self-promotion

Once a bit player, Kaling’s the subject of think pieces about what she means for women, for rom-coms, for leads of colour, etc.

It was a great pleasure to be a guest on CBC Radio’s The Current this morning. We discussed my new Maclean’s e-book, The Harper Decade.

We’re brimming over with fresh bitumen this week at Maclean’s, where I’ve got a story connecting the Harper government with the Ethical Oil movement, and Colleague Nancy Macdonald has another one, perhaps more significant over the medium term, pointing out that one reason why the government is so eager to pick fights with shady foreign billionaires and oil sheikhs is that that’s easier than defeating northern British Columbia aboriginal communities.

There’s been some chatter on Twitter to the effect that I’ll be the new Political Editor at Maclean’s, effective immediately. (Actually, effective last week, but we couldn’t announce it yet. That’s what I was doing at the story meeting last Wednesday, colleagues!)

From the print edition, my new column ponders the meaning of that big picnic in Toronto mayor Rob Ford’s mom’s back yard, at which the surprise guest was Stephen Harper.

From the magazine, my latest column predicts the future with the startling accuracy you’ve come to expect from Team 2012.

Maclean’s is running my very long history of the 2011 election (with reporting from John, Aaron, Marty and many others) in serial  instalments. The first parts are online now.

From the magazine, and posted here a little ahead of its newsstand début, my latest column. Not as long as my campaign articles often are, but I hope it says something significant. If you add up all of the Conservatives’ plans, you get a federal government that will play an ever-dwindling role in the life of the nation. I think this election is about Harper finally making his big fiscal-conservative play. A lot of voters will think this is excellent. A lot would disagree. But it’s a great big debate we could be having if we were not distracted by small potatoes, and it’s a big decision we will make whether we have the debate or not.

From the magazine, my written-on-deadline column about Tuesday’s English-language leaders’ debate. It ends more seriously than it begins:

From the magazine, my latest column proposes Jason Kenney and Justin Trudeau as the future of Canadian politics.

From the magazine, this week’s cover story, on the Ignatieff paradox: deeply unpopular and praying for an election.

From the print edition, my column, which carries the headline “What Canada Can Do About Libya” and is mostly about what Canada can do about Egypt. I try to make a few simple points I haven’t seen argued in a lot of the coverage about the North African upheaval: