Mar 8 2019 — Heather Mallick — Toronto Star — It was a bit of a shock when Jane Philpott suddenly quit her cabinet job, partly because the collection of notecards taped to the bookcase beside my bed includes this one: “What would Jane Philpott do?” Every morning I say to myself, “I bet Jane Philpott would get out of bed” and to my mind, […]
Feb 4 2019 — Heather Mallick — Toronto Star — All hail CBC president and CEO Catherine Tait for fearlessly standing up for Canada at a parlous time when the American elephant thrashes and trumpets at the rest of the world. Go stomp on someone else was her message, and we should be proud. Tait, who has spent her life in the Canadian broadcasting industry, […]
Jan 21 2019 — Heather Mallick — Toronto Star — Brexit has Britain roaring with quarrels but here’s the strange part. They’re not with the EU. They are within Britain itself, as if the nation were having a drug intervention with Theresa May after that bellowing Commons catastrophe. “Welcome to the Blunderdome,” wrote journalist Marina Hyde. As is usual with interventions, it brought up childhood […]
Jan 19 2019 — Heather Mallick — Toronto Star — Speaking of Freud’s narcissism of minor differences, certain people in Burnaby, east of Vancouver, think certain other people don’t fit in. With them, that is. If this were a local matter confined to toxic former Liberal candidate Karen Wang, fine. But if it’s a sign of self-generated ethnic split in a multicultural nation, it is […]
Nov 10 2018 — Heather Mallick — Toronto Star — A flood of sexual harassment has swept over male Conservative politicians federal and provincial, leaving everyone soaked in distaste and sudsing in dubious fluids. Now the oak flooring is ruined, just ruined. They’ll repair it, but they know it’s going to flood again. There is something about being a prude in public that makes men […]
Aug 20 2018 — Heather Mallick — Toronto Star — I was genuinely taken aback. A Toronto Sun columnist who should have known better mockingly tweeted a list of the times Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had cried in public. It was labelled #TrudeauCried. Hashtags like that magnetize hate on Twitter. The list began with Trudeau crying at his father Pierre’s funeral. Then at Auschwitz. At […]
Jul 16 2018 — Heather Mallick — Toronto Star — Canadian taxpayers are shocked, shocked to find out that Conservative leader Andrew Scheer has wasted their hard-earned money on trifles at magnificent Castle Stornoway in Ottawa. There he dwells at the expense of poor-but-honest citizens with his new coral-lined chimney and majestical roof fretted with golden fire. For Scheer is spending what could add up […]
Jun 26 2018 — Heather Mallick — Toronto Star — The federal Conservatives have gone Trumpish, campaigning online and in the House of Commons in absurd terms that call out to the foolish, spiteful elements of voters’ psyches and Canadian sense of self. That’s a given. But will it work? I think Canadians are too sensible and fair-minded for this. Still, one does worry.
Jun 15 2018 — Heather Mallick — Toronto Star — The great failing of political speechmaking and its reporting has been the deletion of context. Once a vast and useful canopy, it has gone missing at a time when citizens have never needed it more. Columnists want a headbanger Orwell-essay intro. Reporters want a sound bite, the more emotional the better. Politicians want a slogan: […]
Jun 5 2018 — Heather Mallick — Toronto Star — Is Ontario PC populist Doug Ford a failing businessman? It’s not clear if Ford is copying the Donald Trump playbook or if the dice just fell that way at birth. But his Trump-like refusal to provide any financial information about his company — or even his own salary at Deco Labels — to refute Renata […]
May 7 2018 — Heather Mallick — Toronto Star — The prime ministers’ residence at 24 Sussex Drive has won high praise from its National Capital Commission overseers. It is safe to live in but “in poor condition” which even in hyperbolic real estate terms means it is a total teardown shunned even by bats.
Apr 24 2018 — Heather Mallick — Toronto Star — Toronto is generally such a peaceful place that the news of a mass killing at Yonge St. between Finch Ave. and Sheppard Ave. sounded immediately implausible. People on the sidewalk? Someone must have hit the gas instead of the brakes. That happens, though usually in mall parking lots.
Apr 9 2018 — Heather Mallick — Toronto Star — Doug Ford is not a shy man, not at all. So why is he running a stealth campaign to be Ontario’s next premier? He’s hiding from the media and refusing to have the traditional media bus attached to his campaign. He was shockingly rude in turning down an invitation to join the Black community debate […]
Mar 31 2018 — Heather Mallick — Toronto Star — New parents will be celebrating Ontario’s new budget plan for free licensed daycare for children between 2-1/2 and kindergarten age. The toddlers themselves, quietly swallowing whole grapes and staggering towards a power outlet with a wet finger, are oblivious, which is why they need daycare in the first place.
Mar 7 2018 — Heather Mallick — Toronto Star — I place the sad dilemma of the Letts family — their son Jack is imprisoned in Kurdish territory after travelling to Syria — in a classification I secretly call “So what did you think would happen?” Annoyed as just about everyone is with “Jihadi Jack” Letts, he has dual U.K./Canadian citizenship and has to be […]