Addressing high rates of assault in the North ‘daunting’ as Senators press feds to support shelters, address housing gaps
More than half of Canadians living in the territories have been victims of physical or sexual assault at least once since they were 15, a “daunting” reality that has northern Senators and advocacy groups redoubling requests for more shelters and housing as an essential safety net. In the territories, a little more than half of […]
Bill 101 applying federally? Time for some constitutional common sense
KAMOURASKA, QUE.—I miss Eugene Forsey. The late, great former senator was a source of incredible insight into the Constitution. And he was always accessible: as a political assistant or journalist, if I had a question on constitutional law, I would phone him up and he would settle things with a succinct answer. He was a […]
Climate and shifting markets define energy challenges for Canada
The state of energy policy in Canada, as it relates to fossil fuels, is defined by two major issues: the stalling out, with the possible exception of Quebec, of meaningful progress on climate change; and distress in the Alberta oil and gas sector, a product of weak demand and low commodity prices—trends that pre-dated the COVID-19 pandemic. The […]
Hillier is a great leader, but not the right one for the vaccine job
OTTAWA—Last week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced the appointment of retired General Rick Hillier to head the provincial task force that will oversee the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Ford told reporters that this challenge “needed a general,” and he went on at length as to why Hillier was the right man for the job. The […]
Eight months into the pandemic, we’re no longer pulling together
As the prospect of a dim and diminished Christmas approaches, social cohesion is fracturing. Like hostages trapped in the same room for too many months, people are lashing out—at politicians of all stripes, at once-revered public health officials, at partying young folk, at anti-maskers, at the big-box stores that profit while local restaurants and shops […]
Anglo Quebecers are not a threat to French, we shouldn’t be treated as such
MONTREAL, QUE.—Sometimes things in life don’t happen as quickly as they should. An article in La Presse in September 2017 focused on my plans to move back to Quebec in 2018. Two years later, I have taken the step, moving to my ancestral home in Kamouraska and taking a pied à terre in Montreal. There […]
Hillier is the right choice to lead Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution
OTTAWA—Much like General Douglas MacArthur returning to the Philippines during the Second World War when the beleaguered nation needed rescue, Gen. Rick Hillier has returned to the national stage to oversee a key battle against COVID-19. Hillier has been asked by Ontario Premier Doug Ford to run the task force that will manage the distribution […]
Canada’s security is languishing under the Trudeau government
As the COVID-19 pandemic ravages the Canadian economy, it also lays bare Canada’s vulnerability to increasingly hostile foreign actors. The Liberal defence plan, Strong, Secure, Engaged, left Canada ill-prepared for the real world. The new reality of COVID-19, the return of great-power rivalry, and interrupted supply chains for critical equipment, is causing Canadians to doubt […]
In Quebec, a wilful blindness to racism against Indigenous people
KAMOURASKA, QUE.—The death of Joyce Echaquan on Sept. 28 in the Joliette, Que., hospital, northeast of Montreal, drew national headlines for the way she died: Facebook Live streaming nursing staff as they hurled racist insults at her in a hospital bed. When the 37-year-old Atikamekw woman received morphine for stomach pains, she complained to the […]
Resist the MAGA-lite theatrics and make premiers accountable again
CALGARY—Canadian conservatism is showing itself to be a whiny bastion of imperious, incompetent, and now flailing mostly white men—and their co-conspirator women—who blame everyone else for their problems and shortcomings. It’s beginning to look like a lighter version of our MAGA-obsessed southern neighbours. What the pandemic has shown is that the so-called “Resistance”—as defined by […]
