I was born in Italy, but I’ve been a Canadian since the 60s. My whole working life has been spent as an employee of a government agency, first as a project engineer and finally as a policy analyst. I’m now retired and living in rural Ontario with my wife of fifty years.
I didn’t set out to become obsessed with politics. It happened gradually, through firsthand encounters with the machinery of government and the way bureaucrats and politicians actually behave behind the curtain. The more I watched, the less the official stories made sense.
My interest sharpened during the 2008 and 2012 U.S. presidential campaigns that brought Barack Obama to power. What the mainstream media confidently reported often clashed with what I could verify on my own.
That disconnect became impossible to ignore in 2016, when Donald Trump won the presidency despite polls, experts, and media narratives insisting it was impossible. That moment exposed just how detached the commentary class had become from political reality—and likely marked the birth of what came to be called Trump Derangement Syndrome: an almost reflexive hostility that ignored policy in favour of outrage. By 2020, Trump’s populist appeal was countered not with ideas, but with tactics that raised serious questions about fairness and transparency.
Canada has proven no less surreal. Justin Trudeau managed to win three elections despite policy failures, ethical breaches, and an economy that steadily lost its footing. When his popularity tanked, he prorogued Parliament instead of calling for an election, which he new he’d lose.
Through a political sleight of hand, likely planned well in advance with by Trudeau and advised by his trusted advisor Mark Carney―who is now the Prime Minister.
Throughout all of this, the mainstream media—particularly the CBC, Canada’s publicly funded broadcaster—has too often acted less like a watchdog and more like a shield. Scrutiny is selective, outrage is curated, and principles like objectivity, balance, and truth seem optional unless Conservatives are involved.
In 1949 George Orwell published his final novel, 1984, about a dystopian world where the government told people that war was peace, freedom was slavery, love was hate, and ignorance was strength.
This blog exists because none of that feels normal. Or sane.
Welcome to It’s A Mad World. I hope you find the posts thought-provoking—if not a little unsettling.
Thanks for visiting.
