Geoffrey Stevens

Cambridge resident Geoffrey Stevens, an author and former Ottawa columnist and managing editor of the Globe and Mail, teaches political science at Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Guelph. He welcomes comments at the address below. This article appeared in the Waterloo Region Record and the Guelph Mercury.

2013 will be a year of reckoning for Liberals

Jan 062013

Insight

New leaders could jump start federal and provincial Liberal parties' revival.

by Geoffrey Stevens

The year 2013 promises to be a definitive year for Liberals in Canada as the memory of past glory collides with the hard reality of the present.

Canadian Liberalism use to be described as the most successful political movement in the Western democracies. Much of the reputation was earned by the federal Liberal party and its succession of governments in Ottawa, but some of it rubbed off on provincial Liberals, too. That was in the olden days, the 20th century.

Fuzzy expectations for 2013

Dec 302012

Insight

Don't trust any pundit's predictions — including these.

by Geoffrey Stevens

It’s a hoary tradition. At New Year’s, pundits are supposed to look ahead and tell readers what to expect – or not – in the year to come. A wise reader won’t buy any of it. No one knows what is going to happen next week let alone 10 or 12 months from now.

Protecting Canadians from gun violence

Dec 232012

Insight

Stephen Harper at the 2005 Calgary Stampede.

Stephen Harper's government seems to be following the US model.

by Geoffrey Stevens

Let me start this Christmas Eve with a confession. I am, and always have been, a firm believer in gun control. This began long before the senseless massacres at Sandy Hook Elementary School this month, at Virginia Tech in 2007 or at the Ecole Polytechnique in 1989, among other atrocities.

I have never understood why a supposedly civilized society, one that is truly concerned with the safety of its citizens, permits some of them to walk around with weapons with which they can kill children, students, teachers, co-workers and other fellow citizens (or kill themselves).

F-35 buyer’s remorse

Dec 172012

Insight

There are at least three other options for a jet fighter.

by Geoffrey Stevens

Now that the Harper government has “hit the reset button,” as they say, on the acquisition of new jets for the Royal Canadian Air Force, what happens next?

That’s not at all clear — transparency not being a hallmark of the Conservative regime. What we do know, because the government told us this much, is that an “independent” panel will review the evaluation process to replace the aging CF-18s. How independent the panel will actually be is also hard to tell, although some of the experts named to the panel seem to be free from entanglements with the military establishment or the warplane industry.

Sense finally prevails on the fighter jets

Dec 102012

Canadian politics

With F-35s dead, Harperites will have to look at what Canada actually needs.

by Geoffrey Stevens

The three most difficult words for any politician to utter are, “I was wrong.” Or “I screwed up.” If the process of getting from a wrong decision to a right decision involves admitting mistakes, it can take a devil of a long time.

It has taken the Harper government seven years to concede it was wrong – dead wrong – when it decided to equip the Royal Canadian Air Force with F-35 Lightning II jet fighters to replace its aging CF-18 Hornets.

Harper foreign policy discards a proud legacy

Dec 022012

Insight

An evenhanded approach to the Middle East was a hallmark of Canadan policy since Lester Pearson's day.

Killing generic drugs bill another display of petty partisanship.

by Geoffrey Stevens

There was a time, not so long ago, when this country punched above its weight in the world. Canada was only a middle power in a world dominated by Cold War super-powers. Yet Canadian leaders and diplomats moved in the same league as the big hitters. Our friendship was valued, our support solicited and our advice considered (if not always heeded).

Judging Justin Trudeau’s chances

Nov 252012

Insight

Liberal leadership candidates straggle to starting line.

by Geoffrey Stevens

Is Justin Trudeau the real deal?

That’s a question many Liberals are asking as the contestants in the race for the top in the party — without a permanent leader since the debacle of the 2011 election — straggle to the starting line for the race that will end in Ottawa on April 14.

Poor Harper: So successful, so under-appreciated

Nov 182012

Insight

Problem is, deep down, Canadians don’t like Harper very much.

by Geoffrey Stevens

Pity Stephen Harper. The poor man doesn’t get much respect.

Here he is, the most successful politician on the Canadian stage. He’s fought four general elections in eight years as leader of his party and won three of them. Come February he will have been prime minister for seven years.

Politics’ six year shelf life

Nov 122012

Insight

Leaders should know when they approach their best-before date.

by Geoffrey Stevens

There’s a hypothesis among people who dabble in politics that the average political leader has a half-life of about six years — “half-life” being a term borrowed from science to describe a process of gradual or exponential decay.

Applied to politics, the half-life hypothesis means leaders have six years to make their mark and reach (or not) their goals. At the six-year mark, they need to start tidying up their files and worry about their legacy, while their supporters plot succession scenarios.

Close, but an edge to Obama — and maybe to Canada

Nov 042012

Insight

Canadians find Romney's belief in the free market touchingly quaint.

by Geoffrey Stevens

If Canadians could participate in tomorrow’s US presidential election, their votes would surely go overwhelmingly to Barack Obama.

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