In Print
No more Mr. Nice Guy
The federal government’s hard line on human rights in China incites pro-democracy friends and business foes
Call it Ottawa’s unofficial China Day. On Nov. 21, Beijing’s envoy, Lu Shumin, spoke before a group of 500 business leaders at the Canadian Club, asking Canada to show respect and not “point fingers” at the state of human rights […]
Taking the hit
The Tories have either made the hard but right decision, or they have stupidly angered their core supporters
Death and taxes are the only two certainties in life, it is said. But perhaps a third should be added: politicians’ broken promises. Because, after all, bad things come in threes. When the federal Conservatives went back on […]
Mismanaging turmoil
Canada’s aid agency has been so unaccountable in Kandahar, it looks bad even to the Senate
Brigadier-General A.J. Howard was testifying before the standing Senate committee on national security and defence about Afghanistan, particularly Kandahar province, where Canadian troops have fought fierce battles in recent weeks. In his Oct. 16 testimony, the general spoke glowingly of […]
Is calling someone a “dog” a universal insult?
It is a wide cross-cultural practice to use ‘dog’ as some sort of derogatory term,” says John Archibald, head of the University of Calgary’s linguistics department. It’s found in Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish, Afrikaans, Chinese and Turkish. But why is not clear. “Before they were domesticated, dogs were considered quite dirty,” Archibald speculates.
The English term bitch […]
Do not pass go
The federal ‘three-strikes’ legislation is slagged as an American knock-off
When Justice Minister Vic Toews introduced Bill C-27 in the House of Commons, he ignited an expected firestorm. “Unconstitutional!” “Mob rule!” the Liberals shouted. His bill, amending the Criminal Code provisions on dangerous offenders, will change the law so that any person convicted of a third […]
Taxation without representation
Given the UN’s track record, a new global airline tax may resemble giving car keys and alcohol to teenage boys
Disarray–that was the word used to describe the end of the last session of the newly established United Nations Human Rights Council. On Friday, Oct. 6, the council halted its proceedings because it couldn’t agree on […]
War, the Canadian way
The war against terror in Afghanistan can be won, and Canadians may be just the soldiers to win it–if the home front is willing
As a hundred soldiers of the Regina Rifles’ D Company bounced in their landing craft, chugging toward Juno Beach early in the morning of June 6, 1944, they were engulfed in an […]
Is it illegal to pray in public in Canada?
Is it illegal to pray in public in Canada? Strictly speaking, no. But if it interferes with someone else’s rights, perhaps. Benjamin Berger, a University of Victoria law professor specializing in charter rights and religion, says religious liberties–like other liberties–are always limited by the parallel rights and interests of others. “Public spaces are classically a […]
The Loan Avengers
Despite contribution limits, candidates have found an easy way to get their hands on big bundles of cash: the good old campaign loan
They say money flows into politics like water (and other fluids) flows downhill. And when there’s a leadership race or a campaign on, the floodgates swing open. At least it used to be. […]
Peace of the Grave
It certainly hasn’t lacked for drama. If anything, testimony in Saddam Hussein’s trial, which began Aug. 21, for the crime of genocide against Iraq’s Kurdish population has been blood-curdling. Witness after witness has vividly and horrifically described the deadly gas attacks unleashed on Kurdish villages in 1987, estimated to have killed hundreds of thousands. Peasants […]
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