Chris Selley in the National Post Your results may vary, of course. Earlier in January, Ekos tagged Mr. Harper with a whopping 59% disapproval rating, against 34% approval — so, a -25% approval deficit. (Bob Rae, by comparison, had 44% approval against 24% disapproval.) That sounds bad. But in September 2010, the last time Ekos [...]
Stephen Harper
Warren Kinsella on Attawapiskat
Warren Kinsella has a great column on Attawapiskat. Over the years, I have advised many native bands. I have worked in communities almost as bad as Attawapiskat found in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. I have advised successive governments — Jean Chretien’s, Paul Martin’s and Stephen Harper’s — about dealing with problems which are quite similar to [...]
The race to the bottom
The Blackberry Roundtable with Kady O’Malley and Scott Reid has some interesting thoughts on the Conservative Party push polling the Irwin Cotler’s riding with the suggestion he had resigned. AP: When Montreal Liberal MP Irwin Cotler heard that someone was making phone calls to his constituents suggesting that Cotler had resigned and that there would [...]
What went wrong for the Saskatchewan NDP?
The view from Calgary (and the Toronto Star) “The NDP grassroots won’t even go door knocking anymore . . . the party only appeals to the mushy middle,” says Mitch Diamantopoulos, head of the journalism school at the University of Regina, a longtime activist and observer of Saskatchewan politics. For Diamantopoulos, the problems began in [...]
Brian Topp
Last week I got an invitation from Pat Atkinson to meet NDP leadership candidate Brian Topp at Amigo’s Cantina last night. I have always been fascinated by NDP leadership races, partly because they make absolutely no sense to me and I never know what is going to happen on the convention floor. (yeah I just [...]
Column: Environmental inaction costly
My latest column in The StarPhoenix I wasn’t surprised by Mike De Souza’s recent story that briefing notes prepared for Environment Minister Peter Kent indicate he doesn’t seem to take global warming seriously. De Souza, a Postmedia reporter out of Ottawa, has chronicled how Prime Minister Stephen Harper has for years politicized climate change. I [...]
Why the Canadian Wheat Board Still Matters
From the Calgary Herald Essentially, grain growers in the Prairies (not the rest of Canada), are obligated to sell their wheat and barley destined for export, domestic milling or malting to the CWB. The board in turn sells those grains, and pools the final price back to grain farmers. Those grains destined for livestock feed [...]
Getting Schooled.
Warren Kinsella takes on Michael Ignatieff’s essay on what it means to be a Canadian. Before he brought in the gaggle of geniuses who helped him to pilot the once-great Liberal Party of Canada into history’s ditch, I was an adviser to Michael Ignatieff. I didn’t know the guy, particularly, but I was friends with [...]
Partisanship at it’s worst.
Some sane advice from the Calgary Herald who points out that railing about the Prime Minister’s use of a Government of Canada Challenger Jet. All parties have been guilty of this and it is time to stop the partisan finger-pointing. Regardless of what party is in power, the prime minister should be allowed some perks. [...]
The gloves are off
Dan Gardner in the Ottawa Citizen on the bare knuckle politicking that is going on now. Readers will remember that the original "Enemies List" was compiled by Richard Milhous Nixon, a lifelong politician whose defining qualities were tactical ruthlessness and a burning sense of resentment for "eastern elites." Sound familiar? I don’t buy the argument [...]
