Preville on Politics
Why U.S.-based magazines hit newsstands so late
Posted on May 26, 2008 by Philip Preville
This blog doesn’t cover national politics. For that there is Paul Wells’ generally excellent and witty blog at Macleans.ca. Yesterday he wrote a killer post about two completely unrelated but very intriguing issues: why U.S.-based weeklies are already outdated by the time they hit Canadian shelves, and what Stephen Harper is really up to.
On the latter point, Wells riffs on George Packer’s recent article in The New Yorker on how Republicans got the upper hand in American politics. I read Packer’s piece last night and was thinking the same thoughts as Wells: 40 years after the American right drew up a game plan to take over that country, Harper is trying to do the same in Canada. From where he sits—the most powerful seat in the country—it’s never too late to start. But don’t listen to me. If you’re curious, read Wells. If you’re still curious, read Packer. Riveting stuff.
Philip Preville
Veteran freelance writer Philip Preville lived much of his life in Montreal and Edmonton before he was lured, like so many Torontonians before him, by the promise of more work and a better living. A National Magazine Award winner and former Canadian Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, Preville writes Toronto Life’s politics column. He lives with his wife and one-year-old son in Riverdale, just close enough to the Don Valley Parkway that he can hear it when he steps outside his house—but just far enough away that it doesn’t keep him awake at night. On his office wall hangs a 1938–39 press pass belonging to his grandfather, Elias Gannon, who wrote for the Montreal Star.
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