Distance lends enchantment in matters of the heart, or so they say, while in matters political, distance is said to lend perspective.
Ambassadors and other foreign service emissaries are valued for their ability to provide their government at home with an informed, detached perspective of the policies, problems and personalities of the country where they are posted.
The appointment of Bardish Chagger, the MP for Waterloo, as “Government Leader in the House of Commons” (to give the post its formal name), comes as a surprise.
There has never been a woman in that job since Mackenzie King created it during the Second World War – not that there is any reason for it not to be a woman. Just as there is no reason for not having a female Minister of Finance, but there has never been one of those either.
This U.S. presidential election year was eminently winnable for the Republicans.
Indeed, if one follows the longer-than-six-decade pattern since the Eisenhower administration, with only one exception the Republican and Democratic parties have effectively alternated eight-year terms in power, making this the Republicans' turn.
For better or worse, Atlantic Canada has put all of its political eggs in one basket – the Liberal basket.
All four provinces have Liberal governments, and last October the region gave all 32 of its Commons seat to Justin Trudeau and his federal Liberals. After years of feeling ignored by the Harper Conservatives, the region’s ardent embrace of the Liberals is understandable.
Here's an interesting take on a word that is frequently used as a slur or putdown in academia. The blog entry is written by Sam Bowman of the Adam Smith Institute.
Read it here.
One of the central themes of this U.S. election year is the widespread desire for change in the political system.
Public opinion polls suggest that some 70 per cent of Americans support this view, and it helps to explain the rise in the unconventional candidacies of both Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, who tried to win the Democrats' presidential nomination.
Christopher Alcantara and Jen Nelles, August 2016 piece in Policy Options (Montreal: IRPP).
At the risk of being summarily expelled from the Venerable Order of Pundits, Skeptics and Other Assorted Naysayers, I would like to venture a positive thought about a government initiative.
The government in question is the one in Ottawa headed by the shirtless one, Justin Trudeau. The initiative is the new procedure for selecting judges for the Supreme Court of Canada that was announced last week.
Order yours today directly from UTP or from any book seller!
Here are the endorsements from the back of the book:
Loren King sees a few new wrinkles in his bathing trunks.
"In a few days, I'm going to be 48," said the Wilfrid Laurier University associate professor of political science, pondering his looming attempt to cross Lake Ontario in the first days of August.
"I'm an old guy for this swimming business."...
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Opinion-Policy Nexus is a forum of opinion and commentary on topics related to public opinion and public policy. Views expressed in any blog entry are those of the author and do not reflect LISPOP's positions.
