Baird’s icy UN approach is just what many Canadians have ordered

If Paul Heinbecker didn’t exist, the opposition Liberals, New Democrats and Greens would have to manufacture him in a lab.


From his perch on the op-ed pages of the Globe and Mail, or on the airwaves of the CBC, this most august of retired Canadian diplomats regularly casts thunderbolts at the Harper government, more in sadness than in anger. Worldly and world-weary, Heinbecker knows — simply knows, to his core — that the Harper government’s foreign policy, especially its frostiness towards the United Nations, is inept, harmful to Canada’s standing in the world, and, well, just plain stupid.

Attack ads and bullying

Pundits and politicians have been tripping over themselves in recent weeks to point out the apparently delicious irony that a Conservative government working hard to criminalize bullying among schoolkids has been incessantly bullying Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau via particularly venomous attack ads.

The point has been made ad nauseam. But the point is a dubious one.

New Bank of Canada Governor’s most important attribute is understanding the Harper agenda

Bank of Canada Governors are appointed by the bank’s independent directors, subject to the approval of the Minister of Finance and the federal Cabinet. At least, that’s how the Bank of Canada puts it.

Jim Flaherty would doubtless say it differently – the directors give the Finance Minister a shortlist of qualified candidates and he picks the one most likely to follow the government’s agenda.

In reality, it is a very political appointment – which, in part, explains why Stephen Poloz is the new Governor.

Harper sneers when statesmanship is required

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is at risk of sneering himself into irrelevance.

His comments on terrorism in the last three weeks have left Canadians shaking their heads, hoping he doesn’t really mean what he says and looking elsewhere for answers. They want to know how young men amid them, going to the same schools as their kids, turn into mass killers. Who is radicalizing them? How does this metamorphosis happen in plain view of their unsuspecting parents, friends, teachers and imams?

Democracy and the decline of Parliament

Since his days as Paul Martin’s campaign chairman ended, David Herle has given a lot of thought to the state of our democracy and the increasing disconnect between Parliament and Canadians.

And the more Herle studies the issue, the more the former prime minister’s strategist worries.

“There’s a growing gap that could have serious long-term implications for the health of our democracy” from voter turnout to policy formation, Herle says over coffee one recent afternoon in downtown Toronto.

The Wizard of Wrath: Harper and the death of civility

Watching Canadian politics these days is like trying to see the Wizard behind the curtain.

Another budget bill full of sneakiness and bellicosity. Another auditor general’s report showing that the government needs new batteries for its calculator.

Just as in the movie, our Wizard is playing the bully with the big stick to the very end. In big things and little ones, the movie Wizard was nothing like the superior being that Dorothy, the Tin Man and the Lion expected to see when he was finally exposed. With Stephen Harper there is not much on display other than the lust to control, exercised with that familiar and most un-Canadian mean streak. What? Did someone take his rubber ducky away when he was a kid?

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives to lead review of Canadian history

OTTAWA — Federal politicians have launched a “thorough and comprehensive review of significant aspects in Canadian history” in Parliament that will be led by Conservative MPs, investigating courses taught in schools, with a focus on several armed conflicts of the past century.

Elections Canada needs politicians onside to change voting system

Elections Canada wants to avoid the procedural errors that plagued the last election, but the changes will likely cost money and require political will.

An independent report commissioned by Elections Canada found a pattern of serious errors in voting procedure during the 2011 general election. It said that election officers made over 500 serious administrative errors per riding on voting day.

Charge in robocall case has caused split among Guelph Tories

Several members of the Guelph Conservative riding association have left the group because they are unhappy with the way the central party reacted when local election worker Michael Sona was charged in connection with a fraudulent robocall that sent hundreds of Guelph, Ont., residents to the wrong poll on election day.

Stephen Harper has reshaped Canada in two years

The Conservative majority turned two Thursday. Hold the cake.

For all its carefully-crafted imagery as the stay-the-course, steady-as-she goes government, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have reshaped much of this country in 24 short months.

From the environment, to health care, to foreign policy, this is a different Canada than it was May 2, 2011, and many of the Harper initiatives may not be easily undone by future governments, or even future leaders of a Conservative government.