Renewed Canada-Israel trade deal cause for celebration
The recently concluded parliamentary session was packed with legislation. Amid the myriad of bills, one is worth highlighting as a case study in successful Canadian foreign policy: Bill C-85, which renewed and modernized the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement. Many would be surprised to learn that Israel was the first country outside North America with which […]
Feds say clean fuel standard can make LNG ‘more efficient than coal’, despite report’s warning
A recent Global Energy Monitor report says the projected growth of the global Liquefied Natural Gas sector could be “worse than the coal boom,” but, with 18 LNG facilities proposed across Canada, the government says part of the rationale for its clean fuel standard is to help manage the life cycle of fuels to ensure […]
Looking for advice to improve public education? Look no further than the teaching profession
Monkey see, monkey do. Currently this seems to be a popular practice among Canada’s provincial governments bankrupt of ideas and looking to decimate public education. The futures of our children be damned. Rather than pruning the hedges, our elected officials are opting for chainsaws; clearcutting over selective logging. Use the analogy of your liking, the […]
It’s time to act like climate change really is an emergency
As the Canadian Parliament declared a national climate emergency on June 17, Greenpeace activists in the U.K. were showing the world what it looks like when you actually consider climate change to be an emergency. In a 12-day cat-and-mouse battle at sea, activists boarded a BP drilling rig heading to the North Sea multiple times […]
Health minister’s claims about Ottawa’s pharmacare plan deserve a second look
With the release of Dr. Eric Hoskins’ report on June 12, national pharmacare will likely be a central issue in this fall’s federal election. It’s therefore quite worrying that Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor recently made several statements on CTV’s Question Period that are either misinformed or purposefully misleading. The minister began the interview by […]
Feds sell out Newfoundland and Labrador economy to play to anti-energy groups
There is a very good reason almost everyone in Newfoundland and Labrador is opposed to Bill C-69. This piece of federal legislation kneecaps our well-managed and responsible petroleum sector, supposedly in the name of the environment. But if you read between the lines—and the oil and gas industry, the provincial government and Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have—the bill prioritizes […]
Dramatic spike in teen vaping and smoking requires urgent legislative remedies
A new study published in the British Medical Journal shows a dramatic spike in vaping among Canadian teens, coupled with a simultaneous increase in smoking traditional cigarettes. The study is the first to provide insight into the early impacts of the federal legislation that opened the Canadian market to the large players in the vaping […]
Arms exports to Saudi Arabia reach $1.2-billion in 2018, despite calls for Canada to suspend permits
Arms exports to Saudi Arabia doubled to $1.2-billion in 2018, which advocates say makes Canada “complicit” in human rights violations and “puts a lie” to Canada’s ongoing eight-month review of the munitions it’s sending to the desert kingdom. That amount suggests a ramping up of production on Canada’s controversial multi-year $15-billion deal to send light-armoured […]
Liberals’ public opinion research spending bump an electoral boost, says strategist
Public opinion research spending climbed to $15.3-million during the 2018-19 fiscal year, according to a report by Public Services and Procurement Canada. This brings an end to the Liberals’ two-year decline in spending since 2016, with spending this year topping 2017-18 costs by $3.4-million. According to Conservative strategist Dennis Matthews, a vice-president of marketing and […]
Here’s hoping for success in Iraq—whatever that is
OTTAWA—On Wednesday, June 26, the government of Canada announced that we are extending the current mission in Iraq by a full 12 months, to November 2020. Most Canadians are probably blissfully unaware that we even have troops still in Iraq, or that back in November 2018, our military took command of the NATO effort to […]
