The medal, enthused the GG, “is a tangible way for Canada to honour Her Majesty for her service to this country. At the same time, it serves to honour significant contributions and achievements by Canadians.”

How nice! How “tangible!” In all, around 60,000 Canadians will receive the shiny silver medals, which have a likeness of the Queen on one side, and her insignia and some maple leafs on the reverse side. To get one, you need to be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, you need to have made “a significant contribution” to the country, and you needed to be alive as of February of this year.

It also doesn’t hurt, apparently, if you are a Conservative Party hack, a separatist, a banker, a conservative tax lobbyist, a conservative cheerleader, or even a member of an organization with links to white supremacy and homophobia.

Justin Trudeau, that’s why. 

In the days leading up to Bob Rae finally acknowledging reality—that, despite his smarts and experience, he was never, ever going to be Prime Minister—I started hearing rumours that Trudeau was considering a shot at the top Grit job after all. I posted some of the speculation on my website. 

The response I received was astonishing. Literally hundreds and hundreds of comments—from Grits, sounding more hopeful than I’d heard them in years. And from Cons and Dippers, too, who sounded actually concerned. Worried, even. 

Based on the polls and based on the buzz, they should be. If Trudeau throws his hat in the proverbial ring, he could transform the Canadian political scene. 

Or he could flop, spectacularly, like Michael Ignatieff did.

…With the Parti Québécois becoming competitive again, Canadians will likely be looking for a federalist champion again. Harper, who is despised in Quebec, isn’t it. Nor is it Mulcair, with his party’s despicable Sherbrooke Declaration. 

Trudeau, meanwhile, is effortlessly bilingual and thoroughly multicultural and an avowed federalist. Ask any cabbie, in any urban centre, to predict who they think will be Prime Minister one day. Ask them who could speak for Canada again, when no one does so anymore. Trudeau’s name is the only one they know—because he appeals to demographic tribes where Harper and Mulcair simply don’t.

…Justin Trudeau is the leader the Liberal Party needs. There’s no question that most of my fellow Liberals feel that way. 

2. I wonder if Egypt would have narrowly elected this (allegedly) hardline guy, if Israel hadn’t previously elected an (allegedly) hardline guy, too?

3. I still find the naming of boys after the prophet Mohamed noteworthy. Why don’t non-Hispanic Christians name their sons “Jesus” more? And why do Hispanics do so?

Questions, questions. Answers, anyone? Anyone?

As you may have heard, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Lynn Smith ruled laws prohibiting assisted suicide were “discriminatory,” and gave an ailing B.C. woman the green light to kill herself with the help of her doctors.

Everyone else looking to kill themselves, however, will have to wait a year. Smith decided to give Parliament
12 months to get its laws in congruence with, you know, her view of things.

A 64-year-old Okanagan Valley resident, Gloria Taylor, suffering from ALS, was given a “constitutional exemption” from the law, which came as a surprise to those of us who laboured under the view that the Constitution did not permit “exemptions.”

Getting in on the polling business, the B.C. judge proclaimed there existed “a strong societal consensus about the extremely high value of human life, (but) public opinion is divided regarding physician-assisted death.”