Federal transit funding means jobs galore
Environmentalists point to public transit—especially electric buses and light rail—as a climate change solution and contributor to clean air. It’s certainly that. But it’s increasingly clear that transit offers something in addition: a very significant amount of employment. When government puts money into transit, it generates jobs in a whole range of sectors. It gives […]
Americans now need their government to meet their hopes, needs effectively
The Nov. 3 U.S. election included approximately 147 million presidential votes already counted by eligible voters for Joe Biden (51 per cent) or Donald Trump (48 per cent). Such voter mobilization is rare; the momentum is now with Americans for whom decency in politics matters. Many Canadians support their decision. Trump is probably the most […]
Public transit in crisis
Greens have long called for significant investments in public transit. The reasons are obvious. Transportation, movement of goods and people, is a huge chunk of Canada’s contribution to global warming. Second only to oil and gas, transportation at 186 megatonnes is 25.5 per cent of our total emissions (729 MT in 2018, the last year […]
Air passenger protection during and beyond the pandemic
The global collapse of air travel as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is without precedent in the century since the dawn of international commercial aviation. Many passengers have experienced frustration, including, for some, exasperation about not getting refunds for cancelled flights. Airlines, meanwhile, have curtailed operations, mothballed aircraft, and laid off tens of thousands […]
What a Biden presidency means for Canadian business, global tade
Leaders around the globe, including Canada, Japan, and the European Union reacted positively to the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The former vice-president prevailed over his hostile and protectionist rival Donald Trump in one of the most heated elections in American history. Team Biden-Harris will inherit a U.S. foreign policy establishment that disrupted global trade, […]
Canada-France-Quebec: a winding path to follow on fundamental freedoms
The terror attacks in France potentially linked to the Charlie Hebdo caricatures, the tragic Halloween incident in Québec City, and COVID-19 lockdowns across the planet arguably all have to do with human rights and fundamental freedoms. Can these events help broaden a global consensus on the subject? Public diplomacy involving France, Canada, and Quebec, reflected […]
A forgotten anniversary approaches
In less than a month, it will be the two-year anniversary of the arbitrary imprisonment of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor by China. In this time of sadness associated with the remembrance of the sacrifice of thousands of Canadians in various parts of the world over the past two centuries, we might pause and add […]
The perils of polling
OAKVILLE, ONT.—If there was a poll gauging American attitudes towards polling, I bet it’d show that a lot of Americans are skeptical about the accuracy of polls. And that would lead to an interesting philosophical question: would people who are skeptical about polls believe a poll that says people are skeptical about polls? At any rate, the […]
Mental health key to economic recovery, but we’re running out of time
When COVID-19 forced us all to shut down our way of life as we knew it last spring, the Canadian Mental Health Association warned that Canada had to act quickly to prevent an echo pandemic of mental illness. That echo pandemic is already reverberating. This year was supposed to be the year we made real […]
When slogans become policy, everyone suffers
KAMOURASKA, QUE.—Like so many Canadians, I was glued to the internet last week watching the American elections. I first wanted to determine if my cousin Jeff Jackson was re-elected to the State Senate in North Carolina (he was, by 16,000 votes) but also to observe the cultural and psychological war fought in the days prior […]
