Will the real Joe Clark please stand up?
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ONT.—It was clear from the moment they handed out the “Budget in Brief” in the media lock-up for the Progressive Conservatives’ 1979 budget that Joe Clark’s minority government was done for. “Part of the reason for our disappointing economic performance during the past decade has been the failure of governments, particularly the federal government, […]
Omar Khadr and values in a time of ‘war’
Societal values, especially “Canadian” ones, have had recent public airings. In the 2015 election and the subsequent leadership campaign for the Conservative Party there were a variety of comments offered on the values that should be associated with Canadian society. Those debates offered little since they were largely abstractions, far removed from the preoccupations of […]
Scheer’s already done, try again Tories
TORONTO—So, Andrew Scheer shuffled his “shadow cabinet” last week. It was newsworthy only in that it reminded us that the newly minted Conservative Party leader is, you know, not dead. But he isn’t all that alive either. Scheer exists in some sort of political limbo, neither here nor there. Among other things, he is remarkably […]
Terrorism isn’t as big as you think
LONDON, U.K.—London in March: five dead. Stockholm in April: another five dead. Manchester in May: 22 dead. London again in June, this time on London Bridge: eight dead. Barcelona in August: 14 dead. Five mass-casualty terrorist attacks in Europe in six months, and all but one (Manchester) carried out using rental trucks. Is it safe to […]
Terrorism is a public safety issue, not national security threat
The other day I had lunch with an old friend who, like me, used to work in the Canadian intelligence community. We had a wide-ranging chat over a number of issues—Donald Trump, what each of us was up to these days, etc. But as inevitably happens when two people with our backgrounds get together, the conversation […]
Trudeau looks to 20-year-old report for cues on Indigenous policy
TORONTO—Justin Trudeau’s Indigenous strategy has suddenly become clearer. He is taking his cues from a road map laid out more than two decades ago by a controversial royal commission that, until now, has been roundly ignored. His plan to do away with the Indian Act and split the Indigenous Affairs department in two comes straight […]
Canada cannot ignore risk of glyphosate pesticides
Dear Minister of Health Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Canadians need to trust that you are listening to the latest scientific research when it comes to concerns about our health and environment. Twenty-five million kilograms of glyphosate-based pesticides, such as Monsanto’s Roundup, are used in Canada every year. After concluding a lengthy seven-year evaluation, Health Canada recently […]
Indigenous leaders have role to play in modernizing First Nations
OTTAWA—Last week’s cabinet remake will prompt a much-needed reboot of the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs. By splitting it in two, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is legally acknowledging what many have realized for years. The promised delivery of territorial services in remote Indigenous communities is a huge undertaking that will take more than an […]
Gilmore still hasn’t tackled the hard part of politics
OAKVILLE, ONT.—One of the easiest things to be in the world is a computer-keyboard political strategist. Any columnist or journalist or blogger can tap out a 750- to 900-word opus outlining some sort of brilliant plan to fix what’s wrong with politics. Heck, I could write up a column like that in about 20 minutes; […]
Quebec unimpressed with NDP
MONTREAL—The numbers are in and they don’t bode well for the NDP in Quebec, regardless of the outcome of the party’s upcoming leadership vote. The enthusiasm that attended the 2011 orange wave has given way to widespread voter indifference as well as internal discomfort within the province’s depleted NDP ranks. None of the four candidates […]
