More pesky media attention for the seal hunt and bigger trouble still for the lying liars employed at big American newspapers. Seems a graphic and controversial first person account of a brutal seal hunt published this week by the Boston Globe was, you guessed it, a fabrication. Writer Fabricated Boston Globe Story on Seal Hunt […] More »

Ethics chief admits doing a poor job OTTAWA – Calling it “a nightmare,” the Ethics Commissioner of the House of Commons yesterday acknowledged his office’s unacceptable and poor performance in the past year. … He also indicated he is unwilling to crack down on two unidentified members of Parliament before a possible June election, even […] More »

Today the Canadian Association of Journalists announced the nominees for its awards for outstanding investigative journalism. I sincerely wish I had read or watched more of these stories, if for no other reason than to write more informed off-the-cuff blog posts. Is it the case that much of this work flew under most Canadians’ radars? […] More »

While federal polticians waste time and attract attention over a possible election, the citizens of British Columbia have a real fight on their hands: trying out oust an irresponsible (neo)Liberal government. Unfortunately, progressives in B.C. are up against some serious obstacles. After four years of a privatization, slash-and-burn agenda that has gutted public services, filled […] More »

Though I hate to flog dead horses, I thought I’d return to our recent debate, Crime, Corruption and Cameron, or whatever it was called, and give a nod to the Ryerson Review of Journalism. (The magazine, produced by students in Ryerson’s magazine journalism program, launches tonight.) Anyway, there’s an excellent package of stories in the […] More »

Over at Politics Watch, they’ve set up a vote selector quiz. Answer 19 questions, and based on your answers they match you with the federal leader that most closely fits your profile. Like web-dating, but even dorkier. So, I plugged in my preferences, and discovered to my shock and horror that here are my match […] More »

We let the 25th Anniversary of the death of one of our heroes go unmarked. Terry Fox. Hail, Terry. You remind every one of us that there’s always a little bit that we can do, individually. Incidentally, Douglas Coupland has a beautiful new book, a tribute to Terry Fox. Proceeds are going to charity. For […] More »

According to this report in The Toronto Star , Stephen Harper feels no need to wait to force an election – and if I were advising him, I’d agree. Why wait, when all the other parties seem to be cooperating with the Gomery Inquiry and the press to guarantee a one-issue (well zero-issue really) vote? […] More »

I’d like to direct everyone to the excellent discussion sparked by Mason’s Controversial! posting about investigative journalism below. Degen has just weighed in with some important points. I’d like to add something here. It is important to recognize that Adscam is not really an aberration. Despite all the protests about it “not being part of […] More »

David Ahenakew’s trial has come to a close. Ahenakew said all kinds of nasty things about Jews to a reporter, but now says he was feeling disoriented from new medication for diabetes when he made the controversial comments. Except, as Alex Roslin found out, this member of the order of Canada had been saying this […] More »

The great, universal complaint of our era is overwork. We’re all harried, exhausted, enslaved by the Man, and working too hard to enjoy our lives. But is it possible that the culprit isn’t our work ethic after all, but our leisure ethic? That’s from my latest piece in the new, wonderful, Toronto Sunday Star. From […] More »