Category Politics
Democracy In Action – Your Turn
Today is an important day for Canadian democracy, though my guess is most people in Canada are unaware of it. Not surprising given the usual level of political awareness and engagement. In a presidential system the leader of the country is elected directly by the people. In the Westminster parliamentary tradition the Prime Minister is […]
Virtually Marching For Life
Canada’s federal politicians are ecstatic Parliament is not meeting in Ottawa today. The second Thursday of May is the day they most dread. In ordinary times the annual March For Life would wind through Ottawa’s streets to Parliament Hill this afternoon. There would be at least 20,000 people calling politicians to account on Canada’s lack […]
Guns, Guns, Guns!
When the Prime Minister of Canada announced the immediate banning of 1,500 different types of assault weapons I was shocked. Did you know there were so many different types of guns? I didn’t. I’ve never owned a gun, pistol, rifle or assault weapon. Don’t expect to ever need one. I’m a city dweller (when I […]
Leading By Example? Sadly Yes.
“Stay at home! This means you!” How many times have you heard those words from politicians in the past month? Self isolation, social distancing, no unnecessary travel. No exceptions. Except it turns out there are. In Canada anyway. The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition don’t think the rules that apply to others […]
Land of Confusion
Are you as confused as I am? Or have Canada’s leaders lost touch with reality? You have to be 16 to get a driver’s licence. Eighteen to vote. And that isn’t all. There are age restrictions on who can smoke tobacco or marijuana, or legally drink alcohol. You can’t serve in the military until you […]
Narrowing The Field
Last week pundits were calling Bernie Sanders unstoppable in the race for the US Democratic party nomination. Now Joe Biden is the front runner. Last week Biden’s campaign looked all but over. Now other big-name candidates have dropped out, throwing their support to him in the hopes of stopping Sanders. Biden is the hope of […]
Lessons Learned? Probably Not.
It isn’t over. But at least the trains are running, for the most part. Passenger and freight trains were shut down in Canada for a couple of weeks. Not by weather, but by protesters. Rather than jump into the fray immediately, I thought I should take time to reflect on Canada’s recent political/economic crisispolitical/economic crisis. […]
An Election Non-Issue
Americans are voting in November. One issue that you are pretty much guaranteed to hear almost nothing about is gun control. Americans love their guns, and, on what seems like a regular basis, someone with a grudge will take one of those guns and shoot several innocent people. I think such incidents happen more in […]
The Other Candidates
American media is focusing on the race to find a Democrat to take on President Donald Trump in November’s election and ignoring what may be a more interesting race. There is a contest for the Republican nomination. Maybe contest is too generous a description. No-one expects Trump to lose his party’s nomination. That just doesn’t […]
The Day After
The pundits are out in full force to tell you the meaning of yesterday’s Democratic primary vote in New Hampshire, I’ll bow to their expertise – no matter how wrong they are. It was the end of the line for some candidates. Not because they don’t believe they have the right stuff to be president. […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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