NDP MP Dewar’s failed attempt to change Pretoria Bridge name shows names matter
In this summer of bad-tempered politics, one bright spot appeared: The tale of a canal bridge and what’s in a name. Paul Dewar, NDP MP for Ottawa Centre, sent a card to every constituent asking for support to rename the midtown Pretoria Bridge for Nelson Mandela in “appreciation of our shared struggles,” he wrote in […]
Public opinion of Khadr not irrelevant
The public have opinions. These are not irrelevant in conducting public business. At the Edmonton Journal online readers were discussing accused Canadian war criminal Omar Khadr and somebody asked rhetorically, “Do I want him for a next-door neighbour? Positively not. I don’t even want him in my country.” This is the key to the Khadr […]
Harper has a proven inability to interpret economic data
Focus, the prime minister told reporters, so I focused. He said focus four times in a short speech just to make sure we’d write it down, which is not so easy. They don’t teach shorthand at journalism school and Harper talks at 130 words a minute. “Focus on the economy,” Stephen Harper said. Helpful journalists […]
Five years after same-sex marriage bill, political effects still rippling
Five years on, can Canadians gauge the impact of Liberal gay marriage legislation? This summer’s anniversary of the Civil Marriage Act drew a shrug in newsrooms and only platitudes from pundits. Most didn’t appear to notice. The bill was far-reaching. It marked the first time Parliament changed family law without exhaustive committee hearings, Commons study […]
Doesn’t truth-telling matter anymore?
Does truth-telling matter anymore? Public servants have been cited for creatively interpreting the ninth commandment, “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” None appeared to suffer any material inconvenience. They say honesty is always the best policy. Is it really? In these famous cases dubious, eye-rolling statements were uttered under oath, so-help-me-God. The witnesses were politicians […]
Media’s treatment now of Ignatieff seems petty and vindictive
It’s the spectacle of the summer, watching liberal media devour Michael Ignatieff in a kind of struggle session. They seem determined to frog-march him to ridicule. Ha-ha! That’s 26 per cent in the polls! Take that, Harvard! Something in the Liberal leader draws the fang in pundits who seem burdened with an emotional investment in […]
Coren’s foamy on the war on terror
Readers of a national newspaper chain were told recently tens of thousands of people in this country are un-Canadian because of their thoughts. Talk of “traitors” was bandied about. I refer to writings of Michael Coren, a TV host at Crossroads Christian Communications Inc. and Toronto Sun contributor. His columns are published by Sun dailies […]
How do you tell Canadians and Americans apart at a dinner party?
It was a provocative question that stopped a famous Canadian cold. Years later it still begs a response. Could you answer it? In 1959 Maclean’s Ottawa editor Blair Fraser recorded a television interview with Vincent Massey at the Governor General’s Port Hope, Ont., home. Massey prided himself a connoisseur of culture. He collected Canadian art, […]
Media cast G20 anarchists as common criminals: they’re not
Media shocked, shocked by the G20 fiasco cast rioting anarchists as common criminals prone to senseless violence. They were wrong on both counts. They were uncommon criminals who targeted the property of corporations and police in a calculated, methodical way. The violence was political. This fact appears so upsetting to journalists—that “violence” and “politics” are […]
Everybody cooked once, now home cooking is rare and indifferent
The Hill Times used to publish recipes submitted by lawmakers and Parliamentary staff. Why we dropped that feature I’ll never know. My favourite recipe circa 1994 was from Reform MP Lee Morrison—a Saskatchewan dish we nicknamed “Meal In A Bowl” comprised mainly of chipped beef, fried onions, and evaporated milk. It was outstanding. Everybody cooked […]
