#MeToo is working
TORONTO—That didn’t take long. Last Monday morning, this space wondered why the #MeToo movement had yet to alight in Ottawa. Seventy-two hours later—and just as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was about to take the stage at his annual Christmas party—TVA broke a major story: a senior staff person in Trudeau’s own office was under investigation. TVA […]
This just in: Justin Trudeau is doing a good thing
GATINEAU, QUE.—To give credit where credit is due—not an approach to be encouraged in journalism, normally—Justin Trudeau has, so far, made good on his promises to women. He has proclaimed himself a feminist, perhaps a tad righteously, at times, but he has behaved like a man who regards women as equal. He has talked the […]
Conservatives have ‘brand problem’ among female voters, pin hopes on Scheer, star women MPs to reverse trend
The Conservatives continue to trail badly among women and have what one pollster is calling a “gender issue,” despite pulling nearly even with the federal Liberals among male voters in polls over the last few months. Weekly polls from Nanos Research show a double-digit advantage for the Liberals over the second place Conservatives, nearly every week […]
Why hasn’t #MeToo movement claimed any creeps crawling in Ottawa’s corridors of power?
TORONTO—It’s hit Hollywood. It’s taken down big names in the media and it’s all over Capitol Hill in Washington, too. So why hasn’t the #MeToo movement claimed any of the creeps crawling through Ottawa’s corridor of power? Because, God knows, there’s plenty of dirty old (and young) men up there. The stories are legion. So, […]
Investing in grassroots women’s groups is our best hope for global peace
During the recent UN peacekeeping defence ministerial conference in Vancouver, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada’s Elsie Initiative to employ more women as “boots on the ground” in peace operations. While the idea of more female peacekeepers generated interest, the government’s recently announced Feminist International Assistance Policy could have more far-reaching and longer-lasting positive impacts for global […]
Prejudice: a shared Canadian value?
In one of the late Stan Rogers’ few politically themed songs, “The House of Orange,” he confronts an Irish Republican Army (IRA) fundraiser and refuses to contribute, because, despite his Irish heritage, he is a Canadian citizen. “But no penny of mine will I add to the fray. “‘Remember the Boyne!’ they will cry out […]
Liberals rebound in polls, Nanos says women giving Grits lead over Conservatives
Liberal MPs are pointing to a strong economy and more generous Canada child benefit program to explain their party’s surge in the polls since mid-October, while one pollster is pointing to a steady advantage among female voters for the Grits, despite a deluge of negative news headlines and withering opposition attacks. The opposition Conservatives haven’t […]
Despite ministerial parity, women still underrepresented as senior cabinet, PMO staff
Even though the Liberal cabinet was designed with gender parity in mind, women only represent 40 per cent of the senior staff supporting those ministers’ offices. Those positions—made up of chiefs of staff and their deputies, directors of policy, communications, parliamentary affairs and senior advisers—are the gateways to ministers and the people who help shape […]
Broad perspectives breed great science
On Nov. 2, Science Minister Kirsty Duncan addressed the Canadian Science Policy Conference to discuss the federal government’s plan to boost fundamental research in Canada. The following text is an edited excerpt of her speech. I’d like to share my vision of science. It is a vision that sees Canadian science as a re-energized, forward-looking, […]
Of Jagmeet Singh and ‘othering’
Re: “Singh’s group loyalty challenges, and why we should be worried about that,” (The Hill Times, Nov. 13, p. 9). Nothing is advanced by calling a party and factions a tribe and sub-tribes. Under the heading “Cultural tribalism,” the article’s description of New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh as markedly “different,” I believe, is an […]
