Columnist Chantal Hébert socks it to the NDP for being out of the loop in last night’s near-death experience for the Liberal minority government. Along the way, she gives Jack Layton a history lesson on how to get your way as an opposition party with clout. All of which might be fair criticism if last […] More »

Thanks to meredith for passing this on: MANITOBA TO BECOME CARIBOU Dan Snaith, who released the albums Up In Flames (2003) and Start Breaking My Heart (2001) under the name Manitoba, has changed his name to Caribou following a lawsuit in the US. Frontman for punk band The Dictators, Handsome Dick Manitoba, sued Snaith for […] More »

I know this is a distraction from the fascinating US election campaign, but back here in meaningless ol’ Canada, the government is poised on the edge of a knife. The Bloc has tried to amend the throne speech with a call for Ottawa to address the “fiscal imbalance”, this mythical idea that holds that the […] More »

A press release today from the Periodical Writers Association of Canada (my employer) delights in a landmark copyright ruling in Ontario. And I quote: “…the Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court ruling in favour of PWAC member Heather Robertson, who is leading a class action suit on behalf of thousands of freelance […] More »

CNN’s Tucker Carlson writes a live-action blog during the Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates. Few surprises in his responses to the Cheney/Edwards debate (the man wears a bow-tie), which most media concedes was a hard-fought draw between two tenacious, intelligent politicians. But one comment from Carlson starts the bells ringing for me, and I’d like some […] More »

I’ve been meaning for ages to comment on all this post-health care accord asymmetrical-federalism stuff, but every time I sit down to do it, I get a stomach ache. The punditocracy is divided into two main camps. On the one side, there is Andrew Coyne, Norman Spector, and a small group of other federalists who […] More »

I’ve been away. Taking a blog break, actually. And this weekend I’ll be in New York City for the first time. Can anyone recommend a must-see attraction that doesn’t reek of foreign passports? I’ll be trying my darndest to get tickets to the Ramones tribute show put on by Blondie and The Strokes. Anyway, this […] More »

Chart Magazine recently ran this review of the rerelease of the album by John Kerry’s high school band. Having neither heard nor heard of this apparent abomination, I can offer no further comment… THE ELECTRAS S/T (RCA) Who’s gonna care what rock critics say about the man trying to knock George Bush off his throne? […] More »

UPDATE: Simon has dug up the link to the video. Apparently the CBC wants this excretion to live forever on the net. If you haven’t seen it, I insist you drop whatever important work you are doing and watch this. Epic crapitude. Did anyone else see that UNREAL rap video the CBC played at the […] More »

In today’s Post, Diane Francis declares that the idea of a “market” for oil is a joke. She calls for a Continental Energy Policy, to ensure that North Americans are self-sufficient in oil. She wants massive US government investment in the Alberta oil sands, which would not only “create jobs”, but free us from the […] More »

After many, many months now of fighting with the White House to lift the ban on Alberta beef, Ralph Klein has decided that the ban-man you know is preferable to a wild card. In the slipperiest political endorsement ever, Klein expresses his displeasure with the idea of an anti-Canadian-beef Kerry presidency (Kerry has made recent […] More »