The Arctic—the U.S. conserves, Canada exploits
Federal cabinet minister Leona Aglukkaq wears a number of hats. She is Minister of the Environment as well as Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency. Being a member…
Bill Longstaff
Two Americas—one admired, one feared
A global survey conducted by the Worldwide Independent Network and Gallup in 2013 asked the following question: “If there were no barriers to living in any country of the world,…
Worlds apart—women in Iran and Saudi Arabia
On receiving her Master of Architecture degree from the University of British Columbia, Leila Araghian won the UBC Architecture Alumni Henry Elder Prize. Ms. Araghian has since continued in her…
Echoes of the Monroe Doctrine in the Middle Est
Pondering American mischief in the Middle East the other day I had a strange feeling this pattern of behaviour had appeared before. And then I realized where … in Latin…
Iran holds the nuclear powers to account
So the United States finally bullied the Iranians into a nuclear deal. Iran has always said it had no intention of building a weapon, but that wasn’t good enough for…
Our wise men have spoken—will the politicians listen?
Last week a report produced by 60 Canadian scholars stated that we can create a clean, sustainable future for our country with only a minimal effect on the economy. The…
Prentice makes nice to labour
When governments find themselves in a financial bind they tend to make the civil service their first budget target. Overpaid public servants is a popular cliche. Alberta Premier Jim Prentice,…
Cluster bombs and climate change—the good news
The media infamously saturate us with bad news. If it bleeds, it leads … and all that. Nonetheless, good news does surface from time to time. This week saw two…
News flash—Western nation stands up to Saudis
Western nations may proclaim their virtue but when it comes to Saudi Arabia, they behave like whores. They posture their belief in democracy and human rights but genuflect before a…
Work ain’t what it was—it’s worse
Work is getting worse. In any case, that’s the tale told by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in its Employment Quality Index. The index measures three key areas of…
Why do we allow face coverings in the House of Commons?
The Prime Minister explains to the House why face coverings are unacceptable to Canadians
Zehaf-Bibeau had a point
At the risk of being investigated by the 130 agents RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson has working on the Michael Zehaf-Bibeau case, I must say I think the man made a…
Prentice is right—Albertans are to blame
If Albertans want to know why their government is having budget problems, Premier Jim Prentice advises them to “look in the mirror.” His comment went, as they say, viral. Opposition…
Soul mates and the politics of fear
Fabricating a threat to the nation in order to instill fear in the population may be demagoguery, but it is also a highly effective way for leaders to rally the…
Presumption of innocence be damned—Putin killed Boris Nemtsov
In this country, the “golden thread” of criminal law, embodied in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is the presumption of innocence. To quote the Charter, “Any person charged with…
Alberta woes—It ain’t the economy, stupid
Here in Alberta, energy superpower, we are going through the bust part of one of our infamous boom and bust cycles. The premier is weighing the government’s options. Cutting MLA…
Parsing Bill C-51— the academics’ letter
The first criticism of Bill C-51, the Anti-terrorism Act 2015, is the fact it is entirely unnecessary. Our criminal law is already capable of dealing with terrorist activities. More to…
Harper outmaneuvers Trudeau on Bill C-51
If any political party ought to oppose Bill C-51, it’s the Liberal Party. After all, it’s liberal values that the Bill threatens to erode. And yet, Liberal Party leader Justin…
Harper fails Conservative citizenship criteria
Over the signature of Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander, the Conservative Party of Canada recently emailed a petition to its supporters, rallying them against face covering during citizenship…