Tag Archives: Politics

Is Pierre Karl Péladeau the PQ’s Winning Asset?

March 11, 2014 Wayne K. Spear Leave a comment

pierre-karl-peladeau

THE QUEBEC ELECTION campaign became a bit more interesting this week with the entry of Pierre Karl Péladeau, of Quebecor Inc., Quebecor Media Inc. and Sun Media Corporation. Mr. Péladeau is well-known as the owner of a global telecommunications empire that includes many assets, both within and without Quebec. Now he wishes to be known, goodness knows why, as an aspiring Parti Québécois politician. He’s considered an aggressive and iron-fisted businessman, and no one doubts the nature of his new ambition, to become the President of the Nation of Quebec, as well as the king of Quebec media.

Podcasts

The Roundtable Podcast 63

March 10, 2014 Wayne K. Spear Leave a comment

• Week of 09.03.2014

online-dating

Ukraine says progress made on Crimea mediation plan | New warrant issued in Mayor Rob Ford police investigation | Islamic Leaders Issue Fatwa Prohibiting One-Way Trips to Mars | Lev Tahor members stopped in Trinidad return to Canada Sunday night | New Music: Little Simz, “Mandarin Oranges Part 2” | Is Mississauga ready for a new mayor after 36 years of Hazel McCallion? | Parti Québécois election platform highlights values charter and French language | Nebraska shocked to learn it has Parti Quebecois-style religion law | Mandy Gives Online Dating Tips

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Podcasts

The Roundtable Podcast 62

February 23, 2014 Wayne K. Spear 3 Comments

• Week of 23.02.2014

“It is what is is”: Patrick Brazeau Has a New Job | Yulia Tymoshenko freed; Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovich impeached | Pa. couple sent to prison for 2nd prayer death of child | Blondie Bennett, Barbie-Obsessed Woman, Uses Hypnotherapy To Make Herself ‘Brainless’ | New Music: Lake Street Dive, “Bad Self Portraits” | Blue Tooth Toothbrush | WhatsApp | Viral Drinking Game, NekNomination | Tim Hortons cuts back menu, drops Cold Stone Creamery | Harper Goes to Mexico | Federal research shows oil sands tailings ponds are leaking | The government wants to hear your views about prostitution

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Toronto

If the Ford Brothers Win

February 20, 2014 Wayne K. Spear Leave a comment

1327682983054_ORIGINAL

THE FORD BROTHERS seem confident of an autumn electoral victory, and they’ve good reasons. Rob Ford has admitted to lying to the public, and his lack of self control and dignity have become matters of non-controversy: yet he remains in office and enjoys a healthy approval rating, as well as a credible prospect of a second term. His powers and office budget have been reduced, yet the Fords are as bombastic and arrogant as ever. Both Doug and Rob are uninterested in – indeed, hostile towards – public policy and the workings of government. Their contempt of politicians and the political process constitutes a good portion of the duo’s appeal. After all that has transpired, it is difficult to imagine the scandal that might end their political careers. Could it be that there is no such scandal? The Ford brothers behave exactly as people who believe that it could.

Canada, Politics

Julian Fantino’s blundering career is past its best before date

January 29, 2014 Wayne K. Spear Leave a comment

Julian Fantino

IT CAN BE no mere coincidence that Julian Fantino’s 2007 hardboiled memoir, Duty: The Life of a Cop, is an as-told-to composed by the PR consultant Jerry Amernic – a self-described “developer and executor” of “strategic public relations programs designed to introduce an organization to the media and make them media-friendly.” If there is anyone currently warming an Ottawa cabinet seat who requires a media makeover, that person is Julian Fantino.

Toronto

So Rob Ford Wants a War? Let’s Make Sure He Gets It

November 18, 2013 Wayne K. Spear Leave a comment

ROB FORD, henceforth the pro forma Mayor of Toronto, delivered a short statement just before Toronto city council moved to deplete his staff, privileges, budget and authority. After a brief introductory flourish, congratulating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for their recent victory, came a patchwork of personal anecdote, Bible verse and self-justification lumped together in an effort to discredit Ford’s fellow municipal councillors. His closing was of special note, striking as is so often the case with a Ford self-defence that irritating mixture of self-pity and belligerent menace:

Podcasts

The Roundtable Podcast 55

November 17, 2013 Wayne K. Spear Leave a comment

• Week of 17.11.2013

Rob Ford: The week that was | Councillor not ruling out snap election to oust Mayor Ford | Rob Ford-coached football player charged in Christopher Skinner murder | Russian artist nails his genitals to Moscow’s Red Square in front of tourists to protest ‘police state’ | Recommended Article: Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei built vast US$95B business empire through systematic seizure of properties | Quiz: Finish the Headline | Study urges privacy policy before widespread use of drones | Music: Songs: Ohia – “Just Be Simple” | Palestinian officials: Israel only suspect in Arafat death | Experts Rule Out Homicide in Death of Pablo Neruda | Florida Man Gets Stuck In Chimney Trying To Rob House | Scientists recreate genome of giant Ice Age animals, including huge cave bear, using new technique

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Podcasts

The Roundtable Podcast 54

November 10, 2013 Wayne K. Spear Leave a comment

• Week of 03.11.2013 | “THE UNIVERSE IS EXPANDING” Alvy Singer

How one video dragged Rob Ford into the dangerous world of gangsters | Conservatives condemn sex-selective abortion, assisted suicide as party convention winds down | Fifteen Tory motions to know about from the convention (and the Top Ten Conservative Motions that Didn’t Make it to the Floor) | New galaxy ‘most distant’ yet discovered | Recommended Article: Ben Franklin’s Daylight Saving Time Proposal Was Written as a Joke | Jailed Pussy Riot Member Missing Following Prison Transfer: Nadya Tolokonnikova’s relatives have had no contact with the jailed punk rocker for 10 days | 10-Year-Old Boy Discovers a 600 Million Year-Old Supernova | Music: Arcade Fire – “Flashbulb Eyes,” from the Album Reflektor | Hakimullah Mehsud, charismatic and ruthless leader of the Pakistani Taliban, killed by U.S. drone strike

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Toronto

The Rob Ford Apology: A Bit Churchill, A Bit Lincoln

November 4, 2013 Wayne K. Spear Leave a comment

toronto_skyline

WITH SO MANY items from which to choose, it was inspiring to see the great Rob Ford, Canada’s bestest mayor ever, taking the courageous and principled course by candidly admitting guilt in what is doubtless his most outrageous crime. On his radio program this weekend Rob Ford admitted that he drank a touch too much on St Patrick’s Day (something looked upon with horror and disgust in this city and elsewhere) and that he’ll try to slow it down a bit, that is if he plans afterward to leave his basement. No promises, people, because who on earth can promise not to get hammered and make a public ass of oneself. Be realistic. Even the best mayor Toronto has ever had (Rob Ford, obviously) can’t promise you unicorns and sunshine and your own private Idaho.

Canada, Politics

Stephen Harper’s Throne Speech: just a little like Jell-O

October 16, 2013 Wayne K. Spear Leave a comment

green jello

ROUGHLY THREE YEARS ago, on a visit to the office of then Senator Consiglio Di Nino, I was shown a voting card signed by the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance members who on Wednesday, October 15, 2003 created the Conservative Party of Canada. Acknowledgement of this anniversary — ten years ago, exactly — was understandably absent from a voluminous Throne Speech which noted the approach of several other anniversaries, including Confederation and both World Wars.

Personal Essay

Coming to the Defence of Science

September 24, 2013 Wayne K. Spear Leave a comment

science

I‘VE KNOWN since the age of eight that I would be a writer, but biology was the subject which came in at a close second. The first book I read in college was Richard Dawkins’ The Blind Watchmaker, for a first-year university biology course. To many Dawkins is the leading advocate of “militant atheism,” and for this reason one may fail to notice that his campaign on behalf of science — necessarily a campaign against anti-science — is defensive in nature. But who would have thought even a decade ago that science would be in need of defence? These were my thoughts last week, as I participated in Stand Up for Science, an initiative of an agency called Evidence for Democracy.

Podcasts

The Roundtable Podcast 50!

August 25, 2013 Wayne K. Spear Leave a comment

• Week of 18.08.2013

Califone

Egypt mulling Muslim Brotherhood ban as forces storm Islamist-held mosque | The U.S. government has finally confirmed the existence of Area 51 | Canada’s military forced to accept fatter, less educated recruits as demographics change, audit reveals | Senators are partisans, appointed for life. How could that not go wrong? | Recommended Article: 4 biggest myths about crack | Chinese zoo accused of trying to pass off dog as African lion | Meet the Mayoral Candidate Who Believes Russia Will Vanquish the Antichrist | Music: Califone “A Thin Skin of Bullfight Dust” (from the album Stitches, out September 3) | Police probe Mayor Rob Ford friends who sought crack video | Extensive Timelines Of Slang For Genitalia | H&M pulls headdresses from Canadian shelves after complaints | B.C. bedroom dentist was headed to Toronto, officials say

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History, Politics, Wayne's Picks

Richard Nixon’s failed attempt to bankrupt the American political system

August 21, 2013 Wayne K. Spear 1 Comment

I‘LL FOREVER BE SURPRISED by current day apologists of Richard Nixon, who are able (much like admirers of John Kennedy and Bill Clinton) to side-step quite a bit of nastiness to put forward the triumphs — in this case concerning China and the Soviet Union and the often cited “détente.” And indeed this was the chief tactic of Nixon himself, who discounted the Watergate disclosures and who preferred to talk instead about his efforts “to build peace in the world.”

Podcasts

The Roundtable Podcast 49

August 4, 2013 Wayne K. Spear Leave a comment

• Week of 04.08.2013

Brando

The T-shirt Turns 100 | John Baird encourages caution for Canadian travellers and diplomats after U.S. alert | Big tobacco seizure at Fort Erie bridge | Recommended Article: What religion has contributed to the world this month | Michael George Ansara: 1922-2013 | Senate reform | Texas faces possible shortage of execution drug | Gretzky’s childhood Koho stick fetches $38,838 in auction | Man who showed journalists alleged Rob Ford crack video arrested, offered tape to police for plea deal | NDP take two as PCs crack Toronto | Man tries to hide turtle in burger to sneak it past airport security

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World

Taking the Side of Malala Yousafzai

July 17, 2013 Wayne K. Spear Leave a comment

Malala Yousafzai

PERHAPS THE MOST remarkable thing about Adnan Rasheed’s defence of the Malala Yousafzai shooting (putting aside the fact it’s a defence) is how predictable and clichéd a performance it is, beginning with its disingenuous preamble “I’m sorry this happened, but ….”