The federal cabinet gets a good shake

 Finally, after an unusually long wait, on Tuesday, white smoke emerged from the Parliamentary ‘Sistine chapel’. Behold, we have a new cabinet! Before evaluating the starting line-up, a few thoughts about the cabinet-making process. First, it’s a lonely and difficult task. The PM can consult far and wide about whom

The five best MPs in the 43rd Canadian Parliament

 On election night in 2019, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals got 156 seats—14 short of the 170 needed for a majority in the 338-seat House of Commons. Canadian voters had decided that Justin Trudeau did not deserve a majority and that the Tories did not deserve to win. The total vote numbers told

What could the Minister of National Defence have investigated?

 There have been a great many public comments, assertions, allegations, and observations about the current ‘crisis’ in the Canadian Forces. These have been raised in news media reports and in Parliamentary Committee meetings. I suspect there has also been a great deal of ‘chatter’ in social media. I also find that many of

Commemorating the Battle of Vimy Ridge A Century Later

 Photos courtesy of by Veterans Affairs and Jeremy Diamond One of the most poignant stories from World War I, for me, is the story of the Christmas Truce. The story tells of pockets of troops on the front refusing to fight for several days at Christmas in 1914. Some accounts