Nov 1 2022 — Melanie Paradis — The Line — Recently I had to go to another country to buy children’s medicine because Canada has normalized dysfunction, and no one notices until there’s a crisis. There has been a nation-wide infant and children’s pain medication shortage for months. During that time, I’ve been trying to secure the supply my family needs with very limited success. […]
Oct 20 2022 — Jen Gerson — The Line — I had the great joy of catching up with an old friend the other day and the subject of our conversation came around to politics, as it sometimes does. “It seems like the media is giving Danielle Smith a hard time,” she noted, implying that we had not given this woman so much as a […]
Oct 19 2022 — Tim Thurley — The Line — Canadians often assume our government is doing its best. Not the politicians, sure, but there is a broad assumption that at least the bureaucrats tirelessly working behind the scenes to implement political decisions must have a grasp on the facts and exhibit some consistency in decision-making. In few places is there a larger discrepancy between […]
Oct 7 2022 — Ken Boessenkool — The Line — I listened very carefully to Danielle’s victory speech on Thursday night, but what kept running through my head was not her prepared remarks, but two Japanese words: “Tennōheika Banzai.” Banzai translates literally as “Ten Thousand Years” and it was historically used as a greeting or a cheer meaning “long life to you.” Tennōheika can be […]
Oct 5 2022 — Andrew MacDougall — The Line — Remember Liz Truss? You know, the new British prime minister granted control of Her Majesty’s Government only two days before the royal Liz popped her clogs to make it His Majesty’s Government? Yeah, well, Liz Truss is toast. Her days as prime minister are numbered. Welcome, friends, to the Trussterfuck. What happened? How did we […]
Sep 26 2022 — Andrew Tumilty — The Line — It has been two weeks since the Conservative Party of Canada chose Pierre Poilievre as its new leader in a resounding first-ballot win where he secured nearly 69 per cent of the points available. This was probably the most unsurprising win for a leadership contest since 2013, when Justin Trudeau won the Liberal leadership on […]
Aug 22 2022 — Andrew MacDougall — The Line — You would think operating in a world of spin would make news organizations the masters of it. Or at least familiar with its uses and utility. But you would be wrong. Horribly wrong. Exhibit A: the week-long (and counting) clusterfuck surrounding the (not-so) sudden departure of CTV National News anchor Lisa LaFlamme. Given they’ve had […]
Aug 16 2022 — Kevin Newman — The Line — I recognized all too well that stoic moment Lisa LaFlamme created on Twitter. Robbed of her usual platform for addressing an audience, she was on her own. Bell Media practice requires the instant elimination of your website profile, social media accounts and usual means of communication when you’re let go or lose your show. That’s […]
Jun 22 2022 — Stephen Maher — The Line — It is bitterly ironic that the first female commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police may have to resign for pushing the force to be more open, but it is hard to imagine that Brenda Lucki will be able to maintain public confidence after evidence presented Tuesday in the inquiry into the Nova Scotia mass […]
May 31 2022 — Matt Gurney — The Line — In my 15 years or so of writing about firearms policy, here’s been a constant problem: gun policy is complicated, the broader public doesn’t know much about it, and it’s hard (impossible?) to make any coherent arguments without laying out the context, both of the specific proposals and the broader background. Working through what was […]
May 27 2022 — Andrew MacDougall — The Line — As far as warning signals go, a politician announcing they watch YouTube channels “late into the night” is a big one. Hard to ignore, really. Because the pandemic has shown us that “YouTube” plus “late night” is more often a recipe for falling down a rabbit hole than enlightenment. (See: Taylor-Greene, Marjorie) What to make, […]
May 26 2022 — Ken Boessenkool — The Line — Jason Kenney made the most common mistake. He mistook Alberta’s conservative disposition — our propensity to delight in what is present — for conservative ideology. Alberta has a disposition to appreciate the present while preserving traditions. We have a healthy skepticism of radical change. It’s a key reason we take so bloody long to change […]
May 24 2022 — Paula Simons — The Line — What is a reasonable general concern? That’s not a rhetorical question. I really don’t know the answer. I’m not sure anyone else does, either. And that’s exactly the problem with Bill S-7, a new piece of government legislation, which amends both the Customs Act and the Preclearance Act. Bill S-7 set a new standard to […]
May 20 2022 — Jen Gerson — The Line — The first time I had a proper conversation with Jason Kenney was about six years ago. The NDP were in power in Alberta; the federal Conservatives had cast about for a successor to Stephen Harper and, it was decided by silent consensus, said successor would not be Jason Kenney. So the former federal cabinet minister […]
Apr 13 2022 — Jen Gerson — The Line — Hello fellow home-owning millennials, and the Gen-Z plebians desperate to join us. I understand house lust. I do. You want an okay spot in the city free of the oppression of the landlord. Or, if you’re at that certain time of life, maybe you want a detached house in a decent neighbourhood. Nothing too fancy, […]