Canada’s election: Andrew Scheer’s big mistake and how votes and seats don’t necessarily match

Harry Shannon If you believe the latest projections, the Liberals will get the most seats in the next Canadian Parliament.  The excellent website 338Canada.com has the Conservatives slightly ahead in the popular vote, but getting only 123 seats compared with 137 for the Liberals.  Still not the 170 needed for a majority, though.  It seems th…

Utopia for Realists

Harry Shannon One of the most interesting books I’ve read lately is Utopia for Realists by the Dutch writer Rutger Bregman.  I’m not going to give you a long review or description; just enough, I hope, to get you to read it. Depending on where you look, the subtitles are different.  The one that gives away the big themes of the…

News Flash! Province to remove number ‘13’ from crossing countdowns.

Harry Shannon Premier Doug Ford today announced what he called ‘a new world-leading safety measure.’  In a first, Ontario will in future not allow the number ‘13’ on traffic signals.  Currently, when traffic lights show pedestrians how long they have before the lights will change, ‘13’ appears if the countdown is longer th…