“How should Canada respond to U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‘Muslim ban,’ banning travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries?”
Kate Purchase Liberal strategist “Canada has a strong tradition and proud history of providing sanctuary and protection to those who are fleeing war and persecution regardless of their faith: from Ismaili Muslim refugees in the 1970s, to Vietnamese boat people in the 1980s, to Syrian refugees today. “As Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed […]
Trudeau digging himself a hole, broken promise by broken promise
GATINEAU, QUE.—The honeymoon—more like a fairytale, actually—is decidedly over. Given the continued excellence of Justin Trudeau’s hair and the mediocrity of alternative suitors, this will still sound premature to some. But the prime minister’s apparently bottomless well of platitudes has run dry. On too many signature issues, he is proving to be all talk, no […]
More needed, fast, to address suicide crisis among indigenous peoples: Bellegarde
Tackling the suicide epidemic among Canada’s indigenous peoples requires long-term investments addressing root causes and while the $8.4-billion in federal funding announced last year was “unprecedented,” delivery needs to be sped up and improved, says Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde. “How are we getting [the federal funding] out in a very effective and […]
New cash-for-access rules improve optics, but won’t chase away donors: lobbyists
The Liberal government’s plan to make partisan fundraisers more transparent won’t discourage people from taking part in so-called cash-for-access events, say Ottawa lobbyists and a Liberal Party donor who have been involved in political fundraisers in the past. The new rules likely won’t stop hopeful businesspeople or lobbyists from attending the events to try to […]
Calls for appointment reform grow, as ethics chief investigates PM while he weighs her future
Critics are renewing calls for reforms to the appointment process for parliamentary watchdogs, as Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson begins her investigation into the prime minister’s use of a private helicopter in the Bahamas over the holidays, while the Liberal government weighs her future in the position. NDP ethics critic Alexandre Boulerice (Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, […]
Why Canada matters on World Wetlands Day
Canada proudly has a wetland engineer as its national animal. While other nations have picked wetland wildlife, such as Finland’s whooper swan or Pakistan’s Indus crocodile, only our Canadian beaver reshapes the land by making it hold more water. By damming small creeks and streams, Canada’s five to 10 million-plus beavers build and maintain millions […]
Reconciliation through education much more than access
SASKATOON—Canadian universities have come a long way in understanding why students struggle at university, and what we can do to help them succeed. That includes understanding and addressing barriers that particular groups of students may face. And at the University of Saskatchewan—and many Canadian universities—indigenous students are top of mind. Research from the Environics Institute’s […]
You want to counter misogyny? Get involved in electoral politics
OTTAWA—Much ado has been made about the strong participation by both women and men at the various Women’s Marches held after Donald Trump’s inauguration. There’s no doubt that the turnout took many by surprise, including some of the organizers. Aside from the thousands that showed up, the intergenerational and ethnocultural diversity was truly impressive, as […]
Health most lobbied topic for third straight month, environment and energy fell in rankings
Health was the most-lobbied subject for the third month in a row in December, according to the federal lobbyists registry, while topics such as environment and energy fell in their relative ranking among other topics. The five topics cited most often in communication reports filed for the last month of 2016 were health with 176 […]
Tapping into existing infrastructure capacity
Federal investment plans including the Canada Infrastructure Bank should be looking for new ways to fund and finance projects that drive up productivity of existing assets. To start, it can create incentives for efficient infrastructure use by favouring projects that are designed to make better use of existing infrastructure. But to be even more bold […]
