For Ottawa, NHL hockey is big escape

Chris Neil gave Ottawans their best moment in years, an overtime goal in Madison Square Garden to beat the New York Rangers.

Santa Maria! That Ethics Commissioner’s Office works slowly

Even in The Land Where Time Stood Still, a new standard of inertia has been achieved by Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson.

Grit ridings targeted by Tories saw unexplained increases in their number of polling stations

‘Maybe people used that situation to contort voting patterns,’ said former Liberal MP Derek Lee.

Conservative-friendly balloting helped deliver near half of Alexander’s plurality in last election

Elections Canada allowed ballot boxes in a gated community clubhouse, a suburban supermarket, a lawn bowling club

A Hill Times investigation shows Conservatives harvested thousands of votes after Elections Canada placed ballot boxes in evangelical churches, clubs and other locations that appeared to favour government supporters.

Breitkreuz sheds light on life of an MP

Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz says he doesn’t like how most MPs plink away on ‘those BlackBerries. We used to sit in the lobby and pick apart issues, talk about them. We don’t have very many of those conversations anymore.’

Press freedom inspires little passion, but much nitpicking and silliness

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is the first prime minister in Canadian history to target an independent Parliamentary Press Gallery as an obstacle to democracy.

Early evidence suggests Scheer’s not up to the job

House Speaker Andrew Scheer has denied opposition requests for urgent debates on global warming, civil war in Syria, Red Cross aid to Attawapiskat, the closure of a search and rescue office in St. John’s and dissolution of the Wheat Board. If Parliament is not the forum, then where? If election fraud is not a deserving subject, then what?

We fight for expression so long as it’s not expressive at all

So, Canadians enjoy freedom of expression so long as it is spongy and toothless, clean and decent, conventional and timid and stripped of adjectives.

Mortgage debt is catastrophic

Since 1982 it has grown ten-fold to more than a trillion dollars.

MPs have been talking about 150th anniversary of Confederation planning for four months

So far they have (a) no budget and (b) no theme.

Media should investigate cross-Canada incidence of schoolroom misconduct

Schools are run by part-time trustees, provincially-mandated boards and unions, none of which have sought a national inquiry of sex scandals.

There’s budgeting and then there’s military budgeting

The Avro Arrow burned through billions, and taxpayers did not get so much as an apology. And you know the reason.

Fixating on the unknowable future a fascinating new year hobby, open to ribbing

But nobody predicted the Montreal Expos would move to Washington. None prophesied the election of the first black U.S. president, or the bankruptcy of General Motors, or the clobbering of the Liberal Party of Canada. No one predicted a decade-long Asian war. None forecast two recessions in 10 years, or the grinding of the stock market.

Under Official Languages Act, Canada’s no more bilingual than it was a century ago

Federal surveys show 17 per cent of Canadians are bilingual. In the 1921 Census the rate of bilingualism was 17 per cent. There has been no change.

2012 the year Harper shows us what kind of man he is

A myth persists that the Prime Minister is a huggable dad victimized by conniving enemies who conceal his warmth and generosity from public view.

Evidence shows, holidays in 19th century House bar likely meant a rum punch

Here is a tested 19th century recipe that has always made Christmas merry at our place.