By Claudio D’Andrea At a slim 124 pages, Mel Hurtig’s latest book, The Arrogant Autocrat: Stephen Harper’s Takeover of Canada, doesn’t leave him much track to bulldoze the Conservative prime minister’s record. Instead this series of short chapters is like a bobcat that levels the mess that “The Harper Government” has made of our country. […]
Conservatives
ISIS rampages, artists fuss
By Jim Henshaw It wasn’t the first time somebody has died on stage. Two of recent theatre’s great comedians, Dick Shawn (The Producers) and Sid James (pick any Carry On . . . movie) both did final pratfalls that convulsed their audiences –- until the realization dawned that they were never getting up again. Genesius, the […]
The debate: Blow by blow, tweet by tweet
[View the story “BoB live tweets the leaders debate” on Storify]
Harper’s enablers at Maclean’s
By Frank Moher We’ve pretty much accepted the fact that, with things like the imaginatively named Fair Elections Act and the early election call, the PM is out to undermine democracy in Canada. We’re to the point that, if Harper announced he was calling off the election and had the Governor-General bound and gagged in a back room […]
Avoiding the fate of the nanny
By Frank Moher The Conservatives were once a respectable party. That was way back when they were the Progressive Conservatives, though their alleged progressivism didn’t have much to do with it, as they were never all that progressive. Instead, they were respected for a certain stalwartness and decency, even by their opponents. Leaders like Robert Stanfield and Joe Clark may […]
Afraid of the scaremongers
By Frank Moher Now that the Conservatives’ Bill C-51 is law, having been boosted over the wall by 44 compliant Senators, it’s time for the RCMP to get to work and start arresting people. They can begin with the Conservatives. Because if any organization has been instilling fear in Canadians lately, for blatantly political and ideological ends, it hasn’t been […]
Who really fired Evan Solomon?
By Montreal Simon When Evan Solomon was appointed host of the CBC program “Power and Politics,” I didn’t think he would be able to fill the very large shoes of the departing Don Newman. He was missing about 30 years of journalistic experience. And although I was right, he gradually began to win me over, in […]
MacKay jumps. Next!
By Montreal Simon I’ve watched a lot of Stephen Harper speeches over the years, but the farewell speech he gave for Peter MacKay on Friday had to be one of the most bizarre. For not only was Harper strangely agitated, and managing to look both cheerful and horribly lonely at the same time. What was […]
$175,000 to shake hands with the terrorists
By Frank Moher You’re liable to hear quite a bit today and for the next few days about the Governor General’s $175,000 plane flight to Saudi Arabia to offer condolences on the death of King Abdullah. That’s because it’s the perfect story for an election year, along with the widening Senate scandal and Pierre Poilievere’s weekend […]
Pierre Poilievre and the nattering nabobs
By Frank Moher Sometimes, to my amazement, and certainly against my better judgement, I find myself sympathizing with our current federal government. These moments — some might call them lapses — occur very occasionally. The last one, for example, was in June of last year, when the Cons reversed themselves on the idea of charging a […]
