Protect our democracy, it’s getting a bad rap
OTTAWA—The many brilliant journalists, columnists, academics, comics and ordinary Canadians who have been expressing their concerns about the state of our democracy during the past nine years inspired my lyrical editorial below. Their arguments have been intelligent, rational, logical, and eloquent. The blunt instrument I’ve crafted has been forged in the fires of my frustration […]
Government should take bigger role in education: experts
While education has generated minimal attention from the federal party leaders on the election campaign trail, some education groups say the next federal government needs to take a bigger role in ensuring students are fit for learning across the country and should be providing useful data to help the provinces properly fund the different needs […]
Online learning contributes to post-secondary education in Canada?
Recently there has been an increasing amount of attention paid to online learning generally and to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), in particular. The former usually refers to courses taken online for credit and for which tuition fees are paid. The latter are normally free and without prerequisites, making them available to millions of students. […]
Youth in Canada getting raw deal, time for federal leadership to step up
Youth in Canada are getting a raw deal. Youth unemployment is over 13 per cent. Underemployment, those taking part-time jobs while they seek a career, is at a staggering 28 per cent. Students are taking on crushing debt loads and being robbed of the tools to recoup their investments. The average student in debt owes […]
Canada has long way to go on international education, say experts
Canada has a long way to go to build a reputation as experts in international education, say some people working in the sector. While the federal government’s International Education Strategy, which aims to double the amount of international students in Canada by 2022, from 2011 levels is a welcome move, some say the government is […]
Funding, partnership needs to come before any new First Nations education bill: Bellegarde
With the controversial Bill C-33, the First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act, off the table, the next government will first have to work towards closing the funding gap and work collaboratively with First Nations leadership to jointly arrive at a plan for education reform before any new legislation is introduced, says Assembly of […]
International education: a foreign policy imperative
Canada’s education system has always underpinned our evolution as a prosperous and modern democracy. In an increasingly borderless 21st century—in which knowledge exchange and connectivity between people and organizations drive progress and innovation—international education is increasingly understood as being critical to the way Canada interacts with the world. International education, in other words, is integral […]
Ontario’s new health and sex education curriculum an election issue in some ridings
While some say there is no place for the federal government in the provincial jurisdiction of educational affairs, outside of First Nations education and some research funding, that is not the case in parts of Ontario, as some federal candidates running in this election have chimed in on the provincial government’s controversial new sex and […]
Why privacy is the hidden risk in Trans-Pacific Trade Deal
OTTAWA—The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a massive trade agreement that covers nearly 40 per cent of world GDP, wrapped up years of negotiation earlier this month. The TPP immediately emerged as an election issue, with the Conservatives trumpeting the deal as a source of future economic growth, the Liberals adopting a wait-and-see approach (the specific […]
Wrong, cannabis is not ‘infinitely worse’ than tobacco
KINGSTON, ONT.—Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s claim that cannabis is “infinitely worse” than tobacco warrants a “pants-on-fire” rating. Not that it matters: He has a long history of making stuff up to suit his electoral requirements. It doesn’t have to be true, it only has to sound plausible. To those who have been sheltered from evidence […]
