Our children and their children will be paying for the bad decisions made by our senior medical science and political leaders for decades to come
As this wave of the COVID-19 pandemic winds down, we should ask honest questions about our response to it. Although an accurate assessment of the lockdowns – closing schools and businesses – is months away, we need a plan to respond to a likely second fall wave. The Economist published an essay detailing how closing…
If historical figures with 2020 attitudes could be found, renaming familiar streets and place names wouldn’t be so daunting
Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman is determined to pursue his name game – renaming, removing and rewriting history. Among his targets is Bishop Grandin Boulevard – the mayor doesn’t like the late Bishop Vital-Justin Grandin’s attitudes. If Bowman succeeds, the next logical renaming would be St. Vital – also named after Grandin, who was an important…
There’s no evidence that draconian anti-COVID-19 measures were necessary. In the meantime, our economy is wilting
The lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 will saddle the next generation with a crushing debt and enormous social costs. The rationale of emptying schools and shuttering businesses deemed non-essential is to flatten the curve of the spread of the virus. Social distancing measures and closures in general are meant to prevent hospitals from…
While the project is a win for the province, the country, the environment and B.C.’s First Nations, these hereditary chiefs don’t see it that way
Support continues for the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation blocking authorized construction of a natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia. In spite of court injunctions and government pronouncements telling them to desist, they seem prepared for a long and protracted struggle, “having no intention of allowing Wet’suwet’en sovereignty to be violated.” This…
There are good reasons why other countries and previous Canadian governments have consistently refused to fully implement the UN declaration on Indigenous rights
British Columbia has become the first province to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). And except for the opposition of a determined group of Conservative senators, the federal government would have adopted UNDRIP as actionable law before last fall’s federal election. Re-elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already announced…
At its core, the problem is related to lack of funding. It's time for Ottawa to provide the necessary funds or launch full-scale medicare reform
Most Canadians think our health-care system is a national treasure and much superior to the American system, where poor people often don’t get the treatments they need and costs can be catastrophic. Instead of focusing on how Canada’s health-care system compares to America’s, we should be looking at European systems that offer better health outcomes…
Instead of eliminating racism and sexism, we've established a new set of rules that ignore merit and competition
On Dec. 1, 1955, a tired seamstress was making her way home on a bus after a long day in Montgomery, Ala. The driver angrily informed the woman that the law required her to sit in the back. But the woman wasn’t just tired from work, she was tired of a law and a system…
Patrick Brown lost his job. Justin Trudeau appears to have emerged unscathed. It's all a question of political support
As a result of the #MeToo movement, past sexual transgressions are haunting high-profile men. How many is anyone’s guess but the list is probably long. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is the latest casualty. I’m quite sure Trudeau will survive the allegation, but perhaps it’s worthwhile to ask why some politicians who are confronted with allegations…
The bad experiences at residential schools have been well documented. But we can't forget that there were good experiences as well
Sen. Lynn Beyak was finally expelled from the Conservative Party caucus because “she allowed” racist posts to be placed on her website. More significantly, she refused to remove the offending material when ordered to do so by the Conservative leader. I’m one of the people with an email message posted on her website. In the…
As this wave of the COVID-19 pandemic winds down, we should ask honest questions about our response to it. Although an accurate assessment of the lockdowns – closing schools and businesses – is months away, we need a plan to respond to a likely second fall wave. The Economist published an essay detailing how closing…
