Canada needs to raise the rate of productivity growth so there’s more to share
TORONTO—There is something wrong when productivity is growing but the typical worker doesn’t share in that growth. Yet that has been the experience of the typical Canadian worker for much of the past 45 years—a growing gap between growth in productivity and growth in a typical worker’s wage. Only recently, with shortages of workers in […]
Instead of fining the unvaccinated, let’s fine the politicians who fan the flames
OTTAWA—Quebec Premier François Legault is forging a unique approach again: fine the unvaccinated. And immediately voices rise up in horror across the country to this affront to our Canadian way of being! The idea of fining the anti-vaxxers is bad policy. It’s punitive without fair trial so potentially infringes on human rights. It will cost […]
Vax tax, or not to vax tax, that is the question
OTTAWA—To vax tax, or not to vax tax, that is the question. Once again, the Government of Quebec appears to be at the head of the pack when it comes to new public health policies. Whether the proposed vax tax is actually brought to fruition remains to be seen. Reaction to the tax proposal ranges […]
Paul Martin to talk about global turmoil; Marc Roy has a new gig; Indiescreens announced; and Philipupillai joins HT’s newsroom
On Jan. 25, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. (Eastern Time), Canada’s 21st prime minister Paul Martin, who led the country from 2003-2006, will join a conversation with former New Brunswick premier Brian Gallant to talk about “Navigating a Difficult World.” The event is meant the mark the ninth anniversary of the group running it, the venerable […]
We need a wake-up call for democracy
Last month, U.S. President Joseph R. Biden convened the Summit for Democracy, a three-day virtual gathering of leaders and representatives from more than 100 countries, including Canada, who share at least one trait: a concern that democracy itself is under siege. With democratic norms eroding throughout the West, and greater bellicosity from adversaries like China […]
PMO policy head Marci Surkes soon to exit, John Brodhead named new director
Marci Surkes will soon be bidding Parliament Hill farewell, after two years as executive director of policy and cabinet affairs to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and 15 years as a staffer. “It’s not been an easy decision. There are a million thoughts and contemplations that go into a decision of this sort,” said Surkes in […]
Omicron’s political impact
OAKVILLE, ONT.—The Omicron COVID surge reminds me a lot of the Vietnam War’s Tet offensive. What do I mean by making such a crazy comparison? Well, what the Omicron variant and the Tet offensive have in common is they both seriously undermined the “We’re Winning the War” propaganda put out by government officials. Allow me […]
The problem with the ballot
TORONTO—For decades the NDP, and before it the CCF, claimed that shielding information about election financing allowed corporations to exert undue influence in the making of public policy and awarding of government contracts. The underlying assumption in the law at the time was that elections were fought only by candidates in constituencies, not by political […]
Disrupting democracy, for good
TORONTO—It isn’t easy to be a steward of democracy today. Where once the word evoked all the positive development with which we have been blessed since its inception, new “d” words come to mind when reading about the anniversary of the Capitol Hill riots. Distress, distortion, decline. It’s as if the system under which we’ve […]
Holocaust distortion, glorification of Nazi collaborators must be met with Canada’s condemnation, say advocates and experts
In the face of a rising tide of anti-Semitism and Holocaust distortion, experts and advocates are calling on the Canadian government to take a strong stance against the glorification of those who were complicit in the Shoah. In recent years, there has been increased glorification of Eastern European nationalist leaders and soldiers, some of whom […]
