Reading the National Post

Holy crap. A conservative Canadian newspaper. Now, I know some of you Canadian readers already believe that the Globe and Mail is a conservative rag, but they’ve got nothing on the National Post. Sure, I could write about my trip to Vancouver, but I really need to tell you about the newspaper that showed up outside my hotel room each day.

To start with, there’s the coverage of Quebec. “Militant anglophone” would be a good descriptor of what I’ve seen so far. Granted, it’s some kind of bizarre language politics that led the city administrators to consider renaming Parc Av. for Robert Bourassa, but the op-ed was penned by someone who actually believes he is in “self-imposed exile” from Montreal. That’s like saying I’m in “self-imposed exile” from Minneapolis because I no longer live there. Note to Montreal anglophones: You are not oppressed. Get over it.

Then there’s the special supplement on “Canada’s University Innovation Leaders.” McGill ranks an impressive 3rd, but the only measure that matters for a research university ranking is how much money faculty raise. And the editorial is concerned that “overall income growth” is not as good as it could be. I’m all for more funding for universities, but “growth” is not a good thing in and of itself. At a certain point, faculty have enough money to do their research and should just get to it.

Coverage of the Harper administration and U.S. foreign policy? Largely laudatory. They also have more NFL coverage, and we all know what that means. . . .