Mar 18 2019 — Dan Leger — Chronicle Herald — It is the season, once again, of potholes, dirty snow and fading playoff hopes, when March Break briefly frees the children and finance ministers everywhere blend reality and fantasy to come up with their annual budgets. It will be thus in Ottawa tomorrow when Finance Minister Bill Morneau presents his budget, with the overarching goal […]
Mar 4 2019 — Dan Leger — Chronicle Herald — This Jody Wilson-Raybould fiasco might not have happened in the bad old days, not this way at least. There might have been pressure put on attorneys-general over the years, but back then, you wouldn’t have heard about it. Time was that ministers fought their fights behind the scenes and kept disputes in the family. For […]
Feb 18 2019 — Dan Leger — Chronicle Herald — As federal scandals go, the rampaging furor over who said what to influence a decision by former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould feels familiar. The facts are only vaguely understood, subject to partisan and geographical interpretation and the whole thing is drenched in hypocrisy. It seems likely that some sort of pressure was indeed applied to […]
Feb 11 2019 — Dan Leger — Chronicle Herald — I hate to be the bearer of bad news, friends, but that’s what columnists do. The bad news must be borne. That’s why it has a bearer, if you get my drift. So I’ll break it to you straight up. This mega-political year of 2019 will swamp us with rhetoric, propaganda, fake news and outright […]
Feb 4 2019 — Dan Leger — Chronicle Herald — Pity the poor Westerners — besieged at every turn, struggling valiantly against adversity, generous to a fault yet unloved by their ungrateful fellow citizens. No wonder they’re alienated, again. More evidence of Western malaise, if we needed more, has emerged in research from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute suggesting that Canadians west of Ontario are […]
Jan 21 2019 — Dan Leger — Chronicle Herald — The lie of the century, so far, is that facts don’t matter and that the line between truth and lies has been blurred into insignificance. All opinions are equally merited and anything goes, supposedly. You might even consider yourself entitled to a personal set of “facts,” to use the old-fashioned term. Some people further believe […]
Jan 14 2019 — Dan Leger — Chronicle Herald — Justin Trudeau is lucky he’s facing voters this year and not in 2020, when the air will be so full of lies and fallout from the U.S. presidential campaign that political messages in Canada risk being obscured. For now, Trudeau’s Liberals are staying sunny. They’re leading the polls against lacklustre opposition, even while facing a […]
Jan 12 2019 — Jim Meek — Chronicle Herald — Scott Brison, who hails from an area of Nova Scotia where the phrase “old Tory warhorse” might have been coined, marked his resignation from cabinet this week by celebrating his husband Maxime Saint-Pierre and their twin daughters. Brison’s story — he ran for the leadership of Canada’s two major political parties and became its first […]
Dec 17 2018 — Dan Leger — Chronicle Herald — It is not an axiom of international diplomacy that “no good deed goes unpunished,” but perhaps it should be, especially deeds undertaken on behalf of our dear ally the United States under its bumbling leader, Donald Trump. Last week, two Canadians were detained by security agencies in China, questioned and thrown into gulags. As this […]
Dec 10 2018 — Dan Leger — Chronicle Herald — Bears might be prowling the stock indexes, but shares in hate are enjoying a bull market like we haven’t seen in generations. Western democracies, once justly proud of their openness and tolerance, are seeing the intolerant minority growing bolder and more violent. In Canada, federal statistics captured almost 2,100 hate crimes reported to police in […]
Dec 3 2018 — Dan Leger — Chronicle Herald — The next federal election won’t be fought over immigration and refugees, despite their temptation as targets for your friendly neighbourhood populists. No, the election in 2019 will be about everything but, because other than one splinter party, there’s little to gain from attacking immigration. That exception is Maxime Bernier, the culture front’s loud but short […]
Nov 19 2018 — Dan Leger — Chronicle Herald — So, how do you like populism so far? If you’re into broken norms, disorder and you think facts don’t matter, you’re probably enjoying it. But if you prefer stability, civil order and fact-based policy, you’re likely sick of populism and all of its shabby works. Populism is driving Britain’s determination to tear itself to pieces […]
Nov 12 2018 — Dan Leger — Chronicle Herald — As a professional newspaper columnist, it’s my job to detect and warn of malodorous currents threatening to despoil our political waters. It’s a time-consuming occupation. Take this Tony Clement mess, where he got kicked out of the Conservative caucus for his online lechery. Clement, 57, exposed himself to blackmail after he exposed himself in photos […]
Nov 5 2018 — Dan Leger — Chronicle Herald — For Canadians, observing U.S. politics is a bit like watching a movie scene where the hero is being stalked by some fiend whom we can see but the hero can’t. You yell: “Don’t open the door!” But the hero can’t hear you because it’s a movie. Then he opens the door. In movies, the hero […]
Oct 29 2018 — Dan Leger — Chronicle Herald — With less than a year to go before voting day, themes are already emerging for the coming campaign. We’re told to expect either a dirty campaign or a decent one, which will be all about carbon tax grabs or saving the planet or perhaps more traditionally, about who can best steer Canada in these dangerous […]