Remember the referendum on the Charlottetown constitutional accord? The more Canada's political and business elites threatened Canadians that the country would disappear into a black hole if the accord weren't passed, the more Canadians opposed it.

Remember the referendum on the Charlottetown constitutional accord? The more Canada's political and business elites threatened Canadians that the country would disappear into a black hole if the accord weren't passed, the more Canadians opposed it.

In many respects, my best friends were dogs.

Where you find all the worries about immigration, I think the way to handle that is to listen to the person that's got concerns, and then try to move that in a positive direction, as opposed to decrying it and saying, 'Don't even raise that, you can't raise that.'

Canada has had populist movements in the past, virtually since its inception. I don't think the central Canadian elites have ever understood populism at all, particularly the Western version of it.

The first lesson, for all Canadians, is that the closed door, top down approaches to constitution making do not provide the public input or debate necessary to achieve a constitutional consensus that will be supported by the people.

My personal political convictions are rooted in the populist political traditions of western Canada.