The kiss of death
The Flying Dutchman of Toronto Politics has made his choice: his choice is accordingly doomed.
Listen to Lasch. But Globians, by all means put it on the front page.
Apres lui, le deluge
Good riddance to bad rubbish
SFH at the Bovine, a few nights back
Ritalin Boy, Davey Snot and me. Love the grainy feel. Shows fewer wrinkles.
In tomorrow’s Sun: whither Quebec goest, so goest Canada
The Quebec question, that is. With Quebec Liberals now edging ahead of separatist Parti Quebecois rivals — by a whopping single digit, according to a June poll by the Leger agency — Premier Jean Charest is now considering pulling the plug and calling an election for Sept. 4.
What if he loses? What does it mean for Quebecois, and the rest of Canada?
For Charest, the rationale for going now is plain. The global economy is in serious decline once again, and all of Canada will inevitably be hurt by that. The lead that PQ leader Pauline Marois once enjoyed has evaporated. The fledgling Coalition Avenir Quebec party hasn’t caught on yet.
And, for some Quebec Liberals, they figure it is better to go now (when things aren’t so bad) than to go later (when things are likely to be worse).
Maybe. Perhaps. But what if that political shorthand is wrong?
Harper hate
I don’t hate Stephen Harper. (Don’t really hate anyone, in fact: when I hate someone, I’m not content to simply stew about it. I go out and do something about it.)
I was thinking about this yesterday, as I laboured to build a floating dock. (It’ll be fine as long as none of you step on it, BTW.) Harper had been very kind to my family when my Dad died, and we will never forget that.
That doesn’t mean we agree with many of his policies – we of course don’t – but we don’t see the man as evil incarnate, either.
Dan Gardner this morn on the Harper Haters:
Gardner goes on to say that social media is to blame for a lot of this. Unless I’m reading him wrong, he’s saying social media largely created Harper hate.
If so, he’s wrong on three counts.
One, social media doesn’t actually create anything. It’s a noisy, chaotic mirror. It simply reflects what is already there.
Two, “hate” is too strong a word. Writing for the Sun, or being a liberal on the conservative-dominated blogosweird, I get called more nasty names in a day than you will in a lifetime. But I know most of what I get isn’t hate – it’s just bad tempter, or undiagnosed mental illness. Almost always, the critics calm down; sometimes, we even end up being pen pals.
Three, Harper is a unique case. He’s not ever the norm in any baseline social media analysis. With the recent exception of Angry Tom Mulcair, Harper has practiced the politics of division more than any politician in living memory. You reap what you sow, etc.
Anyway, read Gardner. You won’t hate him for it.
I think.
Roxy, Canada’s best-loved political dog, gets made up at Sun News!
Warren’s Wacky World of Wildlife
Got up to cabin with daughter and her fellow camp counselor, both on one-day furloughs, around 10:30. Roxy, who is dumb as a post, acting weird. Neighbour down the way calls out to keep dog in – “there’s a big fisher about.”
They’re nasty bastards (the fishers, not the neighbours), and I doubt the dog would win a scrap with (what sounds like) a big male fisher.
Assuming I have, er, sufficient firepower (and you should), is there any chance I could dissaude said fisher from eating my dog?
Input welcome, as always. Over and out.
Almost there
To Calgary, with love
It’s my true home, it’s where I grew up, it’s where my family spent the most years: Calgary.
But can anyone explain to me why Stephen Harper would, ever state that it is Canada’s “best” city?
I think it’s pretty awesome, too. It’s amazing, in fact.
But it seems like a pretty substantial rookie flub on the part of the so-called Master Strategist.
Anyone agree?