Every Canadian citizen needs to listen to CanadaLand’s Thunder Bay podcast. Whether you live in Thunder Bay, Ontario or anywhere else in the country, it’s required listing. If there is any justice in the world (there isn’t), this podcast will become part of the Canadian history curriculum throughout Canada. It is necessary.
Tag: Ontario
Ontario and the Notwithstanding Clause
There are many things to like about Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a more inclusive bill of rights than, say, the American one. But there’s always been a crucial flaw, the “Notwithstanding Clause.” This clause grants any provincial government the right to override the Charter in a specific instance for a specific period of …
The Beer Store Continues to Suck
I was reading The Grid‘s “Spring Beer” guide a little while ago and noticed that Flying Monkey had put out a new version of their cedar-aged Matador. This was exciting since I tend to like a lot of the Flying Monkey special edition beers, and I found the Matador extremely interesting, if not actually stellar. …
Ontario’s Beer Stores Now Even Worse
If you’re not from Ontario, you may be surprised to learn that The Beer Store, the Ontario chain licensed to sell beer, is not actually a good place to go for beer. Rather, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario is. That may seem a little weird, but it’s true. If you are from here, and …
The Slow Death of Precedence-Based Democratic Safeguards in Canada
A prorogue is a device: the suspension of parliament, traditionally at the end of that parliament’s “legislative business,” with a planned date of resumption. It was intended to allow parliaments to take breaks without calling an election. The first problematic prorogue occurred in 1873, when John A. McDonald prorogued parliament not because their legislative business …
Bar Stool Economics
I can’t pretend to have been following the wrangling between the NDP and the Liberals over the budget and the prospects of an upcoming election. I guess I just have better things to do. (If we accept that systemic reform at the federal level is the political issue in Canada then a squabble over tax …