Saudis press Canada to end refuge for ex-intelligence officer
Saudi Arabia has been pressing Canada to extradite a former top Saudi intelligence officer now living in Toronto, sources say. Saad Aljabri, who held a cabinet-rank intelligence post under deposed crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef, has been living in Toronto since a 2017 palace coup in Riyadh that left Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – […]
Stalled Liberal agenda awaits fall return of Parliament
The Liberal government has plenty of work left to do as MPs begin their summer recess, with a stalled legislative agenda and high-profile promises awaiting Parliament’s return this fall. It’s not yet clear what the return of Parliament will look like. The House of Commons has adjourned until Sept. 21. By default, that would mean […]
‘I was scared to death of him’: How red flags were raised over the Nova Scotia killer before April’s massacre
In June of 2010, an extraordinary reunion was organized in the tiny beachside community of Portapique, N.S., where two brothers who had spent 40 years as strangers would finally meet. Gabriel Wortman, a denturist from Dartmouth, had invited Jeff Samuelson, his younger brother who had been given up for adoption as an infant in 1970, […]
MP Pierre Poilievre says the Conservatives aren’t looking to force an election over the Liberal government’s $900-million deal with WE Charity, which was called off on Friday. “We don’t have to,” the Conservative finance critic told reporters during a press conference Sunday.
Read MoreMore than eight in 10 Canadians say the Canada-U.S. border should remain closed to non-essential travellers for the foreseeable future, according to a new Nanos Research survey. Most travel across the border was halted on March 21 for a 30-day period in an effort to stem the transmission of the novel coronavirus.
Read MoreA racist poster featuring the N-word that appeared in an office at the Department of National Defence has now become the focus of an investigation ordered by Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. The case relates to a 2016 incident in which a supervisor at DND in Ottawa put up a flyer in a kitchenette showing a […]
Read MoreThe massive federal deficit created by the unprecedented coronavirus emergency response could take more than 10 years to get under control, one economist suggests. In an interview with The West Block guest host Robin Gill, the B.C. Business Council’s chief economist, Ken Peacock, speculated that while some economic activity might normalize more quickly, the $260-billion […]
Read MoreOpposition parties have laid out their demands for the federal Liberal government as Ottawa prepares to update Canadians on the country’s finances after four months of COVID-19 — and where it expects the economy to head for the rest of the year. Wednesday’s fiscal snapshot will be the first public assessment of the country’s economic […]
Read MoreA majority of Canadians remain opposed to the concept of the four most western provinces separating from Canada, but a new Abacus Data poll suggests the limited support the Wexit Canada party currently enjoys could come at the expense of the federal Conservatives. “If you isolate the four western provinces, the federal Conservatives rely on […]
Read MoreFeatured Ink
Why the disconnect between knowledge and policy action in long-term care?
The concentration of COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities across Canada, responsible for an estimated 82 percent of total deaths, has exposed and magnified lingering, systemic issues in senior care. But why doesn’t knowledge translate into action, and what can we do about the knowledge-action gap? There is no shortage of academic research and public […]
China’s threats on behalf of Huawei are becoming desperate
Excitement is mounting in Canada, as our telecoms have started to roll out advertising for new 5G-enabled internet-of-things phones. While Canada has yet to decide if it will permit Huawei equipment in our 5G networks, our carriers appear to have decided to launch their services now with more trusted companies – Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung. […]
Canada resets its China policy in reaction to Hong Kong moves
For decades, Canada’s political, academic and corporate elites have been heavily invested in the belief that with engagement China could be coaxed into something resembling a rights-based, citizen-focused country. Close ties have been established between universities here and there. Judges, lawyers, artists, journalists along with politicians from every level including school boards, have been part […]
In Canada, it matters who has jurisdiction and who does not
As Canada emerges from COVID-19, our public policy to-do list is very long: long-term care; precarious workers; systemic racism in policing and other institutions; jobs; and poverty — to name just a few. Justin Trudeau better step up — right? Get with the program, people. Canada is a federation in which responsibilities are divided between […]
Have the lessons of the 2013 Lac-Mégantic train disaster been learned?
July 6, 2020, is the seventh anniversary of the Lac-Mégantic oil train disaster, which killed 47 people and orphaned 26 children, spilled an unprecedented six million litres of explosive Bakken shale oil, and incinerated the centre of this Québec town. It was the worst rail accident since Confederation. The people of Lac-Mégantic were victims of […]
How the COVID-19 pandemic may accelerate job transformation
Is job transformation the same thing as job loss? One hopes not, or many Canadian workers may find themselves looking for work sooner rather than later. Right now, we are dealing with job loss caused by an unprecedented need to shut down the economy to avoid spreading the coronavirus. Beyond the pandemic, however, the bigger […]
Rideau Hall intruder is a wake-up call in the age of conspiracy theories
Residents of my neighbourhood in Ottawa, which sits right next door to Rideau Hall, are pretty casual about the RCMP and conspiracy theories. It’s not unusual to see members of the prime minister’s family passing through New Edinburgh, conspicuous only because of their constant RCMP accompaniment. Conspiracy theorists have been telling us for nearly 15 […]
Ottawa cautiously considers opening Canada’s doors to Hongkongers fleeing their ‘Tiananmen moment’
Hong Kong has just experienced its “Tiananmen moment,” according to China watcher Margaret McCuaig-Johnston. One of the world’s great cities is having its autonomy, dynamism and creativity leeched from it by the Communist Party of China, following the introduction of a draconian new security law.
Walking the ‘gig economy’ tightrope
The gig economy as we know it is reinventing itself. The June 26, 2020 decision released by the Supreme Court of Canada allows Uber drivers the right to start a $400 million dollar class action lawsuit against Uber, claiming they should be given the same rights as employees. While the win is limited to Uber […]
How anti-Black racism on Canadian university campuses robs us all
I attended Western University in the early 2000s with a cohort of first-generation Black Canadian friends from my high school in Ajax, Ont. At Western, we became active in the Black Student Association (BSA). The BSA pushed the department of English to offer a course on African American literature. They were reportedly told by the […]
We are at least a year away from getting vaccines that protect us from COVID-19. While not a blessing, we will need that time to plan history’s biggest mass inoculation. There will be no “silver bullet” vaccine. Instead, it is expected that several viable vaccines will emerge from laboratories worldwide, but each with limited, specific […]
Read MoreWhen I first heard Jagmeet Singh was removed from the House of Commons, I tried to ignore it. He had called Bloc Quebecois MP Alain Therrien a “racist” for not supporting a motion addressing systemic racism in the RCMP, and refused to apologize for using unparliamentary language. Singh hadn’t invoked a banned word, mind you. […]
Read MoreBrian Mulroney was sitting out the pandemic lockdown with his wife Mila at their winter home in Palm Beach a few weeks ago, when he began receiving notes from Phillip Crawley, publisher and CEO of the Globe and Mail. Crawley explained that the paper was launching a series of opinion pieces called the Zero Canada Project […]
Read MoreThere is a notion, apparently widespread, in the political alumni club that on some key issues we don’t actually have a prime minister. Here’s an odd thing about this interview Brian Mulroney gave the Globe the other day about Canada and China. As interventions from foreign-policy heavyweights of a certain age go, this one was […]
Read MorePrime Minister Justin Trudeau hasn’t had any problem using the vast resources of the federal government to hand out almost $169 billion to Canadians in COVID-19 relief. Given that, it’s hard to understand why his government was incapable of administering, on its own, a $912-million grant to post-secondary students to do volunteer work. And it’s […]
Read MoreThe prime minister is right that we should not capitulate to China and free Meng Wanzhou, CFO of telecom giant Huawei, held on extradition charges in her Vancouver mansion, in exchange for Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, brutally imprisoned in China on bogus charges of espionage. Although the Michaels and their families are suffering terribly, […]
Read MoreWith the rosy glow from Canada Day still fresh in the memory, Canadians can reflect with pride on the watery wonderland they call home — a pristine wilderness, bordered by three mighty oceans, that contains one-fifth of the world’s fresh water and two million lakes. The reality is a little less pleasant on the senses.
Read MoreOh, by the way, Hong Kong just disappeared. You may have been distracted by other things, what with Canada Day celebrations and baseball’s pending return and all. Certainly you would not have been disturbed by anything your government did or said about it. But it is true: What once was the world’s freest city, a […]
Read MoreThe federal government has rolled out a $9-billion aid package for Canadian students affected by the pandemic. But not only have many international students been left out of the program because of its eligibility criteria; some are being asked to pay even higher tuition fees. Several Canadian universities are hiking tuition fees for international students […]
Read MoreBrian Mulroney is having a moment, and it’s not a senior moment. He is stirring things up and speaking out on the most important public policy challenges facing our country. It is time to reflect upon his domestic and foreign policy achievements as prime minister and, more importantly, to listen to what this wise elder […]
Read MoreEntertainment Plus
Theatre star Nick Cordero dies at 41 after months of complications from COVID-19
Hamilton-raised theatre star Nick Cordero, who had legions of supporters rallying for him on social media during his harrowing health battle with COVID-19, has died in Los Angeles. His wife, dancer-turned-celebrity personal trainer Amanda Kloots, said Cordero died on Sunday morning, “surrounded in love by his family.” He was 41. “My heart is broken as […]
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