The North Archives

Feds should continue to sponsor the University of the Arctic

PARLIAMENT HILL—Discussions about the economic development of Canada’s North usually focus on areas such as capital investment or deregulation. One crucial element of economic development which needs more discussion is education, particularly post-secondary education. The individual benefits of post-secondary education are well-documented, and include better employment prospects, higher salaries, and a greater ability to […]

Feds to invest $20-million in climate change adaptation in Canada’s northern and aboriginal communities

The federal government plans to invest $20-million over the next five years in climate change adaptation for northern and aboriginal communities, but in the Far North public infrastructure and housing are already deteriorating, and disruptions to northern wildlife are taking away the livelihood of many of the region’s inhabitants. Environment Minister Peter Kent (Thornhill, […]

Canada hedging its bets on Arctic sovereignty

While Arctic sovereignty has become a leading justification for the federal government’s ambitious military procurement plans, Canada is actively involved in diplomacy and multilateral initiatives with its Arctic neighbours. Experts say that the region’s uncertain geopolitical future is forcing countries with a stake in the Arctic to balance international cooperation with national defence. “[O]ur […]

We could have a renaissance in rural Canada, but need to fight the bureaucracy

When in the 1965 Bob Dylan wailed, “I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more,” he was echoing the mental picture almost all of us have about conditions on the farm. The Dirty Thirties largely spawned the identification of farming with grinding poverty, primitive technologies and capricious commodity prices, but the image has […]

Claims of wholesale Americanization of our criminal justice system highly exaggerated

OTTAWA—Crime will be high on Parliament’s agenda in the autumn, given the priority that the Conservatives attached to the issue in the last election. You don’t have to be Conrad Black to have strong feelings about crime and punishment. But like on so many policy issues, feelings, no matter how strong they are, only […]