-
Why Plagiarism Matters
I had been considering writing about whether former Harvard President Claudine Gay should have been selected a little over a year ago or should be fired now, but her resignation has made both questions moot. Nonetheless, accusations that she plagiarized by incorporating sections of other scholars’ work without attribution into her own doctoral thesis and…
-
In-Person or Online: Community or Convenience
Last week’s post about watching the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD broadcasts got me thinking about the frequent post-pandemic choice between attending an event in-person or viewing it online. I will explain two such choices I made in the last few days. Furthermore, I can think of four contexts in which this choice presents itself:…
-
Toronto’s Best Spot for the Met Live in HD
I’m a huge fan of the Metropolitan Opera’s Saturday afternoon Live in HD broadcasts. The Met is a superb company with the best artists doing great operas – both classic and increasingly more contemporary – with camera work bringing you closer to the artists than at any live performance, and with fascinating intermission interviews, all…
-
Needed: A Partnership Transparency Act
The Ford Government is laser-focused on building infrastructure: public transit, highways, hospitals, and of course Ontario Place. Its Ministry of Infrastructure is headed by Kinga Sirma, well known as a Ford loyalist. The Ministry has a major agency – Infrastructure Ontario – and is committed to using public-private partnerships as a key methodology, especially for…
-
OSC => OP: Ford’s Latest Assault on Democracy
In the last two weeks, I’ve been on the CBC’s Metro Morning twice to talk about the Ford Government’s relocation of the Ontario Science Centre (OSC) to Ontario Place (OP). The first time was after the Government released its business case supporting the move and the second after the Auditor General’s report criticizing the move.…
-
The Eclipse is Coming!
A total solar eclipse is coming to Mexico, the US, and Canada on Monday, April 8, 2024. Its path crosses northern Mexico, then moves from Texas to the Midwest, southern Ontario, Quebec, Atlantic Canada, and Newfoundland. I’m fascinated and amazed by solar eclipses. I travelled to Manitoba in winter 1979 and Baja California in summer…
-
A New Deal, But not A Good Deal
As I was reading the terms of the deal between the Province of Ontario and City of Toronto announced by Premier Ford and Mayor Chow yesterday, Thucydides’ maxim came to mind: “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” The province is strong because its finances and credit rating are…
-
Let’s Debate Billy’s Fate
As Samuel Johnson opined, deadlines “concentrate the mind wonderfully.” Not only does Billy Bishop Airport’s (BBA) lease expire in 2033, but – more urgently – the airport must meet a Transport Canada requirement to have in place runway end safety areas by 2027. RESA’s, as the term suggests, are flat obstacle-free zones at the end…
-
Let’s Make War on the Car
Maybe it’s because of their surnames or more likely it’s because of their electoral base, but the Ford brothers have always been big supporters of drivers and driving. Rob Ford supplied the slogan – “the war on the car has got to stop” – and Doug Ford put it into practice, with policies such as…
-
Orator or O(pe)rator?
I came of age politically in the late Fifties and early Sixties in a Liberal household. In my Manichean worldview, the good guys were JFK and Lester Pearson and the bad guys were Richard Nixon and John Diefenbaker. In eighth grade every day at recess, I debated the 1962 federal election with a young Conservative.…
-
Interrogating Queen’s Park: A Walking Tour
A very entrepreneurial and public-spirited former student of mine, Alex Rascanu, has formed a Meetup group called ExperienceTO, and he leads walking tours of Toronto sites. I join him as a commentator for sites for which I have expertise. Recently he led a tour of Queen’s Park, focusing on its many statues. And it was…
-
Three Troubling Maxims for Israel
As the Israel-Hamas war grinds on, several strategic maxims come to mind. But the application of a maxim to a given situation is never transparent or even clear. And maxims may be more applicable in one type of situation than another. With those caveats, I will say that these maxims have become earworms, in a…
-
Applying Ben-Gurion’s Maxim
When he headed the Jewish Agency during World War II, David Ben-Gurion told Jews to “support the British as if there is no White Paper [limiting Jewish immigration to Palestine] and oppose the White Paper as if there is no war.” To generalize, an interest group can be in strong agreement with the government on…
-
Existential Crises and Manageable Problems
The events in Israel provide a sobering perspective on the topics I choose for this blog. By and large, I have been working on manageable Canadian and Toronto problems. The Toronto problems have often involved the Greenbelt and waterfront, often exacerbated by the Ford Government’s policies. The existential challenge to my brethren in Israel is…
-
Billy Bishop Goes to War – Again
With ten years remaining on its lease, privately-held Nieuport Aviation, the owner of the terminal at Billy Bishop Airport (BBA), has launched a major public relations campaign. The objective is to convince the City of Toronto, its primary landlord, to renew the lease. Nieuport’s consultant and advocate is the U. of T. urbanist Richard Florida.…