Harry Shannon
Unless you've been hiding under the proverbial rock, you'll know about the protests in Canada that are occupying Ottawa after two and a half weeks. The convoy of trucks started in the west of the country and reached Ottawa on Friday January 28. That day, there was an article in the Toronto Star. I wrote a letter to the paper. It's…
Tag: canada
No, I don’t have all the answers
Harry Shannon
My cousin Henry told me about an online talk last week by David Rooney, a British historian. Rooney has just written a book called “About time: A history of civilization in twelve clocks.” The talk was very nicely done; I enjoyed it a lot. Rooney used each clock to illustrate a one-word theme – e.g., order, virtue, empires, …
Time for a Wealth Tax
Harry Shannon
This was written as a letter to the Toronto Star. It wasn’t published, but you can read it here.
Re Covid-19 costs. Time’s up: help cities, Editorial, July 16
The COVID-19 pandemic has played havoc with people’s finances, and governments have had to go into huge deficits to mitigate the impact on people who have lost t…
United Nations vote on Palestinians’ right of self-determination
Harry Shannon
Here's a letter I wrote to my member of Parliament, Filomena Tassi. I copied it to François-Philippe Champagne, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:
Dear Ms. Tassi,Firstly, congratulations on your re-election, and your appointment as Minister of Labour. My main reason for writing is tha…
Questions for Alberta Premier Jason Kenney
Harry Shannon
My letter to the Toronto Star - which wasn't published.
Background: The Canadian federal election in late October left Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with a minority government. They won no seats in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. Alberta is much larger in population, and the recently elected premier Jason …
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…
My letter in the Toronto Star, May 14
Background to this letter: The Conservative government in Ontario opposes the federal carbon tax, claiming it is ineffective. Premier Doug Ford is taking the matter to the courts. As well, Ford has talked about increasing speed limits on Ontario highways. My letter was joining some dots.
Re He who tweets by gas prices, dies by gas prices,…
Choosing your words
Andrew Scheer, the leader of Canada's Conservative party, needs to be more careful.
He attacked Justin Trudeau over what Trudeau said in response to questions about the SNC-Lavalin affair. Now I believe that companies should not get away with corruption, so I think the prosecution should go ahead.
But that's not my point. Reading from a pr…