PM convenes Incident Response Group, as feds, provinces ramp-up co-ordinated response to coronavirus
Canada’s co-ordinated response to the novel coronavirus that has so far killed more than 100 in China ramped-up dramatically this week, with a new special advisory committee announced the same day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau convened Canada’s Incident Response Group to discuss the outbreak. The developments have occurred in the midst of one confirmed case […]
Scoring China’s coronavirus response
LONDON, U.K.—In an emergency, the good thing about a dictatorship is that it can respond very fast. The bad thing is that it won’t respond at all until the dictator-in-chief says that it should. All the little dictators who flourish in this sort of system won’t risk their positions by passing bad news up the […]
It’s time to move beyond siloed mental health care
Jan. 29 marks almost a decade since the launch of Bell’s “Let’s Talk,” a program committed to building mental-health awareness. Since its inception, Let’s Talk has captured the attention and enthusiasm of many Canadians. With the influx of programs, such as Let’s Talk, mental-health awareness has increased. However, during this time, Canadians’ ability to easily […]
Indigenization as one path to reconciliation
Members of the federal governing party gathered in Winnipeg for three days recently, to discuss and establish their key priorities for the next few months. It should not have been lost on them—and those watching—that they met in a city with three post-secondary institutions and where a significant portion of the population is First Nations, […]
Signs of political opportunism emerge as MPs on Canada-China Relations Committee urge collaboration
MPs of all political stripes argue that the upstart special committee dealing with Canada’s relationship with China is not a place to score political points. Debate over the size of the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations’ subcommittee, and whether there is a desire to see a “consensus” or a “spirit of collaboration” brought the Jan. […]
New legislation around privacy fits well within existing SRO structure
In May 2019, the federal government requested public comments on proposed amendments to federal privacy legislation. These amendments are sweeping, including changes to existing privacy laws and incorporating a set of “online rights” for Canadians. These new online rights include data portability; the ability to withdraw, remove and erase basic personal data from a platform; […]
Budget, foreign affairs, and fighting climate change among top cabinet priorities as Parliament returns
The governing Liberals will focus on their most high-profile election promises in this minority 43rd Parliament when the House returns on Jan. 27 to continue its first session, after nearly a seven-month break from Ottawa, say MPs and insiders. The special committee on Canada-China relations, a bailout bill for resource workers, a Liberal-style tough-on-crime agenda, […]
Iranian investigator into downed Flight 752 should be replaced due to past, says former Liberal justice minister
The past actions of the Iranian official tapped to lead the investigation into the downing of Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 should disqualify him from handling the inquiry, says a former Liberal justice minister. Iran has picked conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s chief justice, to head the inquiry into the downing of Flight 752, […]
Trump, who built U.S. trade policy on a lie, leaves Americans hanging with China
OTTAWA—Caught in the middle of the U.S.-China trade war launched by Donald Trump, a California business owner grew increasingly frustrated by the way the U.S. president portrayed the conflict to Americans. “China is paying for the tariffs like Mexico is paying for the wall,” said bumper stickers the business owner had made up last year. […]
Demand for answers about Flight 752 can’t exclude Americans
OTTAWA—On Jan. 16, Canada hosted a five-nation meeting at the High Commission in London, England, to declare a united front in confronting Iran over that nation’s admitted complicity in the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752. The participating nations included host Canada, Ukraine, Sweden, the U.K., and Afghanistan, and collectively these five countries lost […]
