Outside and in

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

Steve Paikin talks to Alison Loat about Samara’s latest report.

1867 and everything after

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, November 11, 2011 at 2:27 PM - 0 Comments

Steve Paikin talks to Richard Gwyn about John A. Macdonald.

Journalism or politics?

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 11:45 AM - 4 Comments

From the recent Ontario election, The Agenda convenes a panel of journalists who decided to run for office.

Politics and reality

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, September 23, 2011 at 4:50 PM - 4 Comments

This Agenda panel was convened to consider the Ontario election, but the discussion is relevant to the federal situation as well.

Looking back

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 1:22 PM - 8 Comments

The Agenda convenes a panel to remember Jack Layton.

The Agenda team also put together a compilation of some of Mr. Layton’s moments on TVO. Continue…

Remembering Jack Layton

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 9:00 AM - 1 Comment

The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star editorial boards eulogize the NDP leader. The Star reviews his contribution to civic politics in Toronto, Libby Davies recalls his contribution to gay rights, the music community pays its respects and The Agenda compiles his television appearances, while Canadians mourn the loss and celebrate the man.

Outside Layton’s home, his neighbour, Ted Hawkins, laid a single red rose on his doorstep. It soon grew into a shrine of sunflowers, orange lilies, with a photo of Layton dressed up for Caribana. “I guess I didn’t expect him to go so fast, I guess I kind of shared his optimism a little bit,” Hawkins said. “It’s kind of infectious.”

Neighbour and friend Bryonny Nichol held back tears as she talked about his sparkling eyes and clear direct look. “Little kids liked him, he remembered them, he talked to them,” she said, “He believed in people.”

Yesterday’s collection of news and remembrances is here.

Jack Layton 1950-2011

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 22, 2011 at 9:03 AM - 11 Comments

A statement issued this morning by the family of NDP leader Jack Layton.

We deeply regret to inform you that The Honourable Jack Layton, leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, passed away at 4:45 am today, Monday August 22. He passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by family and loved ones. Details of Mr. Layton’s funeral arrangements will be forthcoming.

9:11am. Bob Rae, Carolyn Bennett, Hedy Fry, Wayne Easter, Cathy McLeod, Keith Martin and Governor General David Johnston are among those paying their respects.

9:23am. John Geddes explored Jack Layton’s life and times for this Maclean’s cover story last June. We wrote about his new fight with cancer for this cover story earlier this month.

9:28am. Condolences from Rodger Cuzner, Lewis Cardinal, Colin Carrie, Mike Sullivan and John McCallum.

9:36am. NDP deputy leader Libby Davies talks to reporters in St. John’s.

“He was a great Canadian. He gave his life to this country. His commitment to social justice and equality and a better Canada in the world and at home and I think that’s how people saw him,” Davies told reporters. “They saw him as someone who deeply, deeply cared for people. And they saw that in the campaign and all his work. They saw the courage that he had. He faced cancer and he kept on working, doing his job, because he felt so strongly about what he believed in, so I think people think of him as a great Canadian and we think of him as a great leader, in a political sense but (also) in a personal sense.”

9:43am. More on the life of Jack Layton from the CBC, Toronto Star and Canadian Press.

He was a believer. He made that clear in the first sentences of “Speaking Out Louder:” ”Politics matters. Ideas matter. Democracy matters, because all of us need to be able to make a difference.”

9:54am. Mr. Layton’s Facebook page has become a makeshift memorial.

9:59am. Greg Fingas marks the NDP leader’s passing.

After spending a decade laying the foundation, Jack Layton has tragically died before getting to complete the house that so many said couldn’t be built. For now, there’s little to do but to offer condolences and grieve the loss of a great Canadian and friend. But hopefully Layton’s inspiration will only encourage us to finish what he started.

10:01am. A statement from the Prime Minister. Continue…

Democracy by tweet

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, May 27, 2011 at 5:21 PM - 1 Comment

Steve Paikin convenes a panel—including Treasury Board President Tony Clement, the NDP’s Charlie Angus and our own Jesse Brown—to discuss technology and politics.

I confess to being somewhat closer to Mr. Angus’ position when it comes to Twitter, at least insofar as its impact on the last election cycle is concerned. I’ve tended to think its been like introducing crack into the political sphere: rendering everything that takes place within this world even more incomprehensible to those on the outside.

This serious business

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, April 15, 2011 at 12:35 PM - 12 Comments

Rick Mercer talks to Steve Paikin about politics and satire.

Setting the agenda

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 2:50 PM - 3 Comments

Before tonight’s debates, here is last night’s discussion on The Agenda. It’s a good thing they kept Ned Franks and I in separate cities, otherwise we would’ve come to blows around the two and a half minute mark here.

'Politics is Broken'

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 3:20 PM - 80 Comments

The Agenda is running a series on the state of our politics, the first instalment (below) covered the state of political parties. Tune in Monday night to watch me and some far smarter people try to fix Parliament.

The life

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, November 26, 2010 at 5:39 PM - 0 Comments

Six second-year members of Parliament discuss the political life with Steve Paikin.

Kevin Sorenson Maverick Watch

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, November 26, 2010 at 11:52 AM - 21 Comments

A Conservative manages to discuss a piece of legislation related to the justice system without either claiming total righteousness or depicting the opposition parties as unholy.

The Conservative chairman of the Commons public safety committee says a proposed law that would bar thousands of Canadians from ever applying for a criminal records pardon may have to be amended … The minister has said we’ll have to look at this,” Sorenson said this week. “There can be amendments.”

After impugning Liberal Mark Holland earlier this week, the Public Safety Minister went after the NDP’s Don Davies yesterday (Mr. Davies, like Mr. Holland, felt it necessary to correct the record). For sheer bloody-minded obsessiveness though, Mr. Toews topped himself this week during an interview with Steve Paikin, in which, when questioned about the current difference in crime policy between the Liberal opposition and the Conservative government, referred, while mispronouncing the man’s name, to comments made by solicitor general Jean-Pierre Goyer in 1971. Mr. Toews was 19 years old when those remarks were uttered. The Liberal party’s current public safety critic, Mr. Holland, wasn’t even born at the time.

The right way to think about Maxime Bernier

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 11:43 AM - 0 Comments

The Agenda convenes a panel to sort out the meaning of Maxime Bernier.

The man in charge at the worst of times

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at 12:07 PM - 0 Comments

John Boyko talks to Steve Paikin about RB Bennett.

Power and politics

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, October 13, 2010 at 10:33 AM - 0 Comments

Donald Savoie talks to Steve Paikin about the concentration of power in our politics.

'All these things come home'

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, October 6, 2010 at 11:57 AM - 0 Comments

Bob Rae reflects on his time in power in Ontario.

Mitchel Raphael on why Michael Ignatieff got his own 'fake lake'

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 9:20 AM - 2 Comments

Too bad about the protesters’ cake
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff’s annual garden party for the media had its own special “water feature”: a child’s swimming pool was decorated to create that Muskoka-like feeling. Liberal strategist Kevin Bosch said he learned from the Conservatives that if you want to get the media out you have to have a “fake lake.” Capital Diary asked several TV journalists to stand in front of the backdrop for a photo; all politely declined. Ignatieff’s version of a “fake lake” included fake ducks and a mini remote-controlled boat, all of which cost around $80, thanks to some strategic shopping at Wal-Mart. The party was a sit-down dinner of pasta and meatballs, as opposed to the usual food stations. Steve Paikin of TVO’s The Agenda seemed mortified when the band, armed with an accordion, sang Happy Birthday to him. Outside Stornoway, two groups of protesters arrived. The first were NDP supporters upset at how the Liberals helped the Conservatives pass their fifth budget bill by having several of their members absent for the vote. Unfortunately, an ice cream cake with Sesame Street’s The Count on it melted in one of the demonstrators’ hands, making the message written on it difficult to read. Then there were the anti-seal-hunt protesters who joined in with some of the NDP chants. When Capital Diary pointed out to the seal protesters that the NDP officially supports the hunt, the protesting NDPers claimed not everyone in the party is behind that position.

Her bodyguard money gone
When Liberal MP Irwin Cotler was in Geneva speaking at a conference to mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, he met Dr. Massouda Jalal on a panel. Jalal was the sole female presidential candidate during Afghanistan’s 2004 election and spoke out about the conditions for women in her country. Cotler was so impressed with her talk he invited her to Ottawa where she spoke to MPs. She pointed out that many of Afghanistan’s TV and radio stations are in the hands of warlords who use the media to suppress women’s rights. Jalal says most people in her country believe what the media tell them so she is advocating for a women’s TV station to combat the misogynist attacks. When she was in cabinet, she said, she expected a minister who had lived in the U.S. for 20 years would be progressive on women’s rights. Instead, he told her the reason he had come back to Afghanistan was: “In America I don’t have control over my wife and daughter.” Jalal was shocked. Amnesty International gave her some funds, which she used to hire bodyguards. But the money has dried up and she is now without protection. Cotler is hoping Canada can help her remain a voice for women in Afghanistan.

Could Ottawa get any smaller?
MPs whose homes are far away from Ottawa tend to get excited when their children move to the capital. Cape Breton Liberal MP Mark Eyking is delighted his son Josh Eyking is starting work as a real estate agent in the city. He is with Keller Williams Ottawa Realty, the same firm where Transport Minister John Baird’s mother Marianne Anderson works.

Bilingual judges
Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Abella recently spoke at the Yeshiva University Toronto convocation and dinner. Noting the controversy around a private member’s bill that any newly appointed Supreme Court judges must be bilingual, she said she wanted to say a few words in another language. She proceeded with remarks in Yiddish, much to the delight and laughter of the predominantly Jewish crowd.

They also have a real lake
The term “fake lake” is getting under the skins of some Tories. But one joke going around is that they in fact have a “real” lake too: Edmonton MP Mike Lake.

Photographs by Mitchel Raphael

The rethink

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, June 13, 2010 at 11:54 AM - 26 Comments

Steve Paikin talks to Michael Chong about Question Period reform.

'It is a democracy at the end of the day'

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 12:54 PM - 43 Comments

Steve Paikin comes perhaps as close as anyone is going to get to having a rational televised discussion about the fact that people with religious beliefs might wish to participate in the democratic process.

How much should we pay and what should we pay for?

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 11:24 AM - 20 Comments

The Agenda convenes a panel—including our Andrew Coyne—to discuss the sorts of questions that should probably be dominating our politics.

True North strong not free

By Mark Steyn - Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 606 Comments

Photograph by Chris Bolin

Well, Ann Coulter is no longer in Canada, but 30 million Canadians are. So, for the sake of argument, let us take as read the frankly rather boring observation of the northern punditocracy that the whole brouhaha worked to her advantage, and consider instead whether the Canada on display during her 96-hour layover actually works to Canadians’ advantage. Which was the claim advanced by the eminent Canadian “feminist” Susan Cole appearing on U.S. TV to support the protesters’ shutdown of Miss Coulter’s Ottawa speech:

“We don’t have a First Amendment, we don’t have a religion of free speech,” she explained patiently. “Students sign off on all kinds of agreements as to how they’ll behave on campus, in order to respect diversity, equity, all of the values that Canadians really care about. Those are the things that drive our political culture. Not freedoms, not rugged individualism, not free speech. It’s different, and for us, it works.”

Does it? You rarely hear it put quite that bluntly—“Freedoms”? Ha! Who needs ’em?—but there was a lot of similarly self-regarding blather in Coulter Week euphemizing a stultifying, enforced conformism as “respect” and “diversity” and whatnot. “I therefore ask you, while you are a guest on our campus, to weigh your words with respect and civility in mind,” wrote François Houle, the provost of the University of Ottawa, addressing Miss Coulter in the smug, condescending, preening tone that comes so naturally to your taxpayer-funded, tenured mediocrity. “There is a strong tradition in Canada, including at this university, of restraint, respect and consideration in expressing even provocative and controversial opinions and urge you [sic] to respect that Canadian tradition.”

Continue…

The emotion of politics, the politics of emotion

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 3:30 PM - 67 Comments

The Agenda convenes a panel to discuss emotion and public policy.

More from Alison Loat here.

Paikin v. Flaherty

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 12:45 PM - 17 Comments

The host of the Agenda talks to the Finance Minister.

And then a bunch of smart people, including our Andrew Coyne, talk about the budget.