If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. — George Orwell For more than a century of socialist cultural advance, man’s capacity for independent thought and free expression has been in a state of...
It is a relief that the U.S. Federal Reserve Board is not veering off into climate theology or other mission-irrelevant distractions. While recent comments of the Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, were unequivocal, comments from the Bank of Canada have not been as...
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s proposal to use private health centres to alleviate long wait lists has run into opposition from many quarters. It may seem counterintuitive, but Mr. Ford’s plan will actually alleviate the shortages of doctors and nurses. It was B.C.’s NDP...
The influence of traditional print and broadcast news media has dropped dramatically. Even with handsome government handouts, many of them are barely alive today. In the market transition that is taking place, out of the slump of the old media a few new ones, such as...
Paraphrasing a remark by American philosopher Nicholas Murray Butler in 1931, John Newbern once said: “People can be divided into three groups: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened.” Each of those classes is...
“We will take America without firing a shot,” said Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of Soviet Russia from 1958 to 1964. The Soviet Union may have vanished, but old Marxist strategies are still being implemented. The 1969 lecture “More Deadly Than War: The Communist...
When we start discussing the inevitable economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick should lift restrictions on natural gas fracking. Natural gas prices are at lows, but that will not stay the case forever. Energy industry...
In 1970 Claude Charron was the youngest member ever elected to the National Assembly of Quebec. Re-elected a few times and as a high-profile cabinet minister, Charron astounded everyone by being caught red-handed trying to steal a tweed jacket from an Eaton’s store....
The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects on the already fragile Indigenous economy, making the Indigenous economic recovery that much more important. Gaming – including Indigenous-owned casinos – plays a significant role in Indigenous economies, especially...
Name something you can find only in Canada. If we eliminate easy answers such as wildlife oddities, three-down football and maple-flavoured pastries and focus instead on major transportation infrastructure hubs, there’s just one correct response: the unique and...
Manitoba is temporarily in an enviable position COVID-wise. Both compared to our southern neighbors and even to most of our fellow provinces. But, this is mainly because few people travel to Manitoba in winter. Travelers from western provinces are now allowed to enter...
There’s a long-standing convention that applies to the use of all medical drugs: A person considering the use of a drug for medical or prophylactic purposes is advised to consult with his or her physician about its possible use. It’s assumed that the physician is up...
Years ago, I was given a great opportunity to be the lead reporter and do the editing work for a national Indigenous newspaper based in Winnipeg. It was called the Drum/First Perspective newspaper and it covered Indigenous news in Manitoba and around Canada. The paper...
Last month, the Ontario government announced a new elementary math curriculum. The province will return to a “back to basics” approach aimed at improving standardized test scores, and will also introduce lessons on financial literacy and coding. Whether these changes...
Last year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published research showing that the middle-class is shrinking throughout the developed world. In Under Pressure: The Squeezed Middle-Class, OECD emphasized that the threat to the middle-class...