Nov 30 2018 — Robyn Urback — CBC — It was Joseph Stalin who rather astutely observed that “one death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic.” That is as true today as it was during the heyday of the Soviet Union. Indeed, I suppose if anyone could credibly speak to our collective inertia toward mass execution, it would be one of the […]
Nov 20 2018 — Robyn Urback — CBC — The toxic culture at St. Michael’s College School was a secret in the same way that the Harvey Weinstein abuse allegations were a secret or the reports of sexual assault within the Canadian Armed Forces were a secret: If you were close enough, you already knew. I went to a high school in midtown Toronto […]
Nov 9 2018 — Robyn Urback — This business is easier on the conscience when the players, however bruised and battered, get to leave the ring with some dignity. Politics is a blood sport, yes, but it tends to leave one’s personal character intact, even if his or her political reputation is damaged.
Nov 2 2018 — Robyn Urback — CBC — This is a note to the youth of the nation. A warning, of sorts, of the evils that lurk a few months yonder. When the winter turns to spring — when the snow melts and the trees bud and the birds renew their songs — a menacing refrain will once again fill the air. It […]
Oct 26 2018 — Robyn Urback — CBC — It’s a fallacy that the office holder of the president of the United States serves as a credible moral steward for the American people. The Oval Office has, after all, hosted slave owners and adulterers, accused sexual predators and liars, thugs and warmongers — men who would preach goodness and morality, yet live (and often […]
Oct 22 2018 — Robyn Urback — CBC — We probably aren’t as charitable toward those who have evolved in their beliefs — or even done a complete about-face — as we ought to be. That’s likely because we tend to conflate genuine ideological evolution with opportunistic turnaround — with new positions adopted for money, power or influence. We often assume opportunism when politicians […]
Oct 11 2018 — Robyn Urback — CBC — So many things would be different if the world were just and good: your high school bully would end up in jail, dogs would evolve to outlive humans, and one of America’s most famous sexual predators would be destitute and alone, eating chilli out of a can in sweat-stained pyjamas.
Oct 5 2018 — Robyn Urback — CBC — There is almost nothing about the Judge Brett Kavanaugh saga that has been fair. It’s not fair that a wrench was thrown into his nomination at the 11th hour, even though Sen. Dianne Feinstein was, for weeks, in possession of a letter that alleged the Supreme Court nominee drunkenly sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford when […]
Aug 24 2018 — Robyn Urback — CBC — Maxime Bernier is fed up. Fed up with the Conservative Party, which he tried to lead just a little over a year ago. Fed up with political correctness — so much so that he made sure to say it in both French and English. Fed up with the lack of substantive policy debate — something […]
Aug 14 2018 — Robyn Urback — CBC — A member of the news media was assaulted by a protester in Toronto this past weekend. The altercation happened on camera, in front of police, with dozens of people standing by. The incident in which a journalist was struck by an activist — ironically, at an anti-hate rally — seemed entirely unprovoked: a pathetic attack […]
Aug 2 2018 — Robyn Urback — CBC — Trigger warning: This is a CBC News column about using taxpayers’ money to fund partisan propaganda. I recognize that certain heads will explode over the supposed irony. So in the interest of getting past this, do allow me to pre-emptively relieve the burden of my friends in the comment section:
Jul 26 2018 — Robyn Urback — CBC — At the moment, there are no answers as to the precise motive behind the horrific shooting that left two dead and 13 injured on the Danforth in Toronto Sunday night. We have plenty of inferences and some clues. But in terms of clear, specific information that definitively explains why a man took a gun and […]
Jul 8 2018 — Robyn Urback — CBC — This is about hypocrisy — not about what did or did not happen at a music festival 18 years ago. It is about “believing women,” until it happens to you; about taking all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously, except if they happen to pass some arbitrary expiration date. It is about employing an unwavering zero-tolerance […]
Jun 27 2018 — Robyn Urback — CBC — If the climate in Canada were different, an 18-year-old allegation of sexual misconduct against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would be swiftly addressed, then probably dismissed. The allegation originally appeared in an August 2000 edition of the Creston Valley Advance, a small community newspaper in B.C. The editorial, which resurfaced earlier this month, claimed that the […]
Jun 15 2018 — Robyn Urback — CBC — Many more Canadians would surely tune in to question period each afternoon if we found a way to fill the benches with seals — actual seals — who would clap and honk at each leader’s statements. Mr. Speaker, because of another failure of the prime minister, Canadians involuntarily became shareholders in the Trans Mountain pipeline. […]