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A Narrative about Teaching Narrative
With the semester concluded, I am getting back to my co-authored book about political narrative (Public Representations). One of the chapters is about the management narrative course I have been teaching at the University of Toronto Scarborough for the last 30 years. Here is a precis. The course was originally titled “Management and Organization in…
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Joe, Pierre, and Stephen in Healey’s 1979
When I was writing about the Danish television series Borgen, I looked up the list of Danish Prime Ministers and discovered that several served very long terms, several served very short terms, and several served more than one non-consecutive term. If you look at the list of Canada’s 23 prime ministers, you see the same…
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A Covidian Walk on the Golf Course
I walk for exercise. When self-isolation and physical distancing began, parks officially closed but were nonetheless overcrowded. As a one-time golfer, I turned to golf courses, which are closed to the game, but are park-like settings where distancing is easy. There are three golf courses within 15 minutes’ drive of my suburban Toronto home. They…
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The Covid Vaccine Test
Now that I have your attention, this post is about public management, not immunology. Please read on anyway. In my undergraduate public management course, I gave an open-book final exam (MGSC03 final exam 2020) in which half the points were based on a two-part question on Covid vaccinations. (Open-book was necessary due to social distancing).…
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The Semiotician and the Golf Course
Did you hear the one about the post-structuralist and the mafia don? She made him an offer he didn’t understand. This post about semioticians and golf courses makes the opposite premise, namely that it is the semiotician who doesn’t understand. Start with a golf course that is shuttered due to Covid – 19, so it…
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Communicating about Covid – 19
In my post of March 21, I argued that the quality of a jurisdiction’s governance could have an impact on the seriousness of its Covid – 19 outbreak. One aspect of governance is the communication of government policy, and in this post I want to offer my armchair assessments of several government communicators. The emerging…
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Covid USA: A Parody
Seeing pictures of recent “open up America” rallies and once again crowded beaches in Florida, coupled with the news that the virus is spreading to Boston, left me appalled. One can react to such news with anger, which would lead to a denunciation. A second way to react is with scorn, which could be expressed…
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Taking the Package
After considerable thought, I have decided to accept a retirement package offered to senior faculty members by the University of Toronto. By retiring at the end of this academic year (June 2020), I will receive a full year’s salary from July 2020 to June 2021. Technically, I will be on paid leave of absence during…
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Doug Ford: A Convert to Science?
On Thursday March 12, Doug Ford was telling people to go on holiday over March break and enjoy themselves. Virtually overnight, he did a complete volte-face and urged people to stay home and start self-isolating. Since then, he has been tenaciously clinging to the same page as the federal government, hectoring Ontarians about strict social…
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Innovation under Populism Posted
My article “Innovation under Populism” has just been posted on the Public e-Bulletin of the ESADE Business School in Barcelona. I wrote the article several months ago, before the spread of the Covid – 19 virus. The point I made, however, is entirely relevant to the current situation. Populist governments and citizens, with their contempt…
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Fighting Covid – 19, Fighting Trump
The Israeli statesman David Ben-Gurion, while a resistance leader, admonished his followers to fight the Nazis as though the British Mandate didn’t exist, and fight the British Mandate as though the Nazis didn’t exist. (For those not familiar with Israeli history, the British Mandate refers to British control over Palestine, which Ben-Gurion wanted to replace…
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Covid – 19: Does Governance Matter?
When the Covid – 19 pandemic finally ends, a generation of students of public health and public policy will have data to evaluate the approaches taken by different governments in terms of their effectiveness at identifying the virus, controlling its spread, and treating its victims. Early experience suggests that countries that diligently traced cases and…
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Reluctant Radio Silence
It’s been almost a full month since my previous post. I haven’t lost my interests or my voice. The problem is that I am teaching three courses this semester. Preparation time (because I always update my content), classes, grading, and student contact take up most of my work week. By the way, the courses are…
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Trade Ms. Meng for USMCA?
I haven’t seen this discussed by other commentators, but it seems to me that Canada holds a tremendous bargaining advantage because Parliament has not yet ratified USMCA. President Trump has told us that USMCA is a fantastic agreement and would replace the worst trade deal ever. And he desperately wants USMCA to take effect before…
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Remember Auschwitz
Yesterday was the seventy-fifth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. I visited Auschwitz some years ago and published an op-ed about my visit in the Globe and Mail. Here is a link to the Auschwitz article. In a post a few years ago, I wrote about an exhibit entitled The Evidence Room, an artistic representation…
- I am Professor of Public Management Emeritus at the University of Toronto, having retired in July 2020 after a 45-year academic career.
- My latest book, Public Representations: Screen Stories, Narrative, and the Public Sphere, co-authored with Beth Herst, was published in April 2026 by University of Toronto Press (open access).
- On this website I post blogs about politics, narrative, and my life experiences.
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