Yesterday, while sitting in the front seat of the car consulting her BlackBerry, my daughter made the following observation on the state of the Canadian economy. I used to have 170...

Notwithstanding Stephen Harper’s habit of going for the jugular (i.e. the federal government’s strategic early release of an audit on Attawapiskat), I’ve come to believe the prime minister may be...

I can hear the gnashing of teeth from Sparks Street in Ottawa to Ouellette Avenue in downtown Windsor. Yes, that would be the MPPs for the Liberal Party of Ontario....

We are in an odd position in Ontario. The current government is nominally in charge but has no authority to do anything. There is a lame-duck premier and no parliament.Cabinet...

The province of Ontario is broke.The Canadian government, while certainly not broke, is cutting back substantially on program spending. It wants less government for financial and ideological reasons.Northern Ontario is...

I have been recommending the establishment of something like a Northern Policy Institute (NPI) since I was a little boy in short pants. One of the extraordinary gaps in Northern...

With nothing better to do a few weekends ago I made a quick calculation of how many hours I’ve worked since launching Northern Life newspaper in Sudbury in the fall...

Occasionally, we do the right thing in northern Ontario. We focus on the right stuff, stay with it, attract broad-based support, stop competing with one another long enough to get...

 It was greatly anticipated, widely commented on, had our attention for a few days, and then receded back into the ether as quickly as it arrived. I’m speaking about something...

When I was 11 or 12 and living in Toronto, I acquired a tiny crystal radio set which could keep me entertained for hours, mostly under the covers at night...

There is a term which more or less began with Karl Marx and his Communist Manifesto, and went on to be popularized by Joseph Schumpeter, an Austrian-American economist of some...

Unless you have been on holiday in the Himalayas without access to a cell phone, newspapers, computers, or television and radio signals, you have learned about the appalling living conditions...

I’m in Halifax. It is Nov. 11. The rain is pelting down from the aftermath of yet another tropical storm making its way up the coast. The wind is blowing...

I think I’m part of the one per cent. You know the one per cent they are talking about on the streets of New York, London, Toronto, Rome, etc. I...

I have no idea how many elections I’ve observed, but it is fair to say in three score and a few years, I’ve seen enough to fill a bread box....

I happened to be in London, England a few weeks ago when the Murdoch scandal was just getting underway. It was quite fun to pick up a couple of newspapers...

If you know me, what follows would be the equivalent of me becoming a born again Christian. This is unlikely, as I am a once-born Unitarian, which is to say,...

As you read this, it is quite possible Stephen Harper is tucking himself into a nice big comfy loveseat in the corner at 24 Sussex Drive with an apple fritter...

It's impossible to watch Egypt demonstrating, Tunisia cleaning house, Saudi Arabia desperately bribing, Jordan firing cabinet ministers, Algeria shooting citizens in the streets, and Muammar Gaddafi bombing his own people...

There were days when Jim Grassby was insufferable. I mean, you would arrive for your Sunday morning gabfests that would include anywhere from three to 10 other keeners, and he...