Welcome to my Blog
This blog will side with politics that strives to do the right thing, rather than favouring quick and easy answers; encourage journalism that seeks the truth and explores what is really going on in the community, rather than practising mere public relations; praise public figures who choose plain talk over speaking in vague generalities; and applaud citizens who recognize that our country is both burning up and drowning due to climate change, and who undertake to fight on behalf of Planet Earth.
I make such assertions with the understanding that nothing in public discourse, or in life, is all black or white. There are also many shades of grey. For instance, as I emphasized in my book, Wires Crossed, politics is the art of the possible. While striving to uphold their principles, successful politicians in a democracy learn to balance what they want to accomplish with what the public wants and will support. For my part, I do, indeed, favour idealism over cynicism, and respect those with the courage to seek the ideal even while knowing that perfect solutions are not possible.
The hard topics which Against the Flow will wrestle with, include: upholding and celebrating the Free Press while revenue sources are dwindling; claiming to solve complex problems like addiction, homelessness, and mental illness through forced rehabilitation of addicts; recognizing that sports betting has become an addiction, particularly for our youth, and threatens to diminish sport and recreation as a key aspect of our quality of life; challenging every political party in Canada, at both the federal and provincial level, to put forward a strategy to combat climate change.
Against the Flow will not deal only with serious and “hard” topics. It will, occasionally, touch on softer subjects, including what is good, funny, and sweet in life. Furthermore, we cannot press a button and get exactly where we want to go. The song writer William Prince captures this well with the words of one of his songs: “The truth about love it don’t come all at once, it gets easier and harder all the time. If you don’t give up when push comes to shove, it gets easier and harder all the time.”
This blog will draw on the various stages of my varied career, my challenges, inspirations, failures, and occasional successes. Throughout, I will argue that it is fun, healthy, and rewarding to paddle against the current.
I make such assertions with the understanding that nothing in public discourse, or in life, is all black or white. There are also many shades of grey. For instance, as I emphasized in my book, Wires Crossed, politics is the art of the possible. While striving to uphold their principles, successful politicians in a democracy learn to balance what they want to accomplish with what the public wants and will support. For my part, I do, indeed, favour idealism over cynicism, and respect those with the courage to seek the ideal even while knowing that perfect solutions are not possible.
The hard topics which Against the Flow will wrestle with, include: upholding and celebrating the Free Press while revenue sources are dwindling; claiming to solve complex problems like addiction, homelessness, and mental illness through forced rehabilitation of addicts; recognizing that sports betting has become an addiction, particularly for our youth, and threatens to diminish sport and recreation as a key aspect of our quality of life; challenging every political party in Canada, at both the federal and provincial level, to put forward a strategy to combat climate change.
Against the Flow will not deal only with serious and “hard” topics. It will, occasionally, touch on softer subjects, including what is good, funny, and sweet in life. Furthermore, we cannot press a button and get exactly where we want to go. The song writer William Prince captures this well with the words of one of his songs: “The truth about love it don’t come all at once, it gets easier and harder all the time. If you don’t give up when push comes to shove, it gets easier and harder all the time.”
This blog will draw on the various stages of my varied career, my challenges, inspirations, failures, and occasional successes. Throughout, I will argue that it is fun, healthy, and rewarding to paddle against the current.
Wires Crossed examines a continuing role for a federal government in adopting new ways of supporting this key part of our provincial life, without getting involved in press content.
Wires Crossed...is a balanced examination of a controversial symbiosis — corporate power and media control, an issue with resonance across Canada now, as newspaper ownership is increasingly concentrated in a few large corporations. Julian Walker draws on a career as journalist, political insider, senior bureaucrat and academic for this vivid account of what can happen in society when a single corporate player acquires a dominant position in public life by owning and controlling the voice of the community. -Linden MacIntyre, long-time journalist, CBC’s Fifth Estate,best-selling novelist
...Part personal memoir, part political and journalistic history, always entertaining and insightful, it is first and foremost a love story for the fourth estate and a rallying cry to preserve its integrity across this country and beyond. -Mary McKenna, PhD, Assistant Dean, University of New Brunswick
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