O.D. Skelton was ‘the most influential public servant in Canadian history,’ says Hillmer
OTTAWA—Norman Hillmer says O.D. Skelton was the most influential public servant in Canadian history whose importance in Ottawa was unparalleled. On paper, Skelton was prime minister Mackenzie King’s foreign policy adviser in 1923 and the permanent head of Canada’s Department of External Affairs who created Canada’s professional diplomatic service. But he was so much more. “Skelton […]
Café Le Hibou was once an Ottawa institution, Ken Rockburn writes
The following is an excerpt from We Are As the Times Are: The Story of Café Le Hibou, by Ottawa writer Ken Rockburn. Once located at 521 Sussex Dr., Café Le Hibou was an Ottawa institution before closing its doors in 1975. The book is available at Perfect Books, Books on Beechwood, Compact Music and […]
17 political books to read this fall
With the summer reading season officially closed, some of the serious offerings snubbed on the dock await. Fortunately there were plenty of political books timed to coincide with the election campaign, and others offering policy prescriptions that could prove useful beyond. Here are some of the highlights to look for this fall. Already released: Strength […]
Excerpt—Children of the Broken Treaty: Canada’s Lost Promise and One Girl’s Dream, by Charlie Angus
Thirteen-year-old Shannen Koostachin understood that her fight for a proper school in her home community was more than just a request for infrastructure; she was also demanding the same opportunities for a healthy, prosperous future that are given to other Canadian children. In this excerpt, Charlie Angus documents a turning point in the campaign for a proper school, in May 2008, when […]
MP’s new book offers personal take on First Nations schools
Almost as much as his first-hand experience in his northern Ontario riding of Timmins-James Bay, Ont., and with Shannen Koostachin, whom he calls a “hero,” it was something Charlie Angus read that galvanized him to write his latest book. The NDP MP received a copy of James Daschuk’s 2013 Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of […]
It’s Harper way, or the highway
The Prime Minister’s Office has for decades assumed an increasingly central role in the operation of the federal government. But anyone who has observed the government up close in recent years would have to agree that Stephen Harper has broken new ground in the re-orientation to accelerate the shift of power away from elected Members […]
‘I remember on the way home phoning Raymond again and saying simply, ‘Forty per cent. We’re going to get 40 per cent in Jonquière-Alma’: Mulcair
When the new year began we were putting the finishing touches on our plans for our most ambitious campaign in the party’s history. We knew that the election could come as early as the spring, and we needed to be ready. Since becoming leader in 2003, Jack had kept his promise to make Québec a top […]
National carbon price only way to reduce emissions, Carbon Bubble author says
Jeff Rubin is not impressed with what he’s hearing from politicians on what he considers the most important issue heading into the federal election—climate change. The former chief economist at CIBC World Markets and author of several bestsellers warns in his latest book, The Carbon Bubble: What Happens to Us When It Bursts, that climate […]
Enough with the vitriol, time to start the civil conversation
Populations in the democratic world are becoming “increasingly divided” and there’s a growing ideological incompatibility between modern liberalism and conservatism, argues author William Gairdner in his book, The Great Divide: Why Liberals and Conservatives Will Never, Ever Agree. And if the civil conversation is failing, democracy is also failing. “Clearly, civil conversation at the surface […]
This sorry scheme of things
In trying to make sense of the latest “Senate scandal,” the most obvious factor is a series of appalling appointments. There is no need to list the names of the individuals involved; we all know who they are. Their shenanigans have been dismaying or titillating the country month after month in a tawdry political version […]
