Jan 16 2020 — Robyn Urback — Globe and Mail — Meghan and Harry would be prototypical millennials, if millennials had millions of dollars, unlimited connections and unprecedented global fame and notoriety. Like so many of us who have crossed the age of 30 threshold, they have decided that now is the time to “work to become financially independent.” They’re ready to move out of grandma’s […]
Jan 13 2020 — Robyn Urback — Globe and Mail — Hundreds of people across Canada are rounding out the worst week of their lives. They are the friends and family of passengers aboard Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, who perished randomly and pointlessly because the Iranian military, by its telling, made a mistake.
Jan 8 2020 — Robyn Urback — Globe and Mail — When the Liberals unveiled their updated plan to tackle gun violence during last year’s federal election campaign, they made specific mention of one firearm in particular: the AR-15. It was the only firearm identified by name when the Liberals would recite their promise to ban military-style assault rifles: “Including the AR-15,” they repeated, just in […]
Dec 27 2019 — Robyn Urback — Globe and Mail — There are many reasons – some good ones, even – why Canadian leaders can continue to pretend that an egregious, oppressive, discriminatory law is not being enforced in our country today. That people are not being denied jobs as teachers, police officers, judges or Crown prosecutors because of who they are and what they wear […]
Dec 17 2019 — Robyn Urback — Globe and Mail — Rona Ambrose will probably never be more popular than she is now, as an undeclared candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada leadership. Her clout will diminish the instant she joins the race – if she joins the race – with an announcement that is either premature or overdue, too long or too short, tepid […]
Dec 5 2019 — Robyn Urback — Globe and Mail — We might never know the name of the brave person who, I think it is fair to assume, must have talked U.S. President Donald Trump out of ordering U.S. Army Reserve troops to storm the Canadian border Tuesday evening. By that time, the President would have seen the clip of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appearing […]
Nov 28 2019 — Robyn Urback — Globe and Mail — In a way, it doesn’t seem fair that Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, whose party won 26 more seats and a greater share of the popular vote in 2019 than in 2015, is the target of such a pile-on from within his own party. Moderate conservatives are publicly urging him to get it together. Social conservatives […]
Nov 26 2019 — Robyn Urback — Globe and Mail — If the Trudeau government wanted to convince Canadians that its new “Ministry of Middle Class Prosperity” was a real thing – that is, conceived out of genuine need and not a surplus of already printed bumper stickers – it would have equipped its minister with a response to pretty much the only question she was […]
Nov 22 2019 — Robyn Urback — Globe and Mail — A warm welcome back to the conservative government of Alberta’s past. It’s been four years and change. We’ve missed you. Hopefully, absence has made the heart grow fonder for the traditional comforts of a conservative dynasty in Alberta: Cozy sole-sourced contracts, politicians who preach austerity and spend lavishly on themselves, that general aura of shamelessness […]
Nov 19 2019 — Robyn Urback — Globe and Mail — It was just two years ago that the Trudeau government returned from Beijing empty-handed and rather sheepish. The trip, which came after a year of exploratory talks, had been widely expected to launch formal free-trade negotiations between Canada and China. Instead, the Prime Minister returned to Canada with the impotence of his “progressive trade agenda” […]
Nov 11 2019 — Robyn Urback — Globe and Mail — Woe is poor Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, who keeps being presented with traps and choosing to walk straight into them. Perhaps we should cut the guy – who has been a politician the majority of his adult life – a break. He has only had about a dozen opportunities to find a satisfactory line about […]
Oct 18 2019 — Robyn Urback — CBC — This federal election has been characterized as one of the nastiest in recent memory, but I don’t think that’s quite right. There’s been no mocking of facial paralysis, robocalls to suppress votes, puking on stage or warning of soldiers with guns in our cities. To be sure, there’s been plenty of nonsense, even beyond the […]
Oct 4 2019 — Robyn Urback — CBC — No doubt the Conservatives are frustrated that leader Andrew Scheer keeps getting the same question over and over on the campaign trail: Can you explain how your personal views on same-sex marriage have evolved since 2005? Yet it apparently has not occurred to the party — or else, they prefer not to acknowledge — that […]
Sep 27 2019 — Robyn Urback — CBC — If you hacked the websites of the two parties jostling for the lead so far in this election and swapped one platform for another, would anyone know the difference? I should be more precise: would any real people know the difference? I’m not talking about Ottawa-obsessed political wonks and media types who are required to […]
Sep 19 2019 — Robyn Urback — CBC — It is almost too obvious now to point out the rank hypocrisy of the Trudeau brand: one that has zero tolerance for inappropriate touching, except for his own; one that preaches respect for Indigenous Canadians, except when you can get a cheap laugh at a Liberal fundraiser. One that claims to run government differently, but […]