out that all the facts run contrary to Conservative intentions. To this day, the [...]
The cordial resignation, a Canadian rarity
November 4, 2010 | 5 Comments
It’s not very often that a federal minister resigns without controversy. Either they’re angry with the prime minister, or the prime minister is angry with them — or both, much to the delight of political scribes. That trend makes Jim Prentice’s resignation as environment minister all the more remarkable. He’s off to the private sector after [...]
What would Lloyd Axworthy have said?
October 12, 2010 | 6 Comments
We learned today that Michael Ignatieff shouldn’t be critical of the government’s foreign policy or its conduct at the United Nations. Indeed, the government today says the opposition leader’s criticism of the government killed Canada’s chances of landing a two-year term on the United Nations’ security council. This is what the governing party’s spin doctors [...]
Updated: Should sex work be criminal?
September 28, 2010 | 21 Comments
(See update here.) We haven’t paid much attention to the Conservative government’s mid-summer crackdown on organized crime, have we? Remember, just a couple of weeks ago, when justice minister Rob Nicholson got serious about punishing organized gambling, prostitution and drug crime? In the blink of an eye, Nicholson made several regulatory changes to the Criminal Code. As we [...]