Tag: politics

Happy Misunderstanding Remembrance Day Week

trevor
poppies remembrance day

Halloween is tragically over and Christmas is mercifully still a ways away. We’re now entering a roughly week-long season that I like to call “Misunderstanding Remembrance Day Week.” It begins as November begins and peters out a few days before November 11th, when the internet and mainstream media loses momentum and interest. It’s a week of chaos and pettiness on social media, of op-eds in newspapers, of blog posts (oh look, here’s one now), of call-in shows and image macros and think-pieces and hot takes and the politicization of an…

Canada: Get Better or Get Over Yourself.

trevor

I’m seeing a fair bit of smugness and crowing from we Canadians following the UK’s same-sex marriage laws coming into effect. It’s unearned, and you need to stop. Yes, we’ve had this kind of legislation for a decade, but we’ve been stagnant on social justice for this government’s last two terms. We’re being outpaced by every other western power on social development and we have nothing to be smug about on this front. Even America, who we tend to look at as our backwards big brother, is making waves where…

On Success in Canada

trevor

This is one of the best descriptions of how I see Canadians, beyond things I’ve said or written: From The Canadian Settler’s Guide, 7th Edition, by Catherine Parr Strickland Traill (1857). You can get this book free via Google Books; I’m reading it right now on my Nexus 7. Where do we stand, politically, compared to this assessment of the character of those who built this country? I feel like we’ve become so partisan lately that we’ve lost the temperate l industriousness that Traill describes. Paddle your own canoe, folks.…

Winston

trevor

Today’s one-sheet includes a big ol’ shout-out to Greg, the Gritty Gorg. I know that he’s a hell of a commentator on political happenings in this lovable if misguided land (and our lovable if misguided neighbours to the south), and I don’t doubt for a second that he’d make a hell of a statesman if he so desired. When he’s not talking shop about politics, he’s about wit and food and scotch and cigars, and reminds me more than a little of ol’ Winnie from time to time. I know there’s more snark…