Canadian politics

What mother does not like Stephane Dion?

12/09/2006 by backofthebook.ca

It occurs to me, as I reflect upon my tropical beverage in the midst of Alberta’s midwinter heat wave, that rum and diet cola is a strange choice. Given the calories contained in a shot of rum, not to mention the source of rum itself, I wonder why I bother with the aspartame? Similarly, why […]

The Alberta party line

11/19/2006 by backofthebook.ca

These are mildly interesting times in Alberta, what with the resignation of King Ralph and the shuffling of candidates hoping to ascend the throne of the new centre of Canada. Albertans, though, seem not particularly interested in the outcome of the election, despite the fact that whoever is chosen by Progressive Conservative party members is […]

We belong in Afghanistan

10/31/2006 by backofthebook.ca

The Canadian Peace Alliance, Canadian Labour Congress, and Canadian Islamic Congress are wrong when they say that Canadians in Afghanistan are fighting an American war. Afghanistan is not Iraq — though that bloody civil mess is hardly a U.S. solo turn either. It was the British who decided it would be a good idea to […]

Sure, you’re a nation

10/24/2006 by backofthebook.ca

So I am sitting on the couch with a fruity beverage, when my youngest daughter walks up to me with a bucket on her head and says, “I am a mongoose.” I consider this for a moment and ask, “Do mongooses wear helmets? Or is it mongeese?” “Mongooses,” she announces, not at all knowingly. “And […]

Fathers For Stupidity

10/23/2006 by backofthebook.ca

Morons from a group advocating for fathers’ custody rights, Fathers For Justice, could not have picked a stupider place to lobby than the International Conference on Violence Against Women in Montreal. What could the two issues possibly have in common? How could one issue possibly impact another, unless the fathers in question meant to lobby […]

It’s enough to make you want to move to Egypt

10/20/2006 by backofthebook.ca

So I’m sitting on the couch watching the goopy rain spatter against the living room window, a steaming rum-based beverage close to hand, wondering if I ought not to pack up the kids and move to Cairo. No slush. No pesky Foreign Affairs Ministers sniping at their ex-girlfriends. And no pinched-faced blond-ambition bimbos whining about […]