Canada should support Taiwan’s inclusion in climate change meeting
The 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is coming up. From Nov. 6 to 17, the signatories to the Kyoto Protocol will meet in Bonn, Germany, to discuss greenhouse gas reduction in the world. In his speech to the UN General Assembly […]
Government ought to be more transparent about ambassadors’ wildly different pay
The Trudeau government ought to be more transparent about how it chooses what to pay its top diplomats and other top-level officials. Last week, we reported that Canada’s incoming ambassador to France, former Quebec businessperson Isabelle Hudon, is set to make up to $119,400 more than a career diplomat would earn for the same posting. […]
Liberals supporting the RCMP with new funding
Re: “Canada’s law enforcement and security services are in crisis,” (The Hill Times, Oct. 30, p. 13). I’m writing to correct the inaccurate statements NDP MP Wayne Stetski made in The Hill Times with respect to the changes underway at the RCMP. It is a time of change at the force. Our government is working […]
Making up for lost time in a brave new world
One of the peculiarities of living in the post-internet age is that we really don’t spend a lot of time talking about the peculiarities of living in the post-internet age. Nostalgia, like so many things, isn’t what it used to be. To dwell these days on the obliterated value of privacy or the manifold psychosocial […]
Jason Kenney deserves applause for pulling off political feat
OTTAWA—Followers of politics, or even those who study organizational behaviour, can’t help but look at what Jason Kenney has just done in Alberta and be somewhat impressed. In what seems like a blink of an eye, but was actually a little under two years, the former cabinet minister to Stephen Harper left federal politics, returned […]
Speaking truth to power serves the greater good
The Abominable “No” Man. That is what a journalist friend called me when I worked as press secretary to the solicitor general in the 1980s, mainly because I was reluctant to provide easy access to journalists when things went wrong; and with responsibility for prisons, the RCMP, and the parole board, a lot could go […]
No denying Canada’s monuments to Nazi collaborators
OTTAWA—A story last week in the National Post revealed the disturbing fact that there are actually monuments in Canada that glorify Second World War Nazi collaborators. There is no denying the truth of these allegations, as they were accompanied by photographs of offending statues. One is in Oakville, Ont., and it is dedicated to all those who […]
Liberals may find themselves vulnerable from right and left by 2019
OTTAWA—Justin Trudeau’s enemies were beside themselves with derision back in 2014 when he said “the budget will balance itself.” The full quote, ignored by the critics, was, “If you grow the economy,” the budget will take care of deficits on its own. Trudeau, as we see now, was correct. The annual federal budget shortfall is […]
Right-wing provocateurs’ effect on democracy hard to ignore
Just as your left-wing friends probably gravitate to the Broadbent Institute-founded PressProgress, right-wingers tend to clamour for right-wing propaganda. Research has shown that consuming certain media affects how we see others and how we see ourselves, even if we don’t realize it—which is known as implicit or unconscious bias. This could explain why Andrew Scheer […]
Three reasons why Canada should invest more in polytechnic education for innovation
The G7 met in late September to discuss how the nature of work is changing, and how, largely, automation is driving that change. Canada’s Employment, Workforce Development, and Labour Minister Patty Hajdu, along with her counterparts, discussed the challenges presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and how to put “people and work at the heart of innovation.” But it […]
