Oct 16 2019 — Andrew Parkin — Policy Options — With Canada’s population increasingly concentrated in a small number of large metropolitan areas, the question often arises: do the values, interests and concerns of citizens in cities differ from those of their counterparts living in smaller cities or towns across the country? Is there a specific metropolitan mindset or set of experiences that distinguishes those […]
Oct 15 2019 — Christopher Ragan — Policy Options — We are less than a week from the federal election, and the four main political parties have been pushing their plans to address climate change. Each has a vision for the future and the policies needed to move toward a low-carbon world. And the differences between them could barely be more stark. How can we […]
Oct 9 2019 — Paul Adams — Policy Options — Frederick Douglass was arguably the first person – I hesitate to say “politician” – to use photography for a political purpose. Douglass was an enslaved man who at about twenty years of age escaped a plantation on the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, where he had endured brutal whippings alongside all the other […]
Oct 8 2019 — Geoff Norquay — Policy Options — A look at Canada’s seven minority governments over six decades shows a broad range of results that were not always so obvious at the time. With the two leading contenders locked in a virtual tie and “fighting to the death within the margin of error,” as one observer recently put it, a minority government after […]
Oct 7 2019 — Jennifer Ditchburn — Policy Options — We should demand that our political leaders stop trying to win partisan points on climate change, and reach a consensus on action as other nations have. In Germany in September, the coalition cabinet led by Angela Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union announced a sweeping $74-billion climate policy package. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom is working through […]
Oct 4 2019 — Paul Adams — Policy Options — Expert sources drawn from academia and elsewhere are playing an important role in Election 2019, and at a time when expertise itself is under attack. Election 2019 has provided an illustration of what the American journo-wonk Ezra Klein once called the “revenge of the sources.” Whereas experts, including academics, were once dependent on journalists to […]
Oct 3 2019 — Joanne St. Lewis — Policy Options — Images of Justin Trudeau captured in brownface in 2001 stream across international media. The outrage takes many forms. For some, his position as leader of our multicultural nation not only requires an apology but also calls into question his fitness for office and the sincerity of his policies. For others, the incident was theatrical expression […]
Oct 2 2019 — Pamela Palmater — Policy Options — With the publication of photos and video showing Justin Trudeau in blackface, his personal racism was there for the world to see – something that rightly causes many Canadians a great deal of discomfort. It might be more palatable to point to racist laws and policies as the core of the problem, but the Liberal […]
Oct 1 2019 — Simon Donner — Policy Options — We’ve all heard that there are 12 years left to act to avoid a climate catastrophe. What does this mean for Canada? Are any of the federal parties prepared to confront this challenge? To answer these questions, we first need to examine what that deadline does – and does not – mean. In the Paris […]
Sep 30 2019 — Policy Options — Being a good neighbour is a nicety. But when it comes to saving the biodiversity that sustains us, being a good neighbour is a necessity. Decisions about whether to be a good or a not-so-good neighbour are playing out in our governments’ oversight of species at risk. In its Pan-Canadian Approach to Species at Risk […]
Sep 25 2019 — Paul Adams — Policy Options — In March of 1935, Adolf Hitler announced the rearmament of Germany in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. It had been just 17 years since the First World War had ended, a war that had resulted in roughly 700,000 British deaths and many more casualties. And yet, when the UK held an election eight months […]
Sep 23 2019 — Alex Marland — Policy Options — An election candidate with a Canadian political party is not a free agent. Similar to the local franchisees of an established corporate brand, party candidates benefit from their party affiliation, but that affiliation comes with terms and conditions. Candidates enter politics with visions of being grassroots representatives or purveyors of independent thinking. They quickly learn […]
Sep 23 2019 — Tejpal Singh Swatch — Policy Options — The first thing I noticed about the picture was the care with which the makeup was applied. The coverage was even and smooth — no blank spots. This was no slapdash application of drugstore store Halloween makeup; it had the look of professionalism, care and, most of all, time. Whether he did it himself or […]
Sep 20 2019 — Jocelyn Downie — Policy Options — September 2019 has been an extraordinary month for medical assistance in dying (MAiD), with two major developments only seven days apart. As a result, more Canadians with grievous and irremediable medical conditions will be able to end their enduring and intolerable suffering on their own terms at a time of their choosing.
Sep 18 2019 — Catherine Wallace — Policy Options — How do you cover an election with no reporters? Already, with that one sentence, this sounds like a plea to support journalism. It isn’t. (Though we should — of course, we all should!) This is a plea for the rest of civil society to step up as the news industry falters. All of us — […]