I like to think that I have lived long enough to spot fads that make little sense and yet are popular. People are often not very rational, and often markets are wrong. Now, sometimes the opposite is true – when something is dismissed as a fad, but actually represents a major change or is being […]
$Melania, Crypto, Upzoning, And The Greater Fool Read More »
Like most Canadians, I was sick of Trump even before he was sworn in on January 20th. Now, pretty well everything that comes out of his mouth is a half-true, ignorant opinion, based on someone else’s ignorant opinion, or a total fabrication. His repeated claims that he wants to make Canada the 51st state show
If you haven’t seen it, the 2010 comedy “Hot Tub Time Machine” is far better than the title suggests. The concept is pretty basic, and I won’t go into the plot, but the critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes is: “Its flagrantly silly script – and immensely likable cast – make up for most of its flaws.” I
Unfortunately, we live in a violent world, but not as violent as it has been. In 2011, Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, and public intellectual Stephen Pinker wrote a book called The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. Pinker argued that violence around the world has declined in both the long term and
Should Canada’s Criminal Code Become More “Woke”? Read More »
Foreign policy includes a variety of objectives, including economic ones. During the Cold War, up to around 1990, Canada’s role in the world was pretty clear. We were part of NATO, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), and the G7. We worked with those groups – and other allies when possible (Australia, South Korea, Israel,
Canada’s Foreign Policy Sorely Lacks Creativity Read More »
My mother was in her early 90s when she passed away in early 2016. She was often fascinated by US politics. She bought our first colour TV in 1973 because she wanted to watch the Watergate hearings in colour, which to me seemed pointless since it was mostly just old men in a room talking.
Was Trump’s Victory Fluke Or Fate? Read More »
In the days before the US election, the major news media in Canada and the US (newspapers, TV networks, and cable channels etc., excluding Fox News) were saying that the US election was so close in the polls that they could not predict a winner. The polls for the 7 or so swing states had
Trump’s Victory Is Not As Monumental As It Seems To The Media Read More »
The Ontario I grew up in was governed by what was called the “Big Blue Machine”, the nickname for the Progressive Conservative Party that governed the province for 42 years from 1943-1985. Premiers Drew, Frost, Robarts, and Davis provided forward-thinking and competent government that made few major mistakes. The PCs stayed in power largely because
Ontario Used To Be Well Governed, But Has Lost Its Mojo Read More »
Housing affordability has been the major issue impacting average Canadians ever since the Covid pandemic has declined in importance. For around two decades, if not longer, the housing policies of Ontario and BC have been oriented towards promoting the densification of cities and major urban areas. This became even more important with the introduction of
Why Isn’t Densification Making Housing Cheaper? Read More »
Newspapers in Canada have been covering the “housing crisis”, with many stories about the high cost of buying or renting a home since the pandemic. Landlords are a frequent target of these stories, particularly over issues like renovictions, high rents, and renting houses to foreign students by placing beds nearly any place one can fit
You May Be A Landlord Or Real Estate Speculator, And Not Even Know It! Read More »
