If the legislation ain’t broke …
The federal Lobbying Act is (past) due for its legislatively mandated parliamentary review. Again. Let me tell you why Parliament need not spend too much time on this: it works fine. The act, and the resulting registry, conspicuously publish the who’s who of government engagement at the federal level in Canada. Mission accomplished. It is […]
Lobbying for a better post-COVID Canada
Governments have perhaps never been more present in our lives than they have been in the last year, in terms of both their words and their actions. Political leaders and public health officials speak to us on a daily basis, via televised briefings, about the spread of COVID-19 and the behaviours and restrictions required in […]
Canada’s new year’s resolutions must focus on gender justice
In so many senses, 2020 was a year of testing. The position of women in Canada and our national progress toward the goal of gender equality over three decades was tested and found terribly wanting. Can progress so swiftly reversed in crisis be progress to count on? As we move into a new year that […]
Democracy in extraordinary times
As the COVID-19 crisis enters its second year in Canada, we ought to reflect on what it tells us about the resilience and fate of our democratic tradition. Many observers have expressed concerns over the impact that COVID-19 measures have on core democratic principles. Some of the harshest critics have decried that by diluting usual […]
Canadians ignoring health guidelines because of mixed messages, says Calgary reader
It is no wonder Canadians are ignoring health guidelines, because the government has been giving out such mixed messages. I am not allowed to go into another home or receive visitors in my city. But it’s okay to fly to another country for a vacation? I know people were driving or flying in Canada for […]
The CBSA must protect our borders from the far right
People around the world struggling against dictatorships and fighting for democracy have often looked to the United States for inspiration. But America’s democratic credentials have been tarnished. The assault on democracy on Jan. 6 was the culmination of years of Donald Trump inciting his base with hateful rhetoric and radicalizing people, who eventually led an […]
Nicholls should be treating climate change as more than ‘political parlour game’
Re: “Trudeau brands himself as Canada’s Climate Change Churchill,” (The Hill Times, Jan. 11, by Gerry Nicholls). Mr. Nicholls appears to be more interested in the politics of climate change than the imminent threat to our planet posed by the current climate crisis. He delights in describing the political positioning of our politicians, but pays […]
Canada well-positioned to both buy and sell cleantech products
Canada is making ambitious plans to tackle climate change. While the rest of us were just trying to reach the finish line before the holidays, the federal government was busy budgeting for green stimulus and making plans to meet our Paris Agreement commitments by increasing the carbon tax and making large outlays on clean infrastructure. […]
So many words, but so little action on nuclear disarmament
Who in their wildest dreams would have thought that the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, would feel compelled earlier this month to plead with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to deny access by an increasingly unstable president to the nuclear launch codes, for fear that he might order […]
What American allies will be watching for in Biden’s inaugural address
Listen very closely to U.S. President-elect Biden’s inaugural address. It sets the vision for the administration. Every word is carefully chosen. It is the first formal pronouncement of the incoming president, and the audience goes beyond the American people to include allies, adversaries, and enemies. When viewed as successful—as with presidents Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, […]
