Here’s a little Canada quiz. Who said this?

“French will survive if Quebecers cherish it and want to preserve it; it will flourish if Quebec becomes a freer, more dynamic and prosperous society; it will thrive if we make it an attractive language that newcomers want to learn and use. Not by imposing it and by preventing people from making their own decisions in matters that concern their personal lives.”

Did Pierre Trudeau utter those stirring words? Sir John A.? Jean Chretien? None of those men said that. But you can easily picture any one of them doing so.

How about this equally memorable quote: “It’s important that Quebec remain a predominantly French-language society. And ideally, everyone in Quebec should be able to speak French. But we should not try to reach this goal by restricting people’s rights and freedom of choice.” Did John Diefenbaker say that? Stephane Dion?

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I loved this story – loved it – because it shows the power of great journalism.

Something very simple – an older gentleman in a park, and the kooky goose who loves him – and written with a wonderful style, and a wonderful eye for detail.

When I read stories like this, it makes me want to be a journalist again. (And then I remember that I couldn’t write my way out of a proverbial paper bag.)

Anyway. A wonderful read. Worth your time.

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…wherein Dawg shines a light on the cockroaches.

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“The Ontario Progressive Conservative party brought two top guns to Winchester on Friday to slam a government-mandated emergency room cut at the hospital – even though neither the hospital nor the regional health agency has made any such plan.”

Rocco Rossi will fix it all up. Rocco can fix anything!

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@stphnmaher: RT @RobertFife: Ipsos pollster Darrell Bricker writes of Ekos poll: ” We’ve got almost the same. No anomaly.” #cndpoli

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“Now that he’s quit politics, in his new role as Newstalk1010 commentator, [John Tory] no longer needs to parse his words along political lines.

He has made the point that sometimes tax reforms such as the GST, introduced by former prime minister Brian Mulroney are unpopular, but necessary.

Still, this was a very public face-to-face encounter with his former Liberal adversary. And this has been a very bad week for PC Leader Tim Hudak. who often let his fig leaf drop to reveal his naked ambition when Tory was PC leader.

McGuinty has his game face on.”

But, as my colleague Chris would be the first to point out, a week is a lifetime in politics. We Ontario Liberals take our PC opponents very seriously – they are formidable adversaries (Rocco Rossi notwithstanding).

Still, not a bad week. We intend to work hard to ensure that Hudak has a few more bad weeks.

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…on taxation policy.

And, as Dalton McGuinty points out in the linked Star story, so too do Jim Flaherty, John Baird and Tony Clement – all senior ministers within Stephen Harper’s government.  They said the HST was the way to go, too.  So did other PC giants, like Bob Runciman.

The story is below.  I can’t wait to see how Rocco Rossi is going to fix this little communications problem!  As he always liked to remind us, he could fix anything!

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Former Progressive Conservative leader John Tory has jolted the upcoming provincial election by hailing Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty’s “courage” in levying the 13 per cent Harmonized Sales Tax.

“I haven’t won too many friends by saying, for example, that the HST, which many people love to hate, is nonetheless good economic and tax policy if we want to create jobs in the province of Ontario,” Tory said Thursday.

“And you know what, it took some courage to do it,” he said.

Tory — who resigned as PC leader in March 2009, three weeks before the Liberals unveiled the HST — made his comments to an influential audience of 600 people at the Greater Toronto CivicAction Summit Alliance conference.

“I’m not going to stand up and endorse him, but if you listen to my radio program you’ll know I don’t hesitate to commend him and his government when they do things that are right,” the Newstalk 1010 host said as he introduced the premier to the blue-chip crowd.

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Late entry in the contest, and worth a look:

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Middle son and I listened to this story on CBC radio this morning with delight.

Not only did Leonard Nickelray survive – he survived, he told the media, while he was listening to Pennywise and Rancid!

(Smart middle son observation: “Dad, it sounds like listening to punk rock loud was the reason he almost got killed.”  I told him I wasn’t interested in a contrarian son.)

Anyway, to equip you, too, with supernatural powers, and the ability to withstand collisions with speeding locomotives, here’s Pennywise with (naturally) ‘Knocked Down.’

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We give you Cheryl Gallant.

She’s always been a loon. She is a loon now.  She always will be a loon.

Why is anyone surprised?

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