Karina Gould is set to be Canada’s first federal cabinet minister to give birth
Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould has twice made federal cabinet history this year: first in January she became the youngest female ever to be appointed to cabinet, and on Sept. 5 the 30-year-old announced she was expecting a baby in March 2018, which will make her the first ever federal cabinet minister to give birth […]
The problem with identity politics
TORONTO—Just about everyone these days seems to have an opinion on identity politics, and it is almost universally negative. People on the right denigrate our shift to a politically correct culture where certain ways of talking and thinking are criticized as unacceptable and intolerant. They resent the so-called social justice warriors who self-righteously condemn their […]
Scheer’s shadow cabinet strikes reasonable balance
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer made some shrewd moves in picking his shadow cabinet last week—both in terms of the MPs he included and didn’t. Given how close Maxime Bernier was to becoming party leader in this year’s race, Mr. Scheer owed it to the party membership to give Mr. Bernier a prominent role in caucus. […]
Macdonald not unique, many past leaders flawed by today’s standards
I don’t want to justify Sir John A. Macdonald’s treatment of the Aboriginal peoples, but who in history, by today’s standards, has “clean hands?” For example, the Christian churches, for centuries, imposed unspeakable atrocities on so-called heretics (people who dared to disagree with church teachings)—burning at the stake, being cooked alive in metal containers, and […]
Liberal MPs consider pushing for government apology to black Canadians
Liberal MPs who are part of the federal black caucus of Parliamentarians say there has been talk about pushing the government to issue an apology for systematic racism committed against black Canadians over the country’s history. Liberal MP Greg Fergus (Hull-Aylmer, Que.) said an apology to Canada’s black communities for past injustices, along with a […]
The joyous rebuke and rainbow diplomacy of Montreal Pride
MONTREAL—“A small minority—angry, frustrated group of racists—don’t get to define who we are as a country.” It seemed so easy when Justin Trudeau said it. No prevaricating, no moral equivalence, no discernibly conflicted allegiances. Just a direct statement summing up the moral principle and stakes at hand. Trudeau made that statement about a looming Quebec […]
Conservative MPs, Senators echo Scheer’s condemnation of The Rebel, but many stay silent
Conservative MPs and Senators have mostly echoed their party leader’s disavowal of The Rebel, but many have stayed silent in response to calls for Conservatives to publicly distance themselves from the far-right Canadian media company criticized most recently for its coverage of a deadly white supremacist rally south of the border. After Andrew Scheer (Regina-Qu’Appelle, […]
Brian Mulroney was no Donald Trump
Re: “Was Mulroney Trump before there was Trump?” (The Hill Times, Aug. 14, p. 10). Like most people, I watched in horror the violence of the white supremacist movement in Charlottesville, Va., in defence of a message of hate. I was even more shocked to listen to the president of the United States create a […]
Is the alt-right movement dead in Canada, or merely sleeping?
OTTAWA—The northward drift of the American alt-right may have been stopped in its tracks in the aftermath of Charlottesville last week. Or it may actually be energized by the post-Charlottesville fallout. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer announced Thursday that he would no longer give interviews to self-stylized right-wing online presence, Rebel Media, after it provided positive […]
Conservatives were right to step back from The Rebel
It’s been a troublesome couple of years for many Conservatives, particularly moderates. Besides losing government to the Liberals in 2015, there’s been a flirtation by some in the party, and among those aligned with it, with intolerance. In the 2015 election, the party campaigned for things like preventing Muslim women from wearing full head scarves […]
