Leo McKern transforms into the barrister with personality, magnificent inflection and dry wit
Thanksgiving in Canada is a wonderful, relaxing time. Turkey dinner with family. Football games and baseball playoffs. Listening to music. Catching up on reading. How could you ask for anything better? As it happens, I can add one cherry on top of the proverbial sundae. I was able to go through my DVD collection of…
Our surfer boy PM has been a national and international embarrassment since 2015
When Justin Trudeau was first elected prime minister in 2015, there were political issues he said he wanted to tackle immediately. One of his earliest priorities was a desire to repair Canada's fractious relationship with the Indigenous community. "It is time for a renewed, nation-to-nation relationship with First Nations peoples," he told some Quebec-based First…
What Vuong did was morally, ethically and politically wrong. But to be expelled for a procedural matter would be quite stunning
You may be familiar with the phrase’ game it out.’ It’s a way to examine ideas, scenarios, concepts and strategies to figure out what could happen – and what the end result could be. In politics and the media, we game out everything from written pieces to communications strategies. For fun, let’s game out a…
The federal election has been a colossal waste of time, effort and money
“I wasted time, and now doth time waste me; for now hath time made me his numbering clock: my thoughts are minutes; and with sighs they jar their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch, whereto my finger, like a dial’s point, is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears,” William Shakespeare wrote in…
Indian’ in the Cabinet: Speaking Truth to Power could open old wounds and create new ones
Elections in democracies generally fit under one of two historical patterns. They can be straightforward experiences where parties and candidates take an early lead and romp to victory or win comfortably. They can also be complicated situations where parties and candidates go up and down in the polls like yo-yos, face many twists and turns,…
He pivoted back to the ineffective Liberal plan against gun violence and moved forward
Most political parties face a few potential pitfalls during an election campaign. It seems rather obvious on the surface, right? Yet it’s astonishing how many parties and leaders are completely unprepared for what the march of history has repeatedly warned them to watch, learn and avoid. This year’s federal election has already witnessed a few…
Harassment such as that experienced by Rempel Garner and Trudeau must be immediately condemned
Canada’s federal election campaign just passed the two-week mark. Alas, we’ve already witnessed an invasion of the privacy of some politicians in public and private spaces. There was the Aug. 27 disruption of a Liberal rally in Bolton, Ont. Dozens of protesters, ranging from government critics to opponents of COVID-19 masks and vaccine passports, yelled…
If Liberals have a couple more weeks that resemble their first, re-election could be in serious jeopardy
During an election campaign, political parties are often faced with situations that could involve a few hiccups, some pitfalls, and even a major controversy or two. The Liberals, Conservatives, New Democrats and others aren’t immune to this. What differentiates them is how they handle these situations. From the initial response to the tactical use of…
Could we be witnessing a Liberal disaster in the making?
Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Carl Sandburg wrote, “Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come.” Sandburg’s line from his famous 1936 poem The People, Yes could also be incorporated into a modern context for the Great White North. To wit, “Sometime they’ll give an election and nobody will come.” All kidding aside, many Canadians will obviously…
George Orton won Canada’s first gold medal in the 2,500-metre steeplechase in the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris
The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, are over. They came pretty close to never materializing, however. The Tokyo Games were delayed a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. And a surge in COVID-19 cases in Japan this year led some health experts to suggest the Olympics should be cancelled. The Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun…
A growing number of Cubans are beginning to see through their government's lies. Why don't Canadians?
Canadians have travelled to Cuba as a vacation spot for decades. I doubt most of them ever considered that these excursions have aided its communist government in political and economic terms. CBC News senior reporter Evan Dyer recently pointed out this disturbing fact. “Cuban-Canadian activists say many Canadians are not aware of the extent to…
The role of government in a democracy isn’t to create barriers to free choice
As parts of the world begin to turn the corner with COVID-19, the discussion related to mandatory COVID-19 vaccine passports has started to intensify. A vaccine passport is a document that confirms an individual’s full immunization against COVID-19. It will contain a proper record of the COVID-19 vaccine doses that a person received and may…
A profile of someone who has been in the public eye most of his life but achieved little of note isn’t a worthwhile subject
Prince Harry is writing a book. Hmm. The crickets are pretty loud today. All kidding aside, it’s true. “The Duke of Sussex is to publish an intimate memoir of his life,” the Daily Telegraph’s Victoria Ward wrote on July 19, “which he has vowed will be ‘accurate and wholly truthful.’” The book will be published by…
Tim Allen and Richard Karn return to TV with reality series Assembly Required, where they show they remain a dynamic comedic duo
Situation comedies – sitcoms – have been a crucial component of television for decades. Everyone has their favourite shows. My list includes The Jack Benny Program, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, M*A*S*H, All in the Family, Cheers, Night Court, The Cosby Show, Newhart, Frasier, Father Ted and others. In particular, I’ve always had…
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association director Harsha Walia reacted to the burning of churches by tweeting ‘Burn it all down’
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) executive director Harsha Walia retweeted a Vice News article on June 30 about two Catholic churches being burned down in Canada. These terrible incidents were reportedly related to the discovery of unmarked graves of Indigenous children at three former residential schools. A retweet wouldn’t have been noticed by most…