Jul 16 2023 — Martin Regg Cohn — Toronto Star — The plight of the “Two Michaels” might seem a distant memory for most Canadians. Yet barely two years after China released these two high-profile hostages from prison, Canadians have reason to fear a repetition of Beijing’s strong-arm tactics — through the heavy hand of Hong Kong. Where once Canadian citizens on the mainland were considered […]
Jul 8 2023 — Martin Regg Cohn — Toronto Star — It was the deal — a very big $16-billion deal — they couldn’t refuse. Doug Ford and Justin Trudeau didn’t just come together because it was smart politics or sage economics. For there is no great glory in good government — not when critics accuse you of giving away the store. So why did the […]
Jun 1 2023 — Martin Regg Cohn — Toronto Star — We are warned daily that Canada is a nest of spies, a den of Chinese espionage undermining our democracy. But who is the enemy, exactly? And who is the casualty, precisely? First, we were cautioned that certain Chinese-Canadian politicians were the villains ― with supposed spies or collaborators named and shamed in the media. Later, […]
May 25 2023 — Martin Regg Cohn — Toronto Star — “Game changer” is perhaps Doug Ford’s favourite phrase. Bonnie Crombie is possibly one of the premier’s least favourite people. But Crombie, it must be said, is a game changer in Ontario politics today as she prepares to switch playing fields. Crombie made big news last week as the mighty mayor who engineered Mississauga’s liberation from […]
Sep 2 2020 — Martin Regg Cohn — CBC — The tug of war over public statues keeps exposing our blind spots — not just our blinkered view of history, but of democracy in all its complexity. Sir John A. Macdonald is merely the latest historical figure to be pulled down and covered up, his head lopped off or layered with painted graffiti. Protestors in […]
Jul 2 2020 — Martin Regg Cohn — Toronto Star — Canadians are tying themselves in knots trying to fathom the China conundrum. How does a mild-mannered middle power push back against an aggressive superpower? The answer is that it doesn’t, because it can’t. Not on its own. The reality is that huffing and puffing won’t bring any Chinese walls tumbling down. Setting aside fears that […]
Aug 7 2019 — Martin Regg Cohn — Toronto Star — As Canada fights to free its citizens still held hostage in China, think again of the 7 million people in Hong Kong — a good many of them also Canadian citizens — fighting for their own democratic freedoms at the same time. Hong Kong has more Canadian expatriates than anywhere else, a legacy of the […]
Dec 13 2018 — Martin Regg Cohn — Toronto Star — Sound familiar? Just ask our American friends, who have been wrestling with the spectre of obstruction of justice ever since Donald Trump won the presidency — and trampled on the FBI by firing its director, James Comey. Now, Ontarians are facing their own moment of truth as the layers of deception are peeled back from […]
Dec 1 2018 — Martin Regg Cohn — Toronto Star — Within days of their June electoral triumph, Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives proudly declared cap and trade dead. As per their campaign platform. Promise made, promise kept. Not to worry, the governing Tories quickly pledged: We will find a better way one day. That day was Thursday, when the PCs unveiled their long-awaited climate change proposals to […]
Sep 24 2018 — Martin Regg Cohn — Toronto Star — Say what you will about Doug Ford, he is a man of the people. He is premier of Ontario’s “First Government For The People.” All kinds of people. Like Faith Goldy. That would be the fringe journalist who famously appeared on the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website, and whose shameless white nationalism has gone viral — […]
Sep 12 2018 — Martin Regg Cohn — Toronto Star — Be careful what you wish for. When Caroline Mulroney first announced her candidacy for Ontario’s 2018 election, the future was hers. Back then, she publicly supported official Progressive Conservative policies on an updated sex education curriculum, a carbon tax, and the rule of law.
Jun 16 2018 — Martin Regg Cohn — Toronto Star — The carbon tax is dead. Promise kept. Just one problem — Ontario has never had a carbon tax. Now, thanks to Doug Ford, we may be about to get one. When a beaming Ford boasted to reporters Friday that “the carbon tax’s days are numbered” in Ontario — counting the days to his swearing-in as […]
Jun 3 2018 — Martin Regg Cohn — Toronto Star — Voters wanted change. Now they’ve got it, according to Kathleen Wynne. In an emotional speech Saturday, she surprised Ontarians by acknowledging what most had long ago determined: She can’t and won’t be back as premier.
May 28 2018 — Martin Regg Cohn — Toronto Star — Ontario’s most volatile election campaign has produced one of its most vituperative leaders debates. Doug Ford went after Andrea Horwath, who went after Kathleen Wynne. And then? The Liberal leader counterattacked against the NDP leader, who pushed back against the Progressive Conservative leader.
May 22 2018 — Martin Regg Cohn — Toronto Star — At the midpoint of the election campaign, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is in uncharted territory. Has she gone from third to second? And thence from second to first? No one knows. Never mind that pundits and pollsters don’t really know what’s on the minds of most voters. Bear in mind that many voters may not […]