Diplomats raised concerns about Canada’s response to Cuban illness in 2017: union
Diplomats posted in Cuba were asking questions about Canada’s response to a mysterious illness as far back as fall 2017, a few months after they learned of the so-called “Havana Syndrome” that has struck 14 Canadian victims, as of January. Former diplomats say Canada’s response appears to have been delayed and raises the need for a […]
Canada must commit to action for caribou, or risk losing them
Here we are well into the new year, but for caribou in Canada, the question is an old one: will it bring any new land-management strategies? Will provinces and territories finally do what it takes to protect the boreal forest, their home? By the federal government’s own accounts, Canada is not doing enough to protect […]
The time is ripe to grapple with Canada’s big institutional questions
Canadians have just had a crash course in the workings of their national political institutions. What have they learned? Partisan politics rules. Canadians ought not be surprised to learn that political assistants in the Prime Minister’s Office said to one another and to a cabinet minister in a private meeting that “we can have the […]
Pharmacare report shows government favours ‘incremental,’ ‘middle-course’ approach to reform: observers
A government advisory council’s interim pharmacare report released last week was met with cautious optimism by stakeholder groups, as one researcher said it “hints the council is heading in the right direction,” while critics worry it opens the door for Canada to move away from a public system. The report, released March 6 by the […]
Two Senate staffers launch national feminist network, kick off at UN women’s commission
Two Senate staffers have formed a national organization aimed at bringing feminist youth into international action, which they say has been life-changing for them. Katrina Leclerc and Alexandria Kazmerik founded the Canadian Council of Young Feminists this year and are using the 63rd session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, in […]
No ‘strong commitment’ to improve public service culture, Tory MP says, after government response to committee report
The government has dismissed a House committee’s concerns that turnover at the deputy minister level is too high in some departments, pointing instead to higher churn of top public servants overseas. A unanimous October report from the Public Accounts Committee backstopped former auditor general Michael Ferguson’s concerns about the tenure of the bureaucracy’s most senior […]
A tale of two scandals: Wilson-Raybould and Norman cases following diverging paths
OTTAWA—It is interesting to compare the very different circumstances surrounding the two individuals at the centre of the current political scandals in Ottawa. I’m referring, of course, to former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould and Vice-Admiral Mark Norman. In terms of similarities, both cases begin with information being leaked to the media. They also stem from […]
Venezuela’s trauma underscores volatility facing Latin America
OTTAWA—Only rarely these days do societies collapse in the way Venezuela has. Once one of the richest countries in Latin America, it has descended into complete disorder, with failing power supplies, severe shortages of food and medicine, rampant political repression, a failing economy, an exodus of 3.4 million residents, and an authoritarian ruler propped up […]
Phoenix is the gift that keeps on taking
OTTAWA—I am pissed off with the government of Canada. Not with the current debacle/debate over SNC-Lavalin, the Prime Minister’s Office, the attorney general or the director of public prosecutions. Not even the clerk of the Privy Council, who showed he is, first among all things, the prime minister’s deputy. No, the reason for my anger […]
Can Israeli democracy survive with Netanyahu?
Israel’s democracy, existing as it has as an island surrounded by non-democracies, has a reputation for being that beautiful euphemism for an array of scrappy qualities: “robust.” Debate in Israel is not for the faint of heart, running for a seat in the Knesset is no more for the squeamish than standing and speaking in […]
