Canada

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Yay Canada!

Poor Canada; forever ignored and when it’s not ignored forever patronised. Except when the Quebeckers become fractious, Canadian politics and life barely merits a mention in either the British or American press. We even tend to overlook the Canucks when the stories of the Great Wars of the twentieth century are told. How soon Vimy Ridge slips from consciousness. But Canada has plenty going for it (even if most of the Canadians I know don’t actually live in Canada). So, three cheers for Fareed Zakaria’s latest Newsweek column: Guess which country, alone in the industrialized world, has not faced a single bank failure, calls for bailouts or government intervention in

Monday

Alex Massie

Message from Ottawa

Andrew Coyne defends Stephen Harper from his critics. Or at least, from some of them: While this laissez-faire, do-nothing government contents itself with spending more than any government in the history of Canada — 25% more, after inflation and population growth, than at the start of the decade — and pumping tens of billions of dollars into the banking system, what Canadians demand is “stimulus.” And stimulus, we all know, in a sophisticated, 21st century economy, can be delivered in only one way: by hiring large numbers of unionized men to dig holes in the ground (see “infrastructure.”) Loosening monetary policy doesn’t count. Tax cuts don’t count. It only counts

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Oh, Canada…

I’d been meaning to blog about the Canadian elections but then realised that, dash it, despite Canada actually being an interesting place stocked with charming, affable people I really didn’t have very much to say beyond, “hmm, Canada is having another election”. The BBC evidently thought so too since the elections didn’t make the 10 o’clock news last night. Poor form, I think. Still, it’s curious that Canada receives almost no foreign coverage, even in Britain where there are, after all, plenty of people with Canadian relatives or connections. Anyway, it seems that Stephen Harper has not quite pulled it off. ie, the Conservatives have improved their position, but are

Tuesday