In September 2021, the U.S., the United Kingdom and Australia formed an alliance to improve their defence capacities. The goal of this alliance, whose acronym is AUKUS, is to bolster the presence of Western countries in the Indo-Pacific and to counter China’s...
Travel and work over the past two years have brought me to many different jurisdictions. What continues to strike me is the way the responses to COVID-19 have been varied, arbitrary and often draconian. I look back at Canada and see raging debates over mask mandates,...
The wind is in from Africa. Last night I couldn’t sleep. Because a new coronavirus has arrived. It has been named Omicron. The arrival of a new mutation of the novel coronavirus should not come as a surprise to anyone who has at least a sixth grade understanding of...
Should Canadians be free to fly without a COVID-19 vaccination? Four Canadian pilots thought so and founded Free to Fly at the end of August. By now, the organization has attracted 14,300 members, including 1,900 airline staff. In an interview, Free to Fly co-founder...
Death rates in countries that rely on hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for the treatment of Covid-19 appear to be dramatically lower than death rates in countries that discourage the use of the drug. A new study claims that the death rate in the countries that used HCQ early...
The word “radiation” conjures up images of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima or the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. Our society has a strong, and not unreasonable, fear of nuclear radiation, that has been built up over years of stories. Starting with...
The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project only superficially appears to have been “saved.” The federal government’s nationalization “solution” was birthed by its earlier botching of energy and environmental regulation and policy. Federal and provincial permit...
Much has been made lately of the arrival of a new Canadian superhero. Welcome please, Amka Aliyak, alias Snowguard, a shape-shifting Inuit lass from Pangnirtung, in Nunavut who will soon be appearing on the pages of a Marvel comic book. With the assistance of her...
Canada’s latest political drama has come from the current state of jeopardy of the Trans Mountain pipeline. The B.C. government is asking the courts if it can block the pipeline, creating bipartisan agreement by Alberta politicians for some radical policies. The...
A strawman argument is a rhetorical device that deliberately misrepresents or exaggerates an opponent’s position in order to demolish it. It’s always easier to defeat an opponent made of straw than is to tackle a serious argument with facts and logic. You could say...
Canada’s standard of living is suffering because of the seemingly perpetual pipeline controversy and especially because of the delays. No, it is not merely the delay in construction that is causing problems, but it is also delays in expanding our oil exports to the...
On May 15, 2018 CBC Radio aired a story about an Indigenous woman who complained that a security officer, and then a City of Winnipeg police officer, had treated her improperly while she was attending a Winnipeg Jets related “Whiteout” event. The woman, who described...
There are two visions of engaging with First Nations on mining projects in Manitoba. The first will likely lead to considerable opposition and increased delays. The second focuses on meaningful consultation with Indigenous groups and is destined to move development...
Earth Day Network (EDN) chose “End Plastic Pollution” as their theme for this year’s April 22 Earth Day. It is just the tip of the anti-plastic activism that now consumes environmental extremists. A Google search on “Plastic Pollution Coalition” (a group claiming to...
In a line at the supermarket checkout, I glanced back at the woman who was placing her purchases on the belt behind my grocery items, and I couldn’t help but wonder what life had done to her to put such an expression of tired crabbiness on her face. That unpleasant...