You may be aware that U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain was in Ottawa today speaking to the Economic Club of Canada. Canada has been coming up in the presidential campaign relatively frequently as of late, what with the so-called NAFTA-gate controversy and the Democrats' continuing promises to renegotiate NAFTA if they win the [...] Read More…
I was off to the capital last weekend to cheer on my brother and friends in the Ottawa Race Weekend half marathon. I'm more of the short and fast type and had hoped to tear it up in the 5km race, but alas, I didn't register in time and the event sold out. [...] Read More…
All of the Canadian national news providers were headlining tonight with the story of Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski’s 1991 video containing an anti-gay slur. In case you didn’t catch it, it goes like this: TOM LUKIWSKI: Well, as we say in tour, I may be old, but I’m fucking A, eh. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: [...] Read More…
After I witnessed the excitement in America around the recent primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire, I started thinking about the state of Canadian politics and why we're so, well, boring. I was hanging out with Rob when Barack Obama delivered his speech after a landslide win in the Iowa primary. Rob was [...] Read More…
The NDP is freaking out over Stephen Harper's image consultant and wants to know how much money she makes, blah blah. It's pretty clear that Harper needs some help with dressing himself, so pay her six figures! Anything so we don't have to endure this pain every time he picks an outfit. [...] Read More…
The Conservatives are polling in majority territory following the government's 2007 budget. Eek! The good news is that Stockwell Day might finally burn after allegations surfaced that the old Canadian Alliance party under his leadership offered the Okanagan riding's MP $50k to step aside and let Day run in his place. How many lives [...] Read More…
Many hard-core federalists have criticized the Liberals' resounding support for the Bloc Québecois motion recognizing Québec as a "nation" (you may remember Ignatieff's tag line: le Québec est ma nation, le Canada est mon pays). Myself, I view the motion as entirely procedural and reject Gilles Duceppe's cries for parliamentarians to recognize it as [...] Read More…
Now that most of the Liberal good old boys have been cut out of the leadership race, I've been trying to figure out the one who gets my vote. (I'm not actually a card-carrying Liberal, but I could be). Both Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff get me excited about a return to the [...] Read More…
Canadian politics is a really boring subject. Things are about as exciting as the declining Chretien era, maybe even more dry. Harper's PMO has a vice grip on the Conservative caucus and has centralized decision making to the point of insanity. Actually, I'm pretty sure that he has secretly replaced all of [...] Read More…
I watched Stephen Harper on The National’s “Your Turn†last evening. It was nice of him to show up, you know, after canceling the town-hall-like event and then avoiding rescheduling until the last week of the campaign. Read More…