Tensions with China highlight need to work with Indo-Pacific states with shared values: analyst
Canada can seize on great economic opportunity in the fast-growing Indo-Pacific region, but by boosting partnerships there the country also risks alienating China, according to academics and diplomats with interests in the region speaking at a panel discussion this week in Ottawa. “It is a fair risk that we have to look at and manage […]
Venezuela’s trauma underscores volatility facing Latin America
OTTAWA—Only rarely these days do societies collapse in the way Venezuela has. Once one of the richest countries in Latin America, it has descended into complete disorder, with failing power supplies, severe shortages of food and medicine, rampant political repression, a failing economy, an exodus of 3.4 million residents, and an authoritarian ruler propped up […]
Innovation, trade links top of mind for new Swiss ambassador
More than two decades after Salome Meyer left Switzerland to hitchhike from Vancouver to Prince Edward Island, she’s back in North America for another adventure: as her country’s ambassador. During the three-month cross-Canada trek in 1993, she skipped Ottawa, so her early February arrival was a first in Canada’s capital. “I’m looking forward to […]
Grain farmers want to make agri-food economic strategy report a reality
This week, grain farmers from across Canada are in Ottawa for the second annual National Grain Week. Grain farmers come to Ottawa in February so that we can meet with legislators and policy-makers before the weather warms up and we get to work preparing for spring planting. Right now, farmers are ready to roll up […]
Asia Bibi case a ‘watershed’ moment in Pakistan’s judicial history, new envoy says
When Pakistan’s top court acquitted a Christian woman who spent eight years in jail on blasphemy charges, it was a “watershed moment” in the country’s judicial history, says Raza Bashir Tarar, the new Pakistani high commissioner to Canada. Asia Bibi, whose daughters are in Canada, has been offered asylum in Canada following a late January […]
Canada is a target, not collateral damage, in the U.S. trade war against China
It has become clear that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, in the ongoing diplomatic crisis between Canada and China, have relied heavily on courting support from the United States while dismissing Beijing’s criticism over Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou’s arrest. They claim Ottawa is just following the rule of law […]
On Brexit, Ms. May, the truth just might set you free
The first time I visited London in the ’80s as an embryonic politico, nothing really worked. Not the pay phones, not the heating, not the hot water, not the Tube. And what it lacked in basic functionality, it made up for in osmotic exorbitance. After a budget-sucking, operatically profane week, I made a getaway on […]
Norman Bethune: Canada’s convenient hero
My great-uncle was a gentle and humble man, despite his many accomplishments in a long life. A graduate of McGill University’s medical school in 1910, he was a medical missionary in China for two years before coming back to practise and then serve in the Canadian medical corps in France in the First World War. […]
Canada in ‘regular’ conversation with Turkey on extremist travellers, says new ambassador
As a “very important strategic location,” Turkey has an “influential” role to play in the fight against global terrorism and in catching foreign fighters, says the country’s new ambassador to Canada. An aviation hub, many people pass through Turkey, but its threat assessment centre “works quite well” at triaging entrants by sending some back, not […]
Who’s likely to blink as Brexit showdown enters final stage?
OTTAWA—With preparations ranging from the pathetic to the deeply alarming, Britain is careening towards a breakup with the European Union that could leave the world’s fifth largest national economy in a state of destructive chaos. After nearly two years of negotiations between London and Brussels, it has come down to a matter of who might […]
