gdp's Comments

Macleans.ca : Michael Ignatieff lands a job at University of Toronto

Fri, 6 May 2011 00:02:13 +0000

It is good you approve since some fraction of your federal tax dollars will go towards paying Iggy his pension, another fraction will go to the UofT to pay for his academic activities. This will include certain travel costs as he travels the world. In addition, if you live in Ontario you get to pay the whopping professors salary that he will pull down. As an added bonus, he will be hired as a prestigious full professor with tenure. (perhaps you really wished he was just visiting!)

Macleans.ca : The untold story of the 2011 election: Introduction and Chapter 1

Wed, 4 May 2011 22:04:28 +0000

And I would submit, despite Yanni's suggestion that this is an isolated case, it is virtually impossible to imagine Quebec politics being uninteresting (in the Chinese curse sense) over the next 5 years.

Macleans.ca : The untold story of the 2011 election: Introduction and Chapter 1

Wed, 4 May 2011 17:31:47 +0000

At some point in the discussion of the aftermath of the election due respect should be given to the passing of Well's Rule Number 1 of Canadian Politics. For many years, Rule Number 1 provided an important guidepost to political junkies besieged by unending clutter and bluster. So now as the sun sets on R1's summer take a moment to pause and remember all it has done for us.

Macleans.ca : A personal reflection on the Ignatieff Era

Wed, 4 May 2011 14:54:22 +0000

I have heard the bottom up rebuild argument before I think it is a little diffuse. Yes they needed (and still need time), as many have noted the Conservative majority now gives them that. However, I think it is more accurate that the party needed a purging of some bad actors rather than a ton of soul searching about what they stand for. (i.e. they need to get rid of Volpe and his ilk.) The way to purge a party is to lose an election (badly).

Macleans.ca : A personal reflection on the Ignatieff Era

Wed, 4 May 2011 14:22:30 +0000

As much as I had hope for Dion, it is not quite as fair as it seems to directly compare the drop-off in national vote share between 2008 and last week. Ignatieff had to carefully engineer the stand-down from the Dion-Layton coalition. It was important for the country, but I really can't see any way he personally could come out of it looking good. Moreover, he inherited a party that was fiscally incapable of mounting an election campaign. Harper understood this, Layton understood this and Ignatieff understood this, but (quite rightly) the country didn't care. Harper pressed his agenda of governing as if he had a majority, Layton was a consistent and noble objector, Ignatieff really had no choice but to rationalize their support of an agenda they did not support. If anyone's analysis of this election views this result as a strategic error for the Liberals, what would have been the result 2 years ago with the Liberals running a national campaign on the scale of the Green Party. So for a long time, the Liberals talked one way & voted another. That is where they lost the public, and they knew they would continue losing the public as long as it continued. I would view their triggering of this election, like someone who agrees to risky surgery not because the likely outcomes are great but rather because the alternatives are worse. The point of this post is not actually that Ignatieff is a great leader, rather that unlike a Disney movie, in reality sometimes trying really, really hard is not enough and you still get smacked by the bus.

Macleans.ca : The Commons: The last night

Tue, 3 May 2011 10:57:48 +0000

Congrats to all the right-thinkers out there. By the way, I seem to have misplaced Canada. I went for a walk this morning looking for it but I certainly didn't recognize it.

Macleans.ca : How bin Laden was caught and killed

Mon, 2 May 2011 19:51:34 +0000

Pathetically useless cut and paste journalism - right on message with Macleans.

Macleans.ca : How bin Laden was caught and killed

Mon, 2 May 2011 15:27:06 +0000

I wonder how accurate the five years is. You can find a compound on Google Earth that seems to roughly fit the description but the imagery is 6 years old.

Macleans.ca : How bin Laden was caught and killed

Mon, 2 May 2011 14:57:48 +0000

Obama must have been getting updates about this mission even while he was ripping into Trump at the Correspondents' Dinner. It is hard to imagine things getting sweeter for him.

Macleans.ca : Tories and NDP neck and neck on election eve

Mon, 2 May 2011 11:23:02 +0000

We have survived these past 5 years.

Macleans.ca : Hypotheticals

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 18:24:52 +0000

Many on this site have (justifiably) noted that considering any Canadian PM a dictator is absurd. It appears Mr. Harper is not so sure.

Macleans.ca : Advising the Governor General

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 23:10:10 +0000

It may well be that the Conservatives will have to be content with their natural allies, the Bloc, propping them up. Firewalls for all!

Macleans.ca : Advising the Governor General

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:56:36 +0000

Well there has been a impressive chap with amazing hair traveling the country talking about how un-necessary elections are. I

Macleans.ca : This year's fear

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:31:56 +0000

Typical sun-fried American response to a nuanced CANADIAN issue. There are technical differences between Layton's and Harper's tax and trade that make them very different. Layton's plan would require companies to CHANGE THEIR BEHAVIOUR! The net result would be a VISIBLE change in carbon emmisions. Harper's plan on the other hand had the virtue of being completely transparent. No company would every see it. No changes would be necessary. Life would go on, as if nothing was being done. It would be like it was invisible, except some signs would be put up and some brochures sent out. Harper is the only Canadian politician would truly understands transparency. Apparently even the hockey book that he has written is transparent. (according to those who have not been able to see any sign of it.)

Macleans.ca : A price must be paid—but by whom?

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:43:31 +0000

I agree, the single transferable vote is the least disruptive approach to killing the wedge politics.

Macleans.ca : Andrew Coyne on the slipping prospects of a Conservative majority

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:18:49 +0000

Gotta bust yours that your taxes will still be funneled directly into Andrew's bank account, eh?

Macleans.ca : 'Smiles and snake oil'

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:02:08 +0000

some tough decisions require extra snake oil.

Macleans.ca : 'Smiles and snake oil'

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:00:21 +0000

quieter too.

Macleans.ca : A country gets its back up

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 15:59:12 +0000

I am surprised that foreign policy is not recognized as being an important driver for the NDP. Although many thought that because there is a timetable for pulling out of Afghanistan that it was a non-issue, the engagement in Libya has no doubt made many think about how interventionist Canada's foreign policy should be. I doubt if it is lost on the voters that behind the blue and red doors are leaders that thought Canada should go into Iraq.

Macleans.ca : And now, an oddly familiar message from the Conservative campaign

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:31:45 +0000

I agree, I personally get no sense of fear from the possibility. I don't know what sort of relationship Layton has with Rae, but it would likely make sense if they had a long chat following the election. Layton will be inheriting a fiscal mess as did Rae (although at different points in the economic cycle).