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Weekly Writ for Apr. 24: Battleground spotlight on The 905

Weekly Writ for Apr. 24: Battleground spotlight on The 905

With the new elec­toral map now in force and the num­bers of months before the next elec­tion count­able on our fin­gers and toes, it’s time to start drilling down on the bat­tle­grounds across the coun­try — start­ing today with the so-called 905.…

The AI wars have begun. Is it too late to stop them?

The AI wars have begun. Is it too late to stop them?

“Bring us more tar­gets!” the Israel Defence Force (IDF) com­man­ders shout­ed at…

Confessions of a Spendaholic

Confessions of a Spendaholic

Remem­ber the Shopa­holic book series of the ear­ly 2000’s? Author Sophie Kin­sel­la made…

Trouble in the ring at the RCMP's Musical Ride

Trouble in the ring at the RCMP's Musical Ride

There’s trou­ble in the ring at the RCMP’s icon­ic Musi­cal Ride, where the hors­es are…

Diaspora Nation

Diaspora Nation

Immi­gra­tion has built Cana­da since its ear­li­est days. While main­tain­ing har­mo­ny…

Where are the hostages?

Where are the hostages?

There is a new polit­i­cal force grow­ing inside Israel, and it may offer the best…

Labour Politics: How does union membership impact political behaviour?

In my last post, I explored three key groups of vot­ers I termed ​“the…



Weekly Writ for Mar. 27: Alberta NDP leadership race bombshell

Weekly Writ for Mar. 27: Alberta NDP leadership race bombshell

Yes­ter­day, the Alber­ta NDP lead­er­ship race was shak­en up by the with­draw­al of…

The ceasefire motion passed – so why is nobody happy?

The ceasefire motion passed – so why is nobody happy?

Mon­day was a day of high polit­i­cal dra­ma in Ottawa, but the out­come left many…

Weekly Writ for Mar. 20: Eby's NDP still on track for big win

Weekly Writ for Mar. 20: Eby's NDP still on track for big win

With only sev­en months to go before British Columbia’s elec­tion, David Eby’s New…

Weekly Writ for Mar. 13: Naheed Nenshi is in

Weekly Writ for Mar. 13: Naheed Nenshi is in

So, Naheed Nen­shi is mak­ing a return to active pol­i­tics and vying to become the…

Abandon hope ye who file FOI requests here

Abandon hope ye who file FOI requests here

The first line of this cen­tu­ry-old stan­za is often quot­ed as a proverb to…

Trudeau’s denials are “patently false” on weapons exports to Israel: Ploughshares

Trudeau’s denials are “patently false” on weapons exports to Israel: Ploughshares

Cana­di­an peace research group Project Ploughshares says state­ments by For­eign…

Speak Softly, and Carry a Big Stick

Just days before the assas­si­na­tion of Pres­i­dent McKin­ley, Vice Pres­i­dent Ted­dy…

Selina Robinson: "You broke my heart. . ."

Selina Robinson: "You broke my heart. . ."

The mild­ly Zion­ist, innocu­ous­ly left­ish and now oust­ed advanced edu­ca­tion…

Weekly Writ for Mar. 6: What Durham tells us

Weekly Writ for Mar. 6: What Durham tells us

The impor­tance of Monday’s fed­er­al byelec­tion in Durham is not what the results…



Are Canada’s young people rejecting war and the military?

Some com­men­ta­tors are rais­ing the alarm that Canada’s mil­i­tary can’t seem to hire…

What to watch in the Durham byelection

What to watch in the Durham byelection

There might not be a lot of sus­pense ahead of today’s Durham byelec­tion. The…

Making the Political Case for Increased Defence Spending in an Uncertain World

Making the Political Case for Increased Defence Spending in an Uncertain World

It’s 2025, three years into the Ukraine con­flict. and Rus­sia, embold­ened by its…

Weekly Writ for Feb. 28: Pharma deal gives Liberals more of the only thing they have left — time

Weekly Writ for Feb. 28: Pharma deal gives Liberals more of the only thing they have left — time

Looks like there won’t be a fed­er­al elec­tion in 2024 — if it was ever like­ly…

RCMP hobbled by century-old policing model: minister's briefing

RCMP hobbled by century-old policing model: minister's briefing

The RCMP receives ​“insuf­fi­cient fed­er­al invest­ment” to car­ry out its increased…

Weekly Writ for Feb. 21: The seats that would give Poilievre a majority government

Weekly Writ for Feb. 21: The seats that would give Poilievre a majority government

With the kinds of polling num­bers we’ve seen over the last few months, Pierre…

Forget Putin. Our defence budget is all about Trump

Forget Putin. Our defence budget is all about Trump

The man with a pret­ty good shot at being the next U.S. Pres­i­dent sent shock­waves…

Lincoln Alexander's link to freedom of information

Lincoln Alexander's link to freedom of information

Lin­coln Alexander’s lega­cy of fac­ing down racism in Cana­da is being cel­e­brat­ed…

Canada needs a morgue for freedom-of-info documents

Canada needs a morgue for freedom-of-info documents

In their hey­day, news­pa­pers main­tained ​‘morgues,’ musty places where clip­pings were…



Weekly Writ for Feb. 14: A new polling normal that's not normal at all

Weekly Writ for Feb. 14: A new polling normal that's not normal at all

A few recent polls have the Con­ser­v­a­tives at or above 40% sup­port while the…

Pressuring Israel: 9 reasons Trudeau should suspend arms exports

Pressuring Israel: 9 reasons Trudeau should suspend arms exports

There is grow­ing pres­sure on Israel’s allies to con­vince the Netanyahu gov­ern­ment to…

Weekly Writ for Feb. 7: A deep-dive into Poilievre's fundraising machine

Weekly Writ for Feb. 7: A deep-dive into Poilievre's fundraising machine

The Con­ser­v­a­tives raised a lot of mon­ey last year — and espe­cial­ly a lot…

Cabinet secrecy gets a boost

Cabinet secrecy gets a boost

Canada’s top court last week round­ly affirmed the con­fi­den­tial­i­ty of cab­i­net…

The threat to democracy nobody dares mention at the Foreign Interference Inquiry

The threat to democracy nobody dares mention at the Foreign Interference Inquiry

Despite the government’s best efforts to avoid it, the Pub­lic Inquiry into For­eign…

British Columbia's wacky FOI follies

British Columbia's wacky FOI follies

Reporters have been bail­ing on free­dom-of-infor­ma­tion requests every­where you look…

Why Israel is losing at the World Court

Why Israel is losing at the World Court

Yes­ter­day the World Court hand­ed down its antic­i­pat­ed ini­tial rul­ing on South…

You owe Jason Kenney a beer

You owe Jason Kenney a beer

If you val­ue your con­sti­tu­tion­al rights to protest the gov­ern­ment and to not have…

Even journalists have privacy rights

Even journalists have privacy rights

Jour­nal­ists are some­times in the busi­ness of keep­ing secrets. They have a duty…

Weekly Writ for Jan. 24: Which cabinet ministers are in danger of defeat?

Weekly Writ for Jan. 24: Which cabinet ministers are in danger of defeat?

Plus the count­down for the next fed­er­al byelec­tions is on; what the lat­est polls are…

The day Alberta almost went dark

The day Alberta almost went dark

On Thurs­day, Jan­u­ary 11th, Alber­ta set an all-time record for elec­tric­i­ty use.…

Knowing where to look for news

Knowing where to look for news

A lot of great scoops about gov­ern­ment are hid­ing in plain sight. Open-source…

Ontario journalists quitting freedom-of-info

Ontario journalists quitting freedom-of-info

Jour­nal­ists in Cana­da have long been minor users of free­dom-of-infor­ma­tion laws,…

It'll be a closer election, but Sask Party remains heavy favourite in 2024

It'll be a closer election, but Sask Party remains heavy favourite in 2024

With a lit­tle less than 290 days to go before Saskatchewan’s elec­tion, the…

Finding Ed Broadbent

Finding Ed Broadbent

Ed Broad­bent (1936−2024), who died this week at age 87, was a decent and…

Mangled and mutilated: Ottawa's banknote rescue service

Mangled and mutilated: Ottawa's banknote rescue service

Mil­lions of dol­lars arrive each year at the Bank of Cana­da in the form of bank notes…

Weekly Writ for Jan. 10: Crisis and opportunity when MPs retire

Weekly Writ for Jan. 10: Crisis and opportunity when MPs retire

It’s nor­mal when an elec­tion approach­es for MPs to start eye­ing the exits. Sign­ing…

Ged Baldwin's 50-year-old crusade for freedom of information legislation in Canada

Ged Baldwin's 50-year-old crusade for freedom of information legislation in Canada

This year is a mile­stone for gov­ern­ment trans­paren­cy in Cana­da, mark­ing…