[An edited version of this text was published in the Montreal Gazette, July 25th, 2012] I almost allowed myself to forget. The article by Jack Layton’s daughter Sarah takes us back to last summer, a paradoxical time of optimism, sadness and melancholy. Between his election success on May 2nd and his passing on August 22nd,…
Marois’ and Drainville’s Parti Québecois – a party that is a far cry in gravitas and substance from the PQ of yore — struck a win-win for themselves with this Charter proposal. Win-win because when – not if – it is struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada, it’s more ammunition to claim that…
I was asked about Justin Trudeau’s election recently, and I ended up typing the following, which I share (this is top-of-head, unedited text): “I figured he’d eventually run for the Liberal leadership, but maybe at the next cycle. That being said, I am now more hopeful, even optimistic. The “role” that he looks to be…
I haven’t had the chance to discuss much the issues of this election, having been extremely busy this entire month. I’m going into a big, 18-hour day tomorrow, but started typing up the following thoughts. They are incomplete, and many points would need expanding, but here they are. First, this is an analysis of the completeness of…
[Originally appeared in The Gazette April 22, 2010 Re: “It isn’t easy to fight clean” (Opinion, April 20).] Stanley Taube does what he accuses winners of wars of doing: writes his own version of what really happened. The Second World War did not spell “finis” to the Geneva rules, as Taube claims. In fact, it…
We have seen this scenario before, and to my dismay, we are seeing the same reactions from international “leaders”. From promises of a merciless response to commitments to annihilate the enemy. [Respectively, Francois Hollande and Manuel Valls.] But we need to stop dealing in this currency of violence. We need international leadership that gets us…
Contrary to every other election before this one, and (hopefully) every election after it , this election is not about the issues nor the programs. It’s not about burqa pipelines (sic), 15$ deficits (sic) or $10B daycares (sic). It’s also not about your traditional political leanings: Conservative, Liberal, NDP, Green or other. As long and complex as this campaign seems, it…
He’s not a man of his word,” Williams said. “He doesn’t keep his commitments, written or oral. I’m just basically saying to Canadians you can’t trust him and he doesn’t have any integrity.” “Everything (Harper) stands for, I don’t get it,” said Williams. “I just don’t understand how Canadians could put possibly put him back…
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, this election is out of the norm. It is exceptional and we cannot and should not apply traditional rules of behaviour to it. The real ballot question — whether it is for you or not – is the removal of Stephen Harper and his party from government. What was confusing for…
Ah, the niqab. Who could possibly support it, or be in favour of it? Let’s be clear: no one likes or “supports” the niqab. I don’t like the niqab, you don’t like the niqab, and that guy over there doesn’t like the niqab either. It doesn’t take a whole lot of moral courage or superior enlightenment to…
Society K 