Archive for May, 2011

Referendum says: Get to work

Monday, May 30th, 2011 Posted in Politics | No Comments »

Elected leaders, mired under the minutia of governance and politics, occasionally lose sight of their larger purpose. Sometimes, the big things, which should command their attention, are no match for ... Read more..

Waiting for summer sense

Friday, May 27th, 2011 Posted in General, Society | No Comments »

“Is there anything nicer than a weekend in spring?” That’s what one Globe and Mail Focus-section-factotum recently asked of his devoted readers, who were doubtless breathless from anticipating his answer. Of course, ... Read more..

One person, one vote, one subsidy

Friday, May 27th, 2011 Posted in Politics | No Comments »

The party subsidy system in Canada is a clunky, pay-it-backward approach to political fealty. Once you’ve found a new beau to spoon, you still owe two bucks to the guy ... Read more..

Playing politics along the Petitcodiac

Friday, May 27th, 2011 Posted in Environment | No Comments »

The green light to replace the causeway between Moncton and Dieppe with a bridge that permits both the Petitcodiac River and the traffic above it to flow freely waits patiently ... Read more..

The great pension divide

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011 Posted in Economy, Politics | No Comments »

Millions of Canadians are heading for what amounts to a seniors’ ghetto, and the best the chattering class can muster is the wag of a finger and the cluck of ... Read more..

Block that bafflegab

Monday, May 23rd, 2011 Posted in General, Humour | No Comments »

Once, early on in my part-time career as a government writer, I submitted a report the subject of which has altogether slipped my mind. (A failing memory does occasionally have ... Read more..

Welcome to Fat City. . .again

Saturday, May 21st, 2011 Posted in Politics | 2 Comments »

The Conservative Party’s tenuous grip on reform finally slipped this week as Harpertown formally replaced its small-government rhetoric with a vision of political leadership that makes the lard-filled years of ... Read more..

Their now-hidden agendas

Saturday, May 21st, 2011 Posted in Politics | 3 Comments »

In the age of Wikileaks, when any government official’s predilections and peccadillos are apt to transform even the least nosy among us into peeping toms, a recent Supreme Court ruling ... Read more..

The splendid days of Wallace McCain

Saturday, May 21st, 2011 Posted in Business | No Comments »

George Wallace Ferguson McCain, who died on recently at 81 after a 14-month battle with cancer, was the last of a peculiar breed of hard-scrabble, stunningly successful Maritime entrepreneurs. With his ... Read more..

So, now stop using “so”, eh?

Monday, May 16th, 2011 Posted in Society | No Comments »

So. . .the use of the adverb “so” to begin a sentence as a precursor of a thought in speech and written word has become so pervasive in recent years ... Read more..