A century ago, Adolf Hitler noted that ‘the receptivity of the masses is quite limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be confined to a few select points and must...
Culture Wars
Abolishing Honours Programs in the Name of Equity Is Absurd
Vancouver’s recent school board election generated a lot of heat. The heat was caused, in part, by a group of trustee candidates pledging to bring back honours courses, which the board abolished last year. Many parents were upset when the honours courses were cut,...
CPPIB Embraces ESG Dogma: Time to Talk Turning CPP Accounts Over to Individuals
The National Post’s recent profile of Canada Pension Plan’s investment philosophy notes that CPP Investment Board managers have bought into Environmental, Social and Governance, ‘ESG’, scoring in its asset allocation. Having permeated Canada’s institutional investment...
Our Deluded Leaders Ignore Reality and Ensure Disaster
Do you think that without electricity you can charge an electric car? The governor of California Gavin Newsom and the dozen states that follow California’s rules do, and so apparently does Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada. They have mandated electric cars by...
Featured News
Interest Rates do not Merely Parallel Inflation Upward—the Inflation Risk Premium can Escalate too
It is not entirely clear whether the Canadian and the global economies are heading for a new inflationary era. It may turn out that inflation is not only elevated from recent negligible levels, but escalates, steadily at first, and then dramatically, as it did in the...
CUSMA the New NAFTA: Boon or Bane For Canada?
In 1994, the United States, Mexico and Canada created a free-trade region with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Considering the fact that the USA is the largest economy in the world (from 1994 to present), NAFTA was a true asset for the Canadian...
Against Multiculturalism
Like “disciplined anarchy,” “monogamy with multiple spouses,” and “promiscuous chastity,” “multiculturalism” is an incoherent and self-contradictory idea. So too is Canada’s “multiculturalism in a bilingual society.” Here is why: “Culture” is the way of life of a...
Political Polarization in the United States and Canada
Political polarization in both the United States and Canada seems to increase every year. Those on the left appear to move ever farther to the left; while those on the right find less and less in common with their fellow citizens. The political rhetoric has, in fact,...
We Mustn’t Judge, Must We?
The young homeowner was in bed with his wife when the telephone rang. Sleepily he lifted the receiver to hear: “Sir, this is Sergeant Preston from Security. I thought you should know that there has been a property invasion in the neighbourhood and the perpetrators are...
Trial by Tweet
If anyone doubted that the #MeToo movement has ushered in a revolution, the political execution of Patrick Brown should put those doubts to rest. As in all revolutions, not all the heads that fall into the basket deserve to be there, the Madame Defarge’s of this...
Who Should Dole Out Justice?
The jury trial of Gerald Stanley for the murder of Colten Boushie marks a new development in criminal law. The trial itself was not unusual, a jury heard the evidence, deliberated, and acquitted the Saskatchewan farmer. It’s what followed the acquittal that is...
Can We Change History? The Ethnocentrism of Presentism
Recently I participated in a surprising conversation. At dinner with three anthropologists and a professional in the financial industry, one, an American, complained that Donald Trump, who did not win the popular vote, was elected to the Presidency illegitimately, due...
Rape Culture On Campus
Rape Culture on Campus Essay Philip Carl Salzman December 24, 2017 Rape is the physical entry into another person’s body without the consent of that person. Usually it involves the sex organs of at least one of the people. It is recognised in Western...
The Sir John A. Macdonald Prize
We will begin today’s article with a quiz. So, pencils out please, and answer the following question: what famous personality was described by an unadmiring biographer as “a thieving, fanatical Albanian dwarf”? I’ll give you the answer in a paragraph or two as we...
Booting Beyak – Conform or Get Out!
Senator Lynn Beyak has been expelled from caucus by the Conservative Party. The reasons for her removal were that “she allowed” racist posts to be placed on her website and refused to remove them when ordered to do so. In fact, I am one of the people quoted on her...