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Is Carney a conservative?

ByDoug Anderson Canada, Government Policy, Personality, Politics

Why would the Ontario NDP Deputy Leader join the federal Liberals?

Doug Anderson

Feb 15, 2026

The media has changed since I was the publisher of the local newspaper – that was in the 1990s before the internet and social media. It used to be that the vast majority of journalists worked for media outlets such a newspapers, radio and TV and while those enterprises may have had a point of view and may have put more emphasis on some stories than others, generally there were standards – truth was important and sources needed to be checked.

But that has changed- newspapers began to consolidate into conglomerates and their owners began to control the tone of their papers – some stories got emphasis, others were suppressed or even eliminated. Many are now exclusively on line where readers can select the stories they want and ignore the rest. In some cases … More

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Imagine a World at peace – without the Security Council Veto

ByDoug Anderson Canada, Government Policy, International Relations, Politics

It could happen – a brave contingent of UN members have launched an effort to implement Article 109

Doug Anderson

Dec 07, 2025

We live in precarious times … not unlike the early 1960s when the cold war was at its peak. The Cuban missile crisis was 1962; The Cold War was at its height and Viet Nam was brewing.

Not unlike today.

In the early 60s while I was in high school, I was president of the World Affairs Club at my school and like 60-70 other high schools in Toronto we were participating in a model United Nations. Each school represented a different country. We met every Sunday to discuss/debate the issues of the day. I still have my copy of the UN charter.

Back then the UN was only a decade and a half old, but already it was clear that the Security Council veto was … More

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The MOU

ByDoug Anderson Canada, Government Policy, Media, Communications, Politics

The charade and the pipeline

Doug Anderson

Nov 29, 2025

Last week I wrote a piece that said the Carney would avoid saying “NO” to a pipeline – that he would leave the decision to the Major Projects process and that as a result of that review, no pipeline was likely to ever get built. Having read the MOU that Carney signed with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, I stand by that assessment although not too many people agree with me.

As I’ve said before, Carney is an introvert and play the long game. He wanted to get Alberta onside with a number of environmental objectives and this MOU achieves much of that including some specific emission goals and timelines.

The Federal government acknowledges “Alberta’s approach to regulating heavy electricity generation emitters through Alberta’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) program.” “The TIER system will ramp up to a minimum … More

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What to do about Canada Post

ByDoug Anderson Canada, Government Policy
Doug Anderson

Oct 26, 2025

In 1968, Pierre Trudeau appointed Eric Kierans as Postmaster General in his first cabinet (it was still a cabinet position back then). Judging by the Aislin cartoon from 1970 posted on Facebook recently by the cartoonist himself, nothing much has changed.

Well, yes, a lot has changed – postal rates have gone up dramatically, mail volumes have dropped dramatically as a result of email, parcel volumes have increased dramatically and numerous non-unionized competitors have taken much of that business from the post office.,

So, what’s left. Most importantly – but diminishing every year – the monopoly that Canada Post was given on letter mail. That was supposed to be the revenue generator that would keep them in the black. That’s not working out so well these days.

Kierans made a number of operational changes which included closing post offices and discontinuing mail delivery on Saturdays … More

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Cutting Government Waste

ByDoug Anderson Canada, Government Policy

Where Bloat Butts up Against The Peter Principle

Prime Minister Carney laid out an ambitious program in his press conference a few days after winning the election. A lot of heavy spending predicated significantly on saving money by cutting government waste. All parties have made this promise for decades but the bloat continues. Governments just tend to be inefficient.

There was a thin little best seller book in the early 1970s entitled The Peter Principle by Laurence J. Peter. Its main thesis was that in any large hierarchical employment structure (like the civil service) people get promoted until they reach their level of incompetence. Incompetence is perhaps too blunt a term – it simply means that they can’t for whatever reason fulfill the responsibilities of their position to the degree expected. Be that as it may, we’ll stick to the term incompetent. People who have reached their “final placement” … More

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Crime and Punishment

ByDoug Anderson Crime & Punishment, Government Policy, Lateral Thinking, Paradigm Shift

A Paradigm Shift Approach to Recidivism

Doug Anderson

Apr 26, 2025

Link to same article on Substack

I’m a lateral thinker – an outside the box thinker. The box in this case is conventional or incremental thinking. True lateral thinkers are born that way and are fairly rare, but you can look through history and some stand out – Benjamin Franklin for sure and I would include Winston Churchill as well. The mobilization of a flotilla of small boats to evacuate troops from Dunkirk in the early part of World War II was an act of a lateral thinker while most people were wringing their hands and contemplating surrender.

Conventional thinkers look at the status quo and think about incremental changes whereas a lateral thinker looks at the current situation, looks at where he needs to go and figures out a path to get there. Lateral Thinking is both a … More