Readers of the Globe and Mail will already have seen today’s front-page-above-the-fold article on diplomat Robert Fowler’s return to Canada and his interview on national TV about his abduction last year by a splinter group of AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb — itself a splinter group of the Algerian insurgency of the 1990s), [...]
Archive for the ‘Canadian politics’ Category
It came from the desert, part deux
Posted in Canadian politics, Foreign affairs, History, Media, tagged Algeria, AQIM, Mali, Robert Fowler on September 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Ignatieff Revolution
Posted in Canadian politics, tagged Ignatieff, Rights Revolution on December 13, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Ignatieff at the November 2006 Liberal leadership convention (credit: Simon Hayter, Getty Images).
On the occasion of Michael Ignatieff’s ascension to the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, I thought I would repost a review I wrote in 2000 of The Rights Revolution. Ignatieff and his party inevitably divide people, and my own faith in [...]
Reflections on the Last Canadian Election
Posted in Canadian politics on October 16, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Sans Everything is a Canadian blog but a large chunk of our readers are not lucky enough to be live in the great, white north. So I’ve written up an analysis of the recent, very complicated, election, trying to explain what just happened:
1. The Conservatives have won a second minority government in a row but their [...]
The Real Winner of the Election in Canada…
Posted in Canadian politics on October 15, 2008 | 3 Comments »
… is voter apathy. 59.1% of the eligible population voted in this last election, down from 64.7% in 2006. As recently as the early 1990s, more than 70% of the electorate voted. Voter apathy is perhaps the biggest problem in Canadian politics. The party that can figure out how to bring in non-voters could cause a [...]
Canada’s courtier press
Posted in Canadian politics, Media, tagged Canadian election 2008 on October 14, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Canada’s most boring election campaign in living memory is about to come to an end. The public was tuned out, and the contest was even more devoid of policy differences than usual. Elizabeth May’s participation in the debates was good to see. With that exception, however, the entire campaign seemed devoid of purpose and significance, a [...]
I’ve Always Thought of Him More As A Minor Demon
Posted in Canadian politics on October 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Stephen Harper’s been having trouble winning support in Quebec, a fact nicely captured by the following headline following headline from the Vancouver Sun:
Harper tells Quebecers he is not the ‘devil’
The opening paragraph is also good:
LONGUEUIL, Que. – Stephen Harper, looking to stem the dramatic slide of his party in Quebec, reassured Quebecers on Saturday that he [...]
Debating the Financial Crisis
Posted in Canadian politics, Philosophy on October 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Over at the libertarian website Liberty in Canada, Pierre Lemieux and I debate the financial crisis. Pierre argues for a laissez-faire approach while I, as is my wont, point to the advantages of the Swedish approach to crisis management.
Canadian Culture War, Part II
Posted in Arts and Aesthetics, Canadian politics, Popular culture on October 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In the United States, this has been a youtube election. A major part of Obama’s effectiveness at getting his message out is his campaign’s mastery of viral marketing, putting up extremely potent ads and videos which have circulated via emails and blogs.
Canada still lags behind in this type of viral campaigning [...]
The Culture Wars Come To Canada
Posted in Arts and Aesthetics, Canadian politics, Philosophy, tagged Canadian election, culture wars, Stephen Harper on October 6, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Pascal Blanchet poster, via Drawn and Quarterly.
I have an article on how the culture wars came to Canada, which can be read on the National Post’s website.
Harper’s Kulturkampf
Unexpectedly, culture has become a major issue in the Canadian election. Until this year, Canada had been largely exempt from the sort of wrangling over arts funding that blighted [...]
Lewis MacKenzie: The Sorrow and the Disgrace
Posted in Canadian politics, Foreign affairs, tagged Lewis MacKenzie, Romeo Dallaire on September 22, 2008 | 10 Comments »
Lewis MacKenzie and Roméo Dallaire are both retired Canadian military generals who served in United Nations peacekeeping operations. MacKenzie was sent to Bosnia in 1992 while Dallaire was posted to Rwanda a year later. Following their UN deployments both men became active in politics, MacKenzie running as a Progressive Conservatives candidate in 1997 while Dallaire [...]
