What now for the environmental movement in Canada?
OTTAWA—Until recently, the environmental protest movement was definitely on the rise. Protests in British Columbia, Ontario, and elsewhere against the construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline had attracted national attention. Many Canadians supported those blocking access to construction sites or railways as a necessary way to stop the initiation of projects that would develop our […]
If we want to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals, then $3-billion may be a minuscule amount, says Vancouver reader
Re: “Warring parties must lay down weapons to fight bigger battle over Covid-19,” (The Hill Times, April 6, by Douglas Roche). Certainly, nation states must divert resources from armaments toward fighting security threats posed by COVID-19. But while cutting the Canadian military by $3-billion and donating these savings would seem beneficial, the linking narrative is counter-productive […]
Hey Parliament, how about we take this online?
OTTAWA—There is an increasing amount of timely, and useful, discussion taking place about strategies for ensuring Canadians have an effective legislative branch of their government during the pandemic and its aftermath. This debate is being driven by the need for Parliament to exercise its oversight responsibilities and the necessity to have Members of Parliament “social […]
All MPs should be rising to this enormous challenge, dealing with COVID-19 pandemic
Suddenly, MPs across the country have been thrust into crisis management roles in this global COVID-19 pandemic which has rocked the global economy and killed thousands of people around the world. The good MPs are burning the midnight oil to help out their constituents. Along with their staffers, hardworking MPs are answering their phone 24/7, […]
Have all implications of Alberta’s major investment in Keystone XL been thoroughly thought-out?
Have all the implications of Alberta’s major investment in Keystone XL been thoroughly thought out? In January 2020, the U.S. imported an average of 4.332 million bbl/d of heavy crude from all countries, according to the U.S. EIA. Of that total, Canada supplied 2.874 million bbl/d; Mexico 0.680 million bbl/d; Colombia 0.284 million bbl/d; Ecuador 0.230 […]
Leading by example is what makes good leaders great, says Toronto reader
Given the crisis that the country and the world is dealing with, I call upon every single MP to reject the automatic annual salary increase that they are being awarded on April 1, 2020. Millions and millions of Canadians are suffering, businesses will be closed forever, and people’s savings have been destroyed and for any […]
Back to normal is still a long way off
LONDON, U.K.—It’s wrong to say that there is no exit strategy from the anti-coronavirus lockdowns that have proliferated across the world. There is, and the first phase is to keep the lockdowns going long enough to bring new COVID-19 infections down to a manageable number. Maybe by June. Then you start playing whack-a-mole until there […]
Tech sector left out of feds’ COVID-19 rescue package
TORONTO—A healthy federal fiscal position and a professional public service are combining to give the Trudeau government the capacity to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in a pragmatic and flexible manner. This doesn’t mean we should become boastful. We delayed acting and were not as well prepared to deal with a pandemic as we should […]
If this pandemic changes everything, can we do better for the most important workers?
COVID-19 is making us more aware of some absolute necessities of life. We seriously depend on cleaners to keep hospitals and supermarkets extremely clean. We need grocery store workers to keep those shelves stocked with the things we urgently need. Unload those trucks and get the stuff on the shelves fast—toilet paper, vegetables, canned goods, […]
Basic income in Spain: when the unthinkable becomes reality
In times of great emergency, when the normal rules have been suspended, all sorts of things that used to seem unthinkable suddenly enter the realm of possibility. A national health service paid for by taxes and free at the point of delivery in the United States, for example—or a guaranteed basic income in Spain. “We […]
