Four years after he broke the Watergate story, Carl Bernstein quit the Washington Post and spent six months looking at the relationship between the CIA and the press. The result was a 25,000-word cover story in the October 20, 1977 edition of Rolling Stone called “The...
If you visit the website of any Canadian teachers’ union, you might think that all teachers reside on the far left of the political spectrum. For example, the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) is not shy about taking left-leaning stands on controversial...
Recently, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe urged his citizens to get vaccinated in a three-minute plea filled with dubious claims and faulty logic. It’s irksome that any executive assistant or speechwriter got paid to compose such nonsense. Moe said: “Those who have...
Oil giant ExxonMobil’s 12-member board of directors reportedly has two new members who are climate activists backed by investor “Engine 1.” Under the headline, “Shareholders tell Exxon to eat sh*t,” G/O Media and Earther “reporter” Molly Taft gleefully ends paragraph...
It is now the official view in government, industry, and education that African Americans and certain other “people of color” perform poorly in schools and the workforce, but nonetheless must be treated as if they perform well. The statistically weak performance of...
There are forces at play in Canada and the United States that are pulling each country apart. Some – the more glaring and talked about – are driving wedges between conservatives and progressives in each country. At the same time, they are increasing the commonalities...
Recent revelations about the Ontario government’s relationship with the Beer Store have led to renewed interest in reforming Ontario’s byzantine liquor regulations. Many of the policy implications have been discussed ad nauseum, but one remains curiously absent from...
Nationally, 2015 should be an interesting year on the Aboriginal file. However, what specifically should Manitoba First Nations leaders expect? What follows is a list of priority issues that should be confronted by Manitoba First Nations. The first issue is missing...
We are all genetically modified organisms (GMOs), all 7.1 billion of us and every other creature on earth produced by sexual reproduction. We are all a random combination of our mother’s and father’s genes and are therefore genetically unique modifications. Only...
Teachers in many Canadian classrooms are being encouraged to de-emphasize factual knowledge, in favour of a more hands-on discovery approach with students. But some basic facts will always be essential in making higher-level learning possible. For example, it's...
Saskatchewan's Perry Bellegarde faces many challenges as the new National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. The organization is in crisis after Shawn Atleo resigned from the post before the end of his term. A number of chiefs felt he acted too independently and...
The Auditor General of Ontario’s report is a technical document that few people actually read. Bullet points from executive summaries of such reports are often used as the basis for newspaper columns and political talking points in the grown up equivalent of the game...
The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) has selected a new national chief. Perry Bellegarde, recently chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and former chief of the Little Black Bear First Nation in Saskatchewan, will have three-and-a-half years to...
An important and historical court case recently concluded in California that has implications for Canadian public schools. In Vergara v. California [2014], the Superior Court for Los Angeles ruled that some of the state’s teacher tenure, dismissal, and layoff laws are...
Imagine that you are a fly on the wall in a faculty of education classroom or in a teachers’ professional development session. What would you hear? Chances are that you would hear about the need for teachers to establish a student-centred classroom environment in...