Capitalizing on Ottawa’s COVID-19 digital breakthrough: crucial next steps to build on the feds’ digital shift before next crisis
Parliamentarians and all Canadians must reaffirm the importance of the digital shift, and make a non-partisan effort to keep up pressuring the government to continue investing and moving ahead.
Feds asked to consider national fire service as country grapples with ‘new normal’ wildfire season
So far this year, more than 2,600 fires have burnt through 5.3 million hectares. As of June 15, 458 fires were burning across the country, of which 235 were out of control. Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said this year’s fire season is the worst of the 21st century.
With toxic, partisan mudslinging on both sides of the House, MPs are ‘unleashing a force’ they ‘may not be able to control,’ politicos warn
Politicians need to respect their profession the way medical and legal community does, or it will debase the entire system, says Donald Savoie. ‘You could win power and destroy your profession. You need to be very careful.’
Feds ignoring diaspora communities, stalling on foreign interference
It feels as though at every turn our government has been doing the absolute least to contain the dismay and political consequences.
Do ministers and senior public servants need bodyguards?
The internet has transformed the relation between politicians and the public, and giving fuel to the fire might rebound on those who stoke it.
‘Conditions this early in the season are unprecedented,’ says Blair, and MPs say ridings dealing with ‘frightening’ wildfires open their hearts to evacuees
‘Nova Scotia has never gone through this type of thing before,’ says Liberal MP Lena Metlege Diab who represents Halifax West.
Canadians more concerned with actual fires than the foreign interference firestorm
That two opposition parties moved away from foreign interference indicates that the public is not as engaged with the issue while wildfires rage across the country.
Spirit of co-operation must last beyond the wildfire emergency
Climate change means we will continue to see disasters described as ‘unprecedented’, but our preparedness and responses to those challenges need not be. The challenge lies in how long the spirit of co-operation will last once the last embers have been extinguished.
The hidden costs of police body-worn cameras
It is indisputable that the proliferation of body-worn camera programs will greatly increase police budgets.
Conservative attacks ignore bail’s role as effective ‘tool of public safety,’ says NDP justice critic
Former police officer Gregory Brown says the lack of sufficient accountability and supervision of bail conditions are the criminal justice system’s ‘dirty little secret.’
