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 […]
Steele offers a no-holds-barred account of politics
Former Nova Scotia NDP finance minister Graham Steele says he wrote What I Learned About Politics: Inside the Rise—and Collapse—of Nova Scotia’s NDP Government, because he wanted people to know what politics is really like. It ain’t pretty. In this eye-opening book, shortlisted for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing in 2014, Mr. Steele […]
Chrétien agrees there was a real possibility a Yes vote would have terminated his political career
Chantal Hébert and Jean Lapierre are shortlisted for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for The Morning After: The 1995 Quebec Referendum And The Day That Almost Was, published by Knopf Canada. The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize is administered by the Writers’ Trust of Canada. The winner will be announced at the Politics & the […]
Canadian authors on their books, why people should read them
Clive Veroni, author of Spin: How Politics Has The Power to Turn Marketing On Its Head, published by Anansi. “This was originally conceived as a how-to book for marketers. But in the course of writing it, I realized that its message is relevant for every citizen who wants to be engaged in the world. […]
Harper clampdown, media cuts make for staged, predictable Hill news: Bourrie
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s clampdown on Hill media access, combined with newsroom cutbacks over the last 25 years, has led to an “arm’s length sycophantic media,” with “staged” news coverage focused on the “the bogus rage and fake indignation of Question Period” and based on government-fed “pap,” says Mark Bourrie, author of the upcoming […]
Author offers a personal narrative to help explain complexities of the West’s role in Iraq
Canada should should have restricted its involvement to humanitarian assistance in the combat mission against ISIS in Iraq, says a Canadian author who’s written a book about her family’s history in the country. “It really wasn’t our war and why are we suddenly getting involved in this situation that’s even less easy to explain why […]
Thumper devoid of usual self-praise, partisan claims
How pleasant to read a memoir, which is a detailed story of a life, dedicated to public service and is almost totally devoid of the usual self praise, or partisan claims. The best example of doing what is right, not what is correct, from a partisan point of view is that this lifelong Liberal and […]
Party of One author Harris calls his book an ‘indictment’ of PM Harper
When Michael Harris was driving to distant corners of Canada while gathering facts and conducting interviews for his 500-page opus on the political turbulence the country has gone through under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, one former member of the Conservative caucus insisted on speaking to Mr. Harris on condition the two meet at a lonely […]
Common Ground: what it tells us about Justin Trudeau
TORONTO—Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s new book, Common Ground, (HarperCollins, 2014) will be considered Trudeau-light by most readers of The Hill Times who are inside the bubble of Ottawa. But they will be wrong. It’s a forthright self-analysis of the many strands of influence that make up the man who would be our Prime Minister. […]
