John Robson - Columns

If you wear the pin, send it back

John Robson — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:48:40 -0400

If I had an Order of Canada I'd return it to protest the appointment of Henry Morgentaler. But of course people like me don't get that little white snowflake lapel pin. We're too divisive.

The happy union of capitalism and technology

John Robson — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:30:54 -0400

It's right there on the receipt. I just bought an 8 gig memory stick for 29 bucks. Makes you nostalgic for the good new days of unbridled capitalism, doesn't it?

The thin gruel of politics

John Robson — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:27:29 -0400

George Smitherman has again failed to produce his promised glorious 10-Year Plan for saving health care in Ontario. It's like sitting in a fancy restaurant with a mouth-watering menu and great prices but whatever you order you invariably get a long delay and a bunch of excuses -- and then they chuck deep-fried leftovers on your plate and charge you double. While you can change waiters and cooks once every four years, it seems you can never leave.

Sorry doesn't change the facts

John Robson — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:24:31 -0400

It is too easy to apologize for history. Sometimes it is necessary. But "sorry" doesn't make the past go away or let us substitute our imaginings for fact.

The banality of spin

John Robson — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:33:04 -0400

One problem with living in Ottawa is that if you go away you might miss something important. Especially these days.

The private lives of politicians matter

John Robson — Fri, 30 May 2008 06:35:50 -0400

Maxime Bernier burned his way through a promising political career amazingly fast. I don't know what this former future prime minister and sexiest MP in the House will do next. Maybe go tell his old Parti Québécois friends Anglos are too uptight, especially about sex. If so, list me among them.

Protecting the throne

John Robson — Fri, 23 May 2008 07:42:55 -0400

The Victoria Day long weekend produced the usual outburst of ill-mannered resentment at the monarchy. I'd say just ignore it, except for the harm three decades of presumptuous ignorance have already done to our constitutional order.

New heights of hypocrisy on Burma

John Robson — Fri, 16 May 2008 07:28:44 -0400

My enthusiasm for an amphibious assault on the Irrawaddy delta is extremely limited. I appear, once again, to be the weirdo.

Curbing authority, the old fashioned way

John Robson — Fri, 09 May 2008 09:22:33 -0400

Donald Savoie's new book on the breakdown of government in Canada will leave you both wiser and more worried. It's a worthwhile trade-off. But please also leave room on your bedside table for Jean Louis de Lolme's The Constitution of England. Not quite so hot off the presses; my final edition dates to 1784. But when a book this old is this relevant to modern problems you may be sure its author, too, got the fundamentals right.

Expecting too much from Obama

John Robson — Fri, 02 May 2008 07:13:26 -0400

Barack Obama has done the right thing in the right way by dumping America-hating Rev. Jeremiah Wright. True, he did it at the wrong time, but in politics you take what you can get.

Actually, the Tories might have a point...

John Robson — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:47:44 -0400

In the battle pitting the federal Conservatives against Elections Canada, the opposition and the press, a typical Ottawa competition to see who can perform most discreditably, my money was on the Tories. Until I made a crucial blunder: I did research.

It's past time we started turning back the clock

John Robson — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:54:17 -0400

My colleague Randall Denley wrote this weekend that if we consider municipal amalgamation in Ottawa a failure we should undo it. What a splendid heresy.

Let the world go to China with eyes wide open

John Robson — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:27:00 -0400

The sputtering Olympic torch seems to be leaving quite a trail of soot on its way to Beijing. But by far the largest smudge will be deposited on the host country, whose Politburo will one day rue its decision to draw the world's attention by hosting the Games.

In Pursuit of (Drug-Induced) Happiness

John Robson — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:26:26 -0400

Do you know what I think every time I get into my car? "Hands up everyone who's on tranquilizers." I'm not saying people need drugs to drive badly. But it must help.

Sadly, no one wants to play the numbers game

John Robson — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:25:33 -0400

The new Ontario budget is a highly instructive document. And I don't mean that in a good way.

If you reject Christianity, don't join the Church

John Robson — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:45:41 -0400

It's Easter and time for the annual journalistic display of baffled hostility to Christianity. On cue the Roman Catholic archbishop of Ottawa, Terrence Prendergast, pops up with the suggestion that adherents to his church who don't actually observe its rules should not expect to enjoy all the benefits of membership. A predictable chorus of howls erupted.

Parliamentary system in doubt

John Robson — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:48:40 -0400

Apparently it's time to stick a fork in our system of parliamentary self-government. MPs just passed an Opposition money bill and no one cares that there's no such thing.