Category Archives: progressive centre
Off in the Wrong Direction
In his 1999 biography, famed anchorman Walter Cronkite writes of being on assignment on D-Day in 1944 and, encountering the “redoubtable” Canadian journalist Charles Lynch. Journalists like Cronkite had to wait to file their stories by radio or wire later … Continue reading
The Ones That Got Away
You can always tell when democracy is in a period of decline when there is an increase in volunteerism, charity and celebrity status. It sounds counter-intuitive, but hear me out. We have entered a phase where civil society has to … Continue reading
Round Economies, Square Nations
Call it economic determinism, if you like – or even economic inevitability. Either way, Canadians feel as if they are mere passengers on some kind of runaway financial train. To make us even more anxious is this sense that we’re … Continue reading
A Few Good People
Having spoken to some of the municipal politicians and staff returning from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Vancouver, I heard the recurring theme of how there just isn’t enough money. In fact, they wondered if there will ever … Continue reading
Run Local, Think Global
Leaders from our country’s communities gathered en masse at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) in Vancouver this week and attempted to map out their collective future in a nation that continues to see its cities as the runt of the … Continue reading
Economy Without Humanity
We are partakers in an era where professional economists have grown so prominent as to minimize all other voices. It used to be that power was everything. Then it was politics. And now it’s the bewildering world of finance. There … Continue reading
The Drama of an Unfinished Life
I recall sitting in the House of Commons during the 2008 budget debate wondering, “What happens if the recovery finally arrives and we end up with less?” Sadly, that appears to be what has happened. We are no further ahead … Continue reading
The Fraud Squad
So, now it’s out, and what thousands thought to be true has been verified. Federal court judge Richard Mosley ruled yesterday that election fraud did indeed take place in the last federal election and that the finding is a huge … Continue reading
Where Did the Recovery Go?
Has economic growth reached the stage where it is no longer effective for most of us? An increasing number of observers believe that is the case. In arriving at the plateau where we almost blindly believe that economic growth surely … Continue reading
Thanks a Trillion
“Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it,” said Leo Tolstoy in his A Confession. Americans got a sobering and slightly angering dose of that reality early last week when a new economic report revealed … Continue reading