Inkless Wells

Paul Wells on all the latest out of Ottawa—along with the occasional post about jazz. Follow Paul on Twitter: @InklessPW

Categories: Capital Read, Inkless Wells

Hey look: Two pundits, no waiting

by Paul Wells on Sunday, September 20, 2009 10:27am - 21 Comments

From the print edition, Andrew Coyne and I argue in our now-familiar genteel fashion about what’s gone wrong with Canadian democracy. Our goal is to entice you to watch, in person or over the cabletubes, our big extravaganza this coming Wednesday at the St. Lawrence Centre in Toronto. (Other extravaganzi, in other cities, will follow, I’m told.) The Hendersons will all be there, late of Pablo Fanques’ Fair. What a scene!

Tags: self-promotion, ten somersets he'll undertake

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MJ Patchouli

Please post a photo when you go through the hogshead of real fire.
Bailey

I really like the idea of the mandatory voting for all citizens. It's law in Australia that everyone votes, it's something I think Canada should adopt as well.

anonymoose

I know people who shouldn't reprodce, let alone vote

John

I know people who shouldn't communicate, let alone spell.

But srsly, anonymoose — I agree ;)

William

Here's a thought for "our democracy is broken"; why are all the panelists old white guys?

Moar Ethnics Nao

I'll second that. Seriously. The rest of the economy has to contend with race and gender quotas – at the behest of the radical left wing media clowns like Coyne and Wells, not incidentally – so it's only cricket that the media eat their own dogfood here, mixed metaphors be damned.

http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

How idiotic can one be? You're a pretty offensive guy/gal……just like over at Kady's site.

Speaking of Kady – I think you are insulting HER (gender).

William – old white guys? What do you think is old – they haven't even got grey hair yet.

Foreigner

"Here's a thought for "our democracy is broken"; why are all the panelists old white guys? "

That's not a "thought." It's a brain fart.

keith c

yep. A more interesting brain fart is asking why the most aggressive leadership candidate from the other gender during the last 10 years is the content-free Martha Hall Findlay

Bob

What makes journalists qualified to answer these questions? Why not focus on your jobs and actually report on stuff? Like facts. (Remember those?)

CAPS

"The Hendersons will all be there, late of Pablo Fanques’ Fair. What a scene!"

Paul, have you been lilstening non-stop to your recently purchased re-mastered mono recordings of the Beatles?

Also, wouldn't the plural of extravaganza be extravaganzae?

Foreigner

I wonder what consequences they threatened Ed Broadbent, Eddie Goldenberg and John Ralston Saul with if any them accurately blames the news media for breaking democracy?
http://skinnydips.blogspot.com Skinny Dipper

I won't be voting in the next federal and provincial elections. I refuse to participate in Canada's shamocracy. We need proportional representation.

Boycott the vote!

http://intensedebate.com/people/c_9 c_9

I support you not voting, based on this post alone.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Be_rad Be_rad

lol as the kids say (actually, now that I have tried using that letter combo, it has officially exiled it to archaic land). I love a proportional representation fan who thinks the best action to take is not to vote. It's like practicing celibacty to procreate.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Be_rad Be_rad

lol as the kids say (actually, now that I have tried using that letter combo, it has officially exiled it to archaic land). I love a proportional representation fan who thinks the best action to take is not to vote. It's like practicing celibacy to procreate.

Moar Ethnics Nao

"Hey look: Two pundits, no waiting"

If by "pundits" you mean "white guys so deathly afraid of saying something un-PC that their commentary is utterly useless", then yes.

Seriously, guys, hire some ethnics – white guys lack the necessities to effectively comment on politics in this day, sadly, and Macleans' quality suffers immensely because of that. Boring.

Besides, as previously noted, the rest of us have to contend with race/gender quotas in the workplace (thanks to you Marxist freaks in the media) so it's only fair you eat your own dogfood here.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Be_rad Be_rad

I find people who wail about political correctness tend to be those who used to love telling jokes that demeaned entire collections of people based on race, region of origin, gender, hair colour, religion, etc… while leaning on a supposed trait shared by all within that group.

The reason those jokes or broad brush strokes are "politically incorrect" is that society has reached a critical mass where it is no longer acceptable to make ignorant comments in polite company. You may think a larger group of people secretly think you are really funny when you tell those jokes or make those comments in secret, but really they're just humouring you and wondering how they can get the h*ll out of your company without being rude.

Anyway, this is an anecdotal observation, and by no means scientific. In fact, I have just used exactly the same broad brush approach used by the politically incorrect to make my point. Nonetheless, it's what I feel, so that makes it OK, right?
hazzard

Why not try debating the issue yourself. With actualy points or meaningful comments on the issue rather than rambling angrily about the participants and the magazine. Talk about boring.

hazzard

Two questions about our democracy I'd love to get a solid answer for. One, why is it impossible for anyone to gain a majority via English speaking Canadians. It boggles my mind why this is so bloody impossible. Second, why is it in a minority parliament, that the two largest vote getting parties are so against working together? Take our current situation. The Conservatives and the Liberals by far represent a majority of Canadians. Futhermore, on the political spectrum, they much more easily share compromisable ideals moreso than the Bloc/Greens/NDP and Conservatives do. So wouldn't it make the most sense for the Liberals and Conservatves to work together? The fact it doesn't says a lot of he maturity of MPs imho.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Be_rad Be_rad

Power. The reason they don't get along is precisely the fact you point out: they are the two largest accumulators of public support. They are the only probable government-forming parties in play, historically and based on current polls. So cooperation between them means compromising not principles but electoral strategic advantage. Power.