Jan 13 2019 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Benjamin Franklin was right. Death and taxes are the only certitudes. But in electoral politics it is usually, “Why so much tax and for what!” that drives decisions, not mortality angst. No one expected 1988 to become “the free trade” election. Even fewer thought “sunny ways” would leap to the top of the charts. Guessing […]
Dec 9 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Among the craziness that has slowly taken over democratic politics in this century is the conviction that in campaigning, policy-making, and in governing itself, it is always and necessarily a zero-sum game. “I won because you lost, sucker!”
Dec 2 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — The sudden slide of MPP Amanda Simard into the purgatory of “independent” MPP was sad to see — whether self-imposed or shoved. There are few roles more barren of meaning or consequence in our heavily whipped caucus management politics. She avoided a worse choice, however — defecting. Those who cross the floor betraying their political […]
Nov 25 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Hong Kong is Canada’s 15th largest city. Nearly 400,000 Canadians live here — only slightly smaller than Halifax — more than any other city in the world. It is more importantly, Asia’s only world metropolis. But it is enduring wrenching change as its forced integration with China gathers pace.
Nov 18 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Once a decade or two Canada gets to play a much bigger role on the global stage than our scale would normally merit. At the creation of the UN, NATO, and peacekeeping, on Suez and killing apartheid, Canadians played essential bridge-building roles between the great powers. We may have arrived at a new such moment. […]
Nov 11 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Donald Trump’s electoral humiliation this week has many roots. But to leadership historians it was perhaps, most of all, a judgement of character by American women. A record number of women voted against him, and for a record number of new women in Congress and at the state level. Make no mistake, Trump did get […]
Nov 4 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Many Liberal partisans deeply detested Tommy Douglas. At the height of his powers as a national political leader, the NDP’s Douglas achieved an almost Ghandian status. First, as the father of medicare, and later as the courageous, lonely defender of civil rights when Pierre Trudeau’s imposed the Canadian military on Quebec. They profoundly resented this […]
Oct 28 2018 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Congratulations to the Liberal government for its successful launch of its cannabis project this month. It was a high-risk and potentially disastrous policy commitment, if it had not been executed in a carefully phased effort, with sufficient time to build consensus and allow everyone involved to prepare.
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 […]