Almost everyone claimed to 'know' Jack—it's a remarkable legacy

Duceppe not ready for political sidelines yet

Former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe's name figures prominently on most non-official short lists to replace PQ Leader Pauline Marois.

Canada's voting legislation 'archaic'

Canadians are used to real-time information, never more so than on election night, regardless of where they live.

Canadians can't share economy lessons with U.S.

NDP may want to reconsider who they have at helm

If Jack Layton, who is battling cancer, cannot return to the House of Commons Sept. 19 as he has vowed, Turmel will be a gravely wounded interim opposition leader as she rises to take on Harper.

Layton is bravely in the fight of his life

Raised over beers at the pub, discussed at dinner parties, dissected over lunch in the shadow of Parliament Hill, the issue of Jack Layton's health never delved into the type of maliciousness that often poisons Ottawa's gossip mill.

Conservative TV spots miss Ignatieff's weaknesses in targeting strengths Canadians usually admire

Voters have good reasons to be skeptical of Michael Ignatieff. They're just not the same reasons Stephen Harper is rolling out in ads savaging the Liberal leader as a grasping prodigal son home to seize power in an illegitimate coalition with socialists a

In Ottawa, as in Washington, abuse now common tongue of policy debate

Early warning or wake-up call, the Tucson carnage tugs sleeves here. It urgently reminds that political rhetoric has consequences and that public debate is poisoned by toxic politics.

Prime Minister Harper could secure the majority he wants

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's strength is an unusually creative capacity to see federal politics differently. His weakness is running headlong into solid objects.

Canadians aren't imposing discipline on politicians by punishing party in power.

In a capital as sensitive to authority as this one, all that's required to better protect the public interest is a clear signal from the Prime Minister that watchdogs are to be respected, not gutted.

Harper demonstrates flair for creating nothing from something

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's deft strokes over the past year are brushing aside a challenge to the extraordinary, between-elections power of prime ministers and painting over a Conservative fault.

WikiLeaks are making voyeurs of us all

Lessons, too, drip from the leaks. To assume the privacy of any message dispatched into the ether of an information age is patently foolish.

Harper master manipulator of new politics he largely invented

In less than five years this Prime Minister has reduced once dominant Liberals to a rump and is closer than it appears to the majority he covets.

Whatever his weaknesses, Harper remains his party's greatest strength

In one way PM Stephen Harper's dominance need not change with Nigel Wright's arrival. In another way the status quo should not survive Guy Giorno's departure.

Back to drawing board for a Prime Minister facing a disillusioned electorate

It doesn't seem too much to ask, or too little to expect, even from those so consumed by their lust for power that civility is just another tactic and making Parliament work is simply another means to the same end.

Harper encourages True Blue loyalists to trust gut, not evidence

That's a strange pitch from any leader guiding a country in an information age. It's simply bizarre coming from one schooled as an economist, says James Travers.

Conservatives junking mandatory long-form census

The feds are blinding Canadians to truths they need to know about themselves.

Harper needs to bring home what he's learned abroad

Conventional wisdom holds that he has matured from an awkward homebody to a Prime Minister comfortable among world leaders.

Speaking truth to power takes more courage than most can muster here

Four years after diplomat Richard Colvin began telling his superiors what they didn't want to hear, the coverup is complete.

Liberals squander serial opportunities to regroup, rebuild

Much of the buzz about an ill-defined union with the NDP is cover for the apparently endless Liberal leadership struggle.