Rick Salutin, The (Toronto) Star Journalist Profile

Articles

If you are reading newspapers, are you part of a dying breed?

6 days ago | thespec.com | Rick Salutin

How are we to make sense of recent elections here and in the U.S.? Down there, Kamala Harris looked set to win, yet lost all key swing states. According to most mainstream media (MSM) reports, it shouldn’t have happened. Here, Mark Carney seemed headed for a strong majority but lost the youth vote to Conservatives. (Just 10 years ago, the Trudeau Liberals swept it.) The NDP vapourized. The NDP. For about a century they’ve been an almost automatic go-to for youth.
Canada’s underlying anti-Americanism is having a look around

2 weeks ago | thespec.com | Rick Salutin

This election has been an opportunity, one that comes infrequently, for Canada’s deep anti-American streak to emerge from hiding, like the groundhog on his day, or the wise old mole who never stops burrowing underground. We’re different from Latin America, where it’s never out of character to tell yanquis to go home. Here it’s a furtive flash.
Decline of the federal NDP: Something historically and culturally significant seems to be dying as we watch

1 month ago | thespec.com | Rick Salutin

There’s something sad and flailing about NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in this election. His party is running on fumes and he may be the last whiff of vapour in the tank; 43 per cent of NDP voters say Liberal Leader Mark Carney would make a better PM than their own guy, Singh. Most polls have the NDP under 10 per cent. They’re heading for Green country — or People’s Party of Canada.
We’re living in the church of Musk and Trump. And Mark Carney seems to know exactly where he stands

2 months ago | thespec.com | Rick Salutin

The Liberals have made it official. They went with the banker, who also did, in the sense that he didn’t change his look, tone or message. He wore the dark blue suit and tie and delivered his most challenging thoughts in his most neutral voice. He saved the (relative) vocal histrionics for the slightly jarring, “Canada Strong,” frequently intoned. That way you look at ease and relaxed at your potentially most exposed. It’s highly grownup. The edgy banker.
Will Doug Ford’s empty sales pitches catch up with him?

2 months ago | thespec.com | Rick Salutin

In your heart, you know he’s a salesmanThat would’ve been my nominee for an anti-Doug Ford slogan in this election. Who wants a salesman in charge of fixing health care, saving public schools, or protecting the climate? Mort Sahl sank Richard Nixon’s hopes against JFK in 1959 by asking, “Would you buy a used car from this guy?”Whatever he’s asked, Ford’s eyes start to glitter, and he’s selling you.
Here is what the Canadian ‘elite’ consistently get wrong about this country

Feb 14, 2025 | stcatharinesstandard.ca | Rick Salutin

Why do the designated explainers in our country — journalists, leaders, the very rich — always seem puzzled when Canadian nationalism raises its head again? It never went away. It’s always lurking. Where? Out there, where people are. It’s taken many forms, some perplexing. An early, post-Confederation version was called Canadian Imperialism. It wanted Canada to move beyond its colonial status while remaining part of the British Empire. Come again?
Here is what the Canadian ‘elite’ consistently get wrong about this country

Feb 14, 2025 | wellandtribune.ca | Rick Salutin

Why do the designated explainers in our country — journalists, leaders, the very rich — always seem puzzled when Canadian nationalism raises its head again? It never went away. It’s always lurking. Where? Out there, where people are. It’s taken many forms, some perplexing. An early, post-Confederation version was called Canadian Imperialism. It wanted Canada to move beyond its colonial status while remaining part of the British Empire. Come again?
Here is what the Canadian ‘elite’ consistently get wrong about this country

Feb 14, 2025 | thespec.com | Rick Salutin

Why do the designated explainers in our country — journalists, leaders, the very rich — always seem puzzled when Canadian nationalism raises its head again? It never went away. It’s always lurking. Where? Out there, where people are. It’s taken many forms, some perplexing. An early, post-Confederation version was called Canadian Imperialism. It wanted Canada to move beyond its colonial status while remaining part of the British Empire. Come again?
The military is back on the agenda. We may be forced to relive dark days of our history

Jan 31, 2025 | thespec.com | Rick Salutin

So, militarism is back. Defence — itself a euphemism, the term used to be War Department — is, hectored the Globe and Mail in an editorial, “one of the two areas of statehood that require a firm adult hand.” Stop snickering, war has gravitas. I can see why they want it to be prominent, from the right wing/Poilievre POV. Poilievre’s Conservatives are finally getting their election, but they’ve prepped on only two issues: Justin gotta go, and Axe the Tax.
No one will miss Justin Trudeau more than his enemies

Jan 17, 2025 | wellandtribune.ca | Rick Salutin

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