Jun 5 2023 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — If you have interviewed many candidates in recruitment or in politics you probably came anyway with this insight: character should always outweigh credentials. Character is usually strengthened over time and has meant showing great courage against long odds. In politics character is often revealed by supple coalition-building skills and the ability to maintain a sharp […]
May 24 2023 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has consistently shown poor judgment. From his blackface performances in his youth — remember that was in the 1990s not the 1950s — to believing that no one could object to his using the Aga Khan’s helicopter to take his family to a private island, to his decision to duck a […]
Apr 25 2023 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — The first conservative to destroy his party through a hatred of journalists was, of course, Richard Nixon. The next was Donald Trump, who has delivered three defeats since his razor thin single victory, all the while ranting his denunciation of “fake news” media. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre appears to be genuine in his contempt for […]
Apr 1 2023 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — There are very few Canadian couples who have shared important leadership roles in a political party at the same time, all while raising a large family. Often children join the family political business, and occasionally, one partner will succeed another in a new political career. But for a married couple to each pursue important political […]
Feb 22 2023 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — A universal tool of demagogues is to demonize and threaten journalists. It’s an effective tactic, especially when aligned with a parallel campaign to create their own controlled media. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been revealed by Florida media and Harvard’s Neiman School as the latest threat to an independent media, seeking legislation to intimidate independent […]
Feb 15 2023 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Toronto’s expected-to-retire mayor is, by contemporary political standards, a relic. Mostly that’s a good thing. Promising to resign when you are not compelled to is a relic of the standards of another era. So is thinking that you can carry on affairs with those who report to you. Even as a very young political operative, […]
Dec 18 2022 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Imagine living in a democracy where open access to everything politicians and governments say and do is automatically made public. Where everyone in public service knows that documents are public, unless you can make a persuasive case that a specific file impacts national security or personal privacy, among a short list of exemptions. A fairy […]
Nov 28 2022 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Trudeau is often content to speak in bland, fluffy pronouncements — but on Friday, the veil slipped. Why have we never seen this person before? Through hours of often intense grilling at the Emergencies Act inquiry on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed a side of himself few Canadians have ever seen. A politician who […]
Oct 25 2022 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — The developed world grudgingly accepts that its intelligence agencies have a perennially poor performance record. Despite the tens of billions of dollars we spend on them, their list of failures is breathtaking: Iraq, 9/11, prediction that Afghanistans would survive and Ukraine wouldn’t. In Canada, we have our own humiliations: Air India and the rendition of […]
Sep 11 2022 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Veteran British politician Merlyn Rees was the target of several assassination attempts by the IRA in the ’70s. He had achieved considerable progress as minister responsible for Northern Ireland. The price he paid was enduring a protective detail of six armed police hovering over him every minute, including visits to public washrooms, for more than […]
Aug 3 2022 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — There are few trade union leaders in North America who resemble the giants on whose shoulders they stand. Many are often too concerned to hold on to their jobs, and their shrinking membership, than to launch big and risky battles. Only a few challenge the efforts of Amazon, the fast food monopolies, and massive employers […]
Jun 26 2022 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Guns are among the top-three favourite Liberal wedge issues, along with abortion and race. These concerns rally a progressive base against Conservatives; it usually works every time. But due to several gun myths, this strategy may fail here. First, Canada’s firearm-related death rate is higher than that of many peer nations, at just over two […]
Jun 19 2022 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — If Pierre Poilievre is crowned as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, as seems increasingly likely, the conventional wisdom is the CPC will have consigned itself to another decade in the political wilderness. Poilievre will likely fall victim to the torment faced by the last two leaders. There’s managing a political base whose views […]
Jun 12 2022 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Every four hours, someone dies of an opioid overdose in British Columbia. The numbers in other provinces are only slightly less painful. The U.S. epidemic is even more tragic than ours: nearly a million dead in 25 years, with nearly 100,000 dying each year by 2020. One driver of this tragic social failure is that […]
Jun 5 2022 — Robin V. Sears — Toronto Star — Few of us change our convictions, beliefs or behaviour as adults. Fewer still, politicians. But sometimes a profound shock or crisis can jolt us into a new pattern and new insights. Doug Ford’s initial reaction to the tragic end of his younger brother Rob seemed to be only anger. Anger at Rob’s widow, anger at […]