Star refuses to let education budget story go, despite the facts
For students of applied propaganda there is no shortage of valuable lessons to be taken from the mainstream media in this country — practically on a daily basis. But nobody does it better than The Toronto Star Witness the paper’s huge front-page main headline last Wednesday: “Ontario plans $800 million education cuts.” It turns out, […]
Do you feel safe on the Hill? [Question period]
“Yes I do. I’ve never had any problems, never been threatened, never been intimidated and never been worried. I think security guards are doing a great job. Bloc MP Richard Marceau Charlesbourg, Que. “Yes, I feel security on the Hill is quite good. I haven’t heard of any instances of people walking around the corridors […]
House battle plans: opposition vows to block legislation [Nisga’a treaty]
Reform House Leader Randy White thinks his party’s plan to delay the Nisga’a legislation as long as possible is more than just House of Commons high links — it’s an obligation to Canadians. “The government voted down the opportunity for British Columbians to have a referendum on Nisga’a, and now they think they’re going to […]
Racism keeps minorities out of public service elite, says senator
Tory Senator Don Oliver has called the prime minister, the clerk of the Privy Council and mandarins to task for allowing “systemic racism” to bar visible minorities from the higher echelons of the civil service During a Nov. 3 speech in the Senate. Sen. Oliver cited the latest employment equity report which stated that out […]
Canada’s future digital GI Joe
General Maurice Baril, the not-so omnipotent chief of the defence staff, found his way out to the dubious war zones of Calgary, Alberta last week. There, he delivered a speech to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and a message to Parliamentarians about the need tar high-tech weaponry in the Digital Age. Noting that his troops […]
[The three questions: prosperity & the public good]
Don’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t buy one because of its dust-jacket. That’s useful advice when it comes to Bob Rae’s most recent offering, The Three Questions: Prosperity and the Public Good. On the front cover is a reproduction of a superb painting, The Peasant’s Wedding by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. On the […]
[To match a dream: a practical guide to the history & histrionics of Canada’s constitution]
The relationship between Deborah Coyne, Michael Valpy and Pierre Trudeau are complex and go far beyond the confines of this review. Let us just say that the three share a number of things in common, one of which is a vision of Canada. That vision is expressed in Ms. Coyne and Mr. Valpy’s book, To […]
[Blue trust: the author, the lawyers, his wife, & her money]
“Suicides are not uncommon in that part of Montreal; the police see about one a month.” “That part,” refers to a neighbourhood of millionaires in the Montrose Avenue area of Westmount in Montreal. Each time this happens, the particulars of the tragedy could be the devastating final chapter of a gripping book, especially if written […]
Dalton Camp picks the best Canadian books of the year. oh ya
British author Deborah Moggach who served as a judge for the Whitbread Book of the Year award found the experience exhausting. Whitbread judges, unlike those of other literary juries, divide the books among them. “I only had to read 55 books,” Ms. Moggach told the press, “so I’m not in such a state of exhaustion […]
Former Liberal MP and House Speaker Lloyd Francis to tell all in upcoming book
Say it ain’t so…National Capital Commission bureaucrats, watch out. In his memoirs, expected to be published sometime early next year, former House Speaker and Ottawa West Liberal MP Lloyd Francis skewers the Crown corporation for some previously unpublicized historic boondoggles. Mr. Francis gathered the information while he was an MP off and on during the […]
