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The People’s Solar Eclipse
The tracks of solar eclipses across our planet are essentially random and, because human populations occupy a small proportion of the earth’s surface, one usually must travel far to see them. Therefore, it is mainly the cognoscenti who go eclipse chasing. I did this twice in small professionally organized groups. I saw my first in…
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Fiscally Responsible Environmentalist
Last week I was at a presentation about Ontario politics sponsored by Toronto’s Empire Club. In the meet-and-greet, someone asked me to describe myself politically. Thinking about the letter by Canadian economists supporting the carbon tax that had been released that day, the self-description that popped into my head was “fiscally responsible environmentalist.” Their response…
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2024 Ontario Budget: Populism and Favoritism
I have two propositions to explain the Ford Government’s new budget. First, as an avowedly populist government it attempts to follow public opinion in its broad strokes. Second, in the details it rewards its electoral base of primarily rural and suburban voters. Let me explain. The budget consultation survey I discussed in a recent post…
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Poilievre vs. Toronto Island’s Gatekeepers
Having just contributed to a YouTube video about Billy Bishop Airport, I felt obligated to watch Pierre Poilievre’s about the same topic. Poilievre’s hook is that, while his plane from Billy Bishop is delayed, he does a walk-and-talk about the airport. Like Aaron Sorkin’s protagonists, Poilievre walks and talks briskly, accompanied by music that gets…
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Voters to Ford: Focus on Healthcare and Housing
As part of public consultation for its 2024 budget, which will be presented on March 26, the Ford Government posted a survey on the Finance Ministry website. Though the government did not publicize the survey, it received 3500 responses. The government did not publish the results. I filed a Freedom of Information request, and the…
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Remembering Brian Mulroney’s Iconic Debates
Brian Mulroney passed away the night before this week’s class. It is my custom to begin class with short videos. My students were born in 2005, so I was sure they would have little knowledge of Mulroney. Showing a video of Mulroney would therefore be a teachable moment. But what to show? The Aristotelian logos-ethos-pathos…
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If You Think Education is Expensive, Try Ignorance
Ontario Minister of Colleges and Universities Jill Dunlop just announced a package of $1.3 billion over 3 years in increased funding for the institutions she oversees. Premier Ford predicted it would be “fabulous.” But the headline of his own government’s news release was that the money was “to stabilize colleges and universities.” Unstable by Design…
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Sacrificing the Planet for the Car
The section of the Ford Government’s Get it Done Act that has received the most attention is its requirement that the current and future Ontario governments hold a referendum before introducing a carbon tax. The Ford Government wants to demonstrate yet again its bona fides as opponent of the carbon tax. The act even states…
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Seniors Standing Strong by Staying Put
I’m teaching a narrative and management course this semester and use a variety of short videos to illustrate Aristotle’s three types of persuasion: logos, or logical argument; ethos, or appeal to authority; and pathos, or emotional appeal. Commercials for reverse mortgages by Canada’s Home Equity Bank (HEB) neatly illustrate the distinction. The most frequently aired…
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Close Billy Bishop Airport: The Video
Parks not Planes has just released a 12-minute video making the case for closing Billy Bishop Airport, moving its flights to Pearson, and converting the site to recreational use. In the first part of the video, filmmaker Joan Prowse discusses its detrimental impact on the nearby Bathurst Quay community, where she lives. In the second…
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More Darkness in Ontario’s Democracy
In Canada, after an election first ministers write mandate letters to their cabinet colleagues, laying out deliverables their departments should achieve. Some governments make them public (Trudeau, McGuinty and Wynne in Ontario), but others don’t (Harper, Ford). A newly-elected government traditionally outlines its program in its platform and speech from the throne; mandate letters may…
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Nitrogen Hypoxia: An Innovation in American Government?
Because it has a monopoly on legal violence, government is in the business of killing people. Agencies that carry out killing, such as the military and the police, are constantly thinking about how to do it more efficiently. When capital punishment is practiced, as is the case in many of the American states, this thinking…
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The Science Centre’s Bridge to Nowhere
A few days ago, I visited the Ontario Science Centre (OSC) to see for myself its state of disrepair and imagine its potential if it were maintained and upgraded. When our children were young, we were frequent visitors but, because their interests have developed in other directions, it’s likely been a decade since I was…
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Academic Data Fraud: A Slippery Slope
A recent sequel to the discussion of Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignation has been the contrasting of Gay’s slap on the wrist for plagiarism with Harvard’s heavy-handed treatment of Business School Professor Francesca Gino for accusations of data fraud. As in my post about plagiarism, I’m not writing about whether Gino committed data fraud. But…
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Budget Consultations: Vote Early and Often
The federal and Ontario governments have once again posted their online budget questionnaires, as part of their 2024 pre-budget consultations. The Ontario government’s is available until January 31 and the federal government’s until February 9. Completing the questionnaires is an easier way to submit your views than presenting a brief, attending a meeting, or contacting…