Oct 21 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — When I was very young, allowed to stay up at my grandfather’s campaign headquarters because it was election night, the most astonishing sight was two grizzled old loggers swaggering in some time after polls closed. They would brag to everyone’s nervous amusement about how many times they had voted that day. With British Columbia’s archaic […]
Oct 14 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — We are now almost halfway through Donald Trump’s first and — God help us — only term in office. It is tempting to think already of how the damage he will have left as a legacy, will be repaired. One of the saddest costs is perhaps the end of American unity, amity, even partnership among […]
Oct 7 2018 — Robin V. Sears — If some Canadian conservatives had their way we would adopt some of the procedures Americans use to select their higher court judges. Imagine, the scene before a Commons committee chosen to vet Canadian appeal and Supreme Court judges. The opposition MPs would be using the forum to embarrass the government, as is their job. The […]
Sep 30 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Come now, gentlemen, let’s get one thing straight. The “Me too” movement has a male corollary. Let’s call it the “You, too!” movement. Membership requires that you accept that it is not a sexual predator’s right to decide when he is behaving badly. Anti-Semites no longer get to make jokes about Jews and claim no […]
Sep 23 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — There is an ancient, deadly virus quietly spreading across the land. It has been mostly latent for decades, but we have endured earlier regional outbreaks. This time is more threatening for two reasons: how it spreads and who is responsible for it. It goes by the euphemistic name “identity politics.” It is more properly called […]
Sep 9 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Liberal hawks, like those of a generation earlier, are heatedly debating a snap election call. Not entirely surprising, since have not seen a decade since the ’50s when a government has not been forced by events, or decided to seize a strategic advantage, and called an early election. The Liberal hawks’ arguments are getting stronger. […]
Jun 24 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Though they are more often smacked as pusillanimous deceivers, politicians can be pigheaded. As a result, many — more often on the right, curiously — like to brag “promise made, promise kept!” Some promises, however, deserve to be broken. Bob Rae soon abandoned public auto insurance when he was Ontario’s premier in the 1990s. Despite […]
Jun 17 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — In the spring of 1985, as a young staffer, I accompanied former West German chancellor Willy Brandt to Moscow. He led the first delegation of…
Jun 10 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — An early political mentor used to say, “There are important lessons to be learned from surprising elections. Study them. You’ll know how to do better the next time.” This surprising election has at least three.
Jun 3 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — A week from now we may have one party leader left standing, Premier-elect Andrea Horwath. Kathleen Wynne will almost certainly follow convention and resign on election night. Doug Ford may try to defy convention and struggle to hang on. Like Trump he may believe that the Ford Nation Party will be able defend him against […]
May 27 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Well that didn’t take long! We usually wait a full election cycle before importing the best — and sometimes the worst — of American political craft into Canadian politics. Where cybercrime is concerned it appears to have taken less than a year. Donald Trump’s use of fraudulently obtained voter IDs, to the theft of data […]
May 20 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — In his passionate defence of a politics of values over tribes, Bob Rae said the most important was an acceptance of the importance of facts. He was being honoured last week by hundreds of Canada’s finest political leaders of all three parties for his contribution to public life. “Facts matter,” he concluded, “Our politics needs […]
Apr 29 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — One likely outcome of a Doug Ford election victory is a return to long bitter public sector strikes by teachers, nurses and other taxpayer-paid employees. It is part of the mantra of modern conservative parties that all governments are wasteful and inefficient and its employees overpaid.
Apr 22 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — One of the deep regrets of Abraham Lincoln junkies is that his famous debates with Stephen Douglas, 160 years ago this summer, pre-date the invention of audio recording. Lincoln’s book length excerpts of the nine debates were so powerful they are credited with helping him win his presidential nomination.
Apr 15 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — It is not hard to understand why angry, disillusioned voters are drawn to the politics of confrontation. “Stopping the gravy train” or “Draining the swamp” are seductive messages for those fed up with incompetence, corruption or the simple failure to govern credibly.