Worth Reading – December 6, 2012

These weeks are terrible. I started today’s Worth Reading with seventeen articles, but according to my own artificially imposed rules I can only use seven. Decisions, decisions.

Samara Canada’s latest report Who’s the Boss? created quite a stir in Canadian media this week.   There are many great articles in virtually every newspaper and news website that discusses the issues it raises; the most prominent of which is the growing disconnect between Canadians and their elected representatives. Canadians more and more feel detached from their leadership. One of the best articles I read this week building off of Samara’s findings is this piece by Colin Horgan. Horgan discusses causes for the growing disillusionment of citizens, but comes to few conclusions.

Mayor (for now) Rob Ford continues to be enshrouded in controversy. In the wake of his court case and appeal a blogger with the handle Provocative Penguin wrote this great piece titled, “Confession: I voted for Rob Ford”. It is both funny and well stated. Many of Rob Ford’s critics ask how could a man such as he even get elected? It may be difficult to remember that the battle between Smitherman and Ford was not exactly an attractive choice.

I may write more on this article later, but the Huffington Post Canada had a good piece on the political engagement of Canada’s millennials. I many of the assertions of this article are more than a little optimistic, but I will leave that determination to the readers.

Jamey Heath, NDP strategist, offers an excellent analysis for the prospects of a ‘unite the left’ alternative. What I like most about Heath’s article is that it goes beyond the typical “this will never work” or “this is the only way to beat the CPC” angle. Very thoughtful read.

Steve Munro, prominent writer on transit and urban issues in Toronto, wrote this week on the next phase of development proposed by Metrolinx. Metrolinx’s plan for developing transit in the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area is available here.

In the Globe and Mail, what is the impact of the Greens on the rest of the opposition parties?

Andrew Coyne in the National Post suggests that perhaps we should just have one big election on democratic reform and have it over with. Sadly, this bold proposal begins to disintegrate with even the slightest bit of scrutiny.