August 3, 2019 The famous physicist Sir Issac Newton’s first law of motion states that objects in motion will continue in motion at the same speed and direction, unless some external force is applied to change their trajectory. The same …
Will the Ford era lead to a political realignment in Ontario?
Published in Policy Options, May 31, 2019 Doug Ford’s arrival as Ontario’s premier a year ago was widely seen as a harbinger of a populist realignment in Ontario and Canadian politics. However, the dramatic fall in the Ford government’s polling …
A year of Doug Ford: Retreating on cuts or just taking a break?
June 2, 2019. Published in The Conversation It’s been a bad few weeks for Ontario Premier Doug Ford as he approaches the first anniversary of his election last June. First at the opening of the Special Olympics, and then at …
Do Liberal Contradictions on the Environment Pave way for Conservative win in 2019?
Published in The Conversation, The National Post, May 22, 2019 A few weeks ago, I was invited attended speech by federal environment and climate change minister Catherine Mckenna in Toronto on climate change and a number of other environmental issues. …
With more oil to be shipped by rail, train derailments show enduring safety gaps
Published in The Conversation, National Post, and Winnipeg Free Press, February 28, 2019 With Bruce Campbell The recent runaway CP Rail train in the Rocky Mountains near Field, B.C., highlighted ongoing gaps in Canada’s railway safety regime, more than five …
Cooling the rhetoric on Canada’s environmental assessment efforts
Published in the Conversation, National Post and Calgary Herald, March 27, 2019 With Martin Olszynski (University of Calgary) and Deborah Curran (UVic) In the fall of 2018, we suggested that post-truth politics were sinking the debate with respect to Bill …
The Ford Doctrine in Action: Cutting Energy Conservation and Public Health
Published in the Conversation and National Post April 28, 2019 Although less than a year in office, the government of Ontario Premier Doug Ford has already demonstrated a remarkable talent for pursuing very short-term gains at the expense of very …
Doug Ford’s Ontario: Who wins, and what does it mean for Ontario’s future?
Published in the Conversation, Huffington Post, National Post and other outlets, February 24, 2019 The first few months of Premier Doug Ford’s government has produced a long and growing list of losers. An incomplete catalogue, so far, includes: Municipalities, hospitals, …
Doug Ford and the limits of executive authority in cabinet-parliamentary systems of government.
The first six months of Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government have been nothing if not dramatic. The Ford government has been defined by a governing style that has often seemed arbitrary, impulsive, at times vindictive, and highly assertive of the …
The Ontario Climate Change Plan: An Assessment
December 3, 2018 The Ford government in Ontario released its climate change plan, on November 29. The plan is intended to replace the cap and trade system and climate change action plan of the previous Liberal government. Ideally, from the …