Jun 4 2020 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Here’s a remarkable thing about the pandemic and its effects on Canada’s most vulnerable people: the homeless population has sidestepped disaster. Let’s not jinx it by calling it an outright success. Yes, vulnerable, low-income people are hit harder, and the homeless population in big cities across Canada are indeed suffering from COVID-19 and paralyzed by […]

Jun 4 2020 — Roland Paris — Chatham House — After China violated Hong Kong’s legislative autonomy by imposing a new security law on the territory, the United States and its traditional allies did something remarkable — they agreed. But this display of solidarity was fleeting. The US, UK, EU, Japan, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand all issued critical statements. However, President Donald Trump then […]

Jun 4 2020 — John Ivison — National Post — It is advisable to tread lightly when wandering around the minefields of today’s culture wars. Nonetheless, I felt on solid ground in mocking the attempt by Donald Trump’s callow press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, to compare her boss to Winston Churchill. She suggested that Trump’s photo op on the steps of St. John’s Episcopal Church, across […]

Jun 4 2020 — Peter MacKay — National Newswatch — Today – on the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protest, an iconic demonstration and an important historical milestone — for the first time, the people of Hong Kong have been banned from holding a public vigil marking the date. The nominal reason is COVID-19. But the pattern of actions from the Chinese regime betray […]

Jun 4 2020 — Dr. Robert Crandall — National Newswatch — The coronavirus pandemic has added enormously to the daily load on Canada’s broadband networks. Fortunately, these networks are holding up well under this strain, a result of the carriers’ aggressive investment in network infrastructure. This investment has been spurred by Canada’s traditional policy of relying on facilities-based competition in the telecom sector. Facilities-based competition is […]

Jun 4 2020 — Peter Donolo — Globe and Mail — Despite the pandemic, it’s clear that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hasn’t lost his dramatic flair. His 21 seconds of silence before responding to a question about President Donald Trump’s authoritarianism this week spoke volumes to pundits and other observers, many of whom read it as implicit criticism. But when confronted with the most aberrant president […]

Jun 4 2020 — Celina Caesar-Chavannes — Policy Options — Over the past several days, in the midst of the protests related to the killing of George Floyd and death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet in Toronto, many people have asked me (and other Black people) this question: what does the government do now? What are the solutions to racism in Canada, Celina? As much as it […]

Jun 4 2020 — John Ibbitson — Globe and Mail — Canada and the United States will almost certainly agree to keep the border between the countries closed beyond the current deadline of June 21. With the U.S. struggling to contain COVID-19, even as demonstrations rock American cities, some Canadians may wonder whether that border should reopen anytime soon. Yes it should. This country’s economic survival […]

Jun 4 2020 — Michael Smyth — Global News — As political pregnant pauses go, Justin Trudeau’s now-world-famous example had the rhetorical gestation period of an elephant. Clocking in at 22 seconds, Trudeau’s remarkable hang time of dead air after he was asked about President Donald Trump made headlines around the world. What was Trudeau doing? What was he thinking while he stared blankly into […]

Jun 4 2020 — K.W. Grafton — National Newswatch — “Surveillance Capitalism” is a term coined by Harvard Business professor Dr. Shoshana Zuboff in her 2019 masterpiece “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism – The Fight for a Human Future at the Frontier of Power”. It is defined as “a new economic order that claims human experience as free raw material for hidden commercial practices of […]

Jun 3 2020 — Ghada Alatrash — National Newswatch — Almost a year ago, I wrote an article about my cousin in Syria, a mother who lost two sons over a span of only two years, Farouk and Fidaa Nassif, in a merciless Syrian war. My cousin is still grieving.  Despite the reality of war and its savagery, the news hit us like a ton […]

Jun 3 2020 — Hassan Yussuff — National Newswatch — The images, the stories, the experiences of our seniors during this pandemic are enough to bring a grown man to tears. In fact, it has. Even Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford has, at times, become emotional while talking about the conditions in the province’s long-term care facilities. It’s a dire situation right across the country. No […]

Jun 3 2020 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Ahmed Hussen, a Somali immigrant and the only Black member of Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, remains deeply disturbed by developments in the United States. He can’t bring himself to talk to his 10-year-old son about the George Floyd video quite yet, although he knows that day will come. “The reason is simple — it’s because I’m […]

Jun 3 2020 — John Ivison — National Post — There should be no debate about systemic racism in Canada. The residents of Rosedale in Toronto or Rockcliffe in Ottawa would not tolerate boil water advisories or youth suicide rates seven times higher than the national average – the norm for a number of indigenous communities. But there have been successes in Canada’s relationship with […]

Jun 3 2020 — Scott Talbott — National Newswatch — The image of a customer being passed a payment terminal taped to the end of a hockey stick to complete a contactless payment at a drive-thru has become a common internet meme on Canadian social media. This very Canadian solution of maintaining physical distance – while continuing to do business – serves as a valuable […]