Canadian journalism is beset by a pack mentality. It is, increasingly, hard to find an original and independent voice in the mainstream newspapers, which is why blogging has so quickly become such a vital part of my media grazing. Even the columnists I like are, frequently, better bloggers than they are columnists; I remain convinced […] More »

It’s exodus time for the media. If you’re not doing a stand-up from St. Peter’s at this very moment, you are just not a serious media personality. See Art Johnson’s media column in the latest THIS Magazine for insight into the pack mentality now on display to honour one of the last great vestiges of […] More »

Driving north the other weekend, I had a brief glimpse into one possible future for our famous socialized health care system, now famously under attack by private interests hoping to profit from illness. Hasn’t Ralph Klein been doing a roadshow talking up the benefits of free market diagnostics? Nevermind the moral questions for Canadians, I’m […] More »

Doug Saunders wrote a nice piece in Saturday’s Globe (I’d link to it, but it’s only accessible with subscription) about problems in Athens related to the Olympics. To wit: the venues were built in a rushed manner, using poor materials and methods and done over budget to make deadlines, and now they are virtually useless […] More »

From the new edition of the American Prospect: The spirit of ’68 still lives on in some quarters of the left. Too bad — there are much more effective ways to be an opposition party than by reliving the past. More »

Three years ago, I wrote a piece for This Magazine entitled “Death Rays.” It was a short, fun little thing pointing out that American scientists seemed to be devoting a great deal of energy to building Death Rays. But you can never to be too playful. My piece was reprinted in the Ottawa Citizen (back […] More »

CBC radio host Paul Kennedy is launching a campaign to get Leonard Cohen nominated for a Nobel Prize. The campaign begins, with help from George Elliott Clarke, Michel Garneau, Edward Palumbo and Karen Young, on Saturday, April 2 at 20h30, at Blue Metropolis in Montreal. Does Leonard Cohen deserve a Nobel prize? Is it the […] More »

Hobbesian nuts like Heath and Potter (and the late philosopher John Rawls) not-so-secretly pine for an all-powerful social contract that would create permanent cultural and political synthesis. So you see, kids, it’s your inborn duty to rebel. Otherwise the future development of human history will be a thing of the past. Heath and Potter have […] More »

The New York Times has thrown a heavyweight editorial into the creators’ corner in the ongoing struggle over copyright in this crazy, mixed up digital world. Here’s a bit: Both the court and Congress should be sensitive to evolving technologies. But they should not let technology evolve in a way that deprives people who create […] More »

Imagine the following scenario: In a bid to make Parliament more “democratic”, the government decides that it will no longer independently debate policy, draft and introduce legislation, submit a budget, or make executive decisions without the explicit say-so of “the people”. All proposals would have to come from “the citizens” and would be subject to […] More »

from The Toronto Star “In a brief appearance before reporters at the Prairie Chapel Ranch yesterday, as the three leaders walked along with Barney, the president’s Scottish terrier, a casually dressed Martin joked that the big difference between Bush’s farm and his own in Quebec’s Eastern townships was the lack of snow. Deputy Prime Minister […] More »