Imagine the hardships Quebec students striking against the province’s proposed post-secondary tuition increase have had to endure these past few months. It must be tough juggling that soy latte and shiny new iPod while holding “free tuition” signs. In reality, it’s hard to feel sympathy for the so-called plight of these Quebec students who already …

There’s an old saying “that the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” and it sprang to mind when I read David’s column this week. Raising the minimum wage is one of those things that seems like a great idea in theory, but in practice only ends up hurting the very people it is …

Students aren’t the only ones that don’t look forward to report cards. It turns out teachers don’t seem to like them much either. The British Columbia Teachers’ Federation has called writing missed report cards unnecessary, and talked about how they’ll add to teachers’ already “onerous workload.” Report cards have been a casualty in the ongoing …

We hear all the time about how prohibition of marijuana hasn’t really worked. Kids smoke pot, gangs smuggle drugs and bad guys get rich. But all that happens not because of prohibition, but because society lets it happen. The problem is not prohibition, it’s that in B.C., society and the government send very mixed messages …

Here’s my latest column for 24 Hours Vancouver. David Eby and I went to bat on pipelines, a topic everyone seems to be talking about these days. You can check out Eby’s take here. Pipelines from Alberta are in the news a lot these days. And it’s only just beginning. How oil from the oilsands …

Here’s my latest column. While public school enrollment declines, more and more parents are putting their children into private schools. Critics like to portray these parents as either rich snobs or religious extremists, but what they should be asking is why there’s an exodus from public schools? The answer isn’t that parents are becoming more …

My latest post for EthicalOil.org: It’s been more than three months since EthicalOil.org and thousands of proud Canadians joined together to call for a consumer boycott against Chiquita after that company agreed to participate in a boycott of its own: against Canada’s ethical oil. According to a report in The Economist, Chiquita is paying the …

Today I launched a new column with 24 Hours Vancouver called “the Duel” where David Eby and I will battle it out on an issue each week.  David Eby is the Executive Director of the BC Civil Liberties Association, a law professor and has also run for the BC NDP.  He’s a great guy, but …

My latest article. These days, we do almost everything online. If we can ‘one click shop’ and bank, why can’t ‘we one click vote?’ The NDP federal leadership convention held this weekend demonstrated some of the problems with casting e-votes. Technology-wise, this convention was trumpeted as being state of the art, and people were able …

My latest column. It’s hard to say what’s more consistent in B.C.: the rain or talk about the on-going dispute between the province’s teachers and the government. For months, British Columbians have been inundated with both the government’s case and the unions’ case. The two sides can argue, posture, legislate and strike, but the students …

My latest post for EthicalOil.org: It’s a fact of life that there’s a finite amount of charitable dollars to go around in this country. Canadian families can set aside only so much for donations, and a dollar allocated to the Diabetes Foundation is a dollar that doesn’t go to the Heart and Stroke Foundation or …

My column for today. People use the tongue-in-cheek saying “first-world problems” to mock the minor inconveniences that plague the daily lives of those of us privileged to live in countries like Canada. Too much foam on the latte and having to endure long lineups for the latest Apple gadget are just some of the trials …

It used to be people accused Alberta of being narrow-minded and suspicious of other provinces. There was never  any truth to that stereotype, of course, but now it’s Ontario’s premier Dalton McGuinty who’s making his province sound, well, downright provincial. Alberta’s premier Alison Redford has been trying to drum up support for a Canada-wide energy …

The anti-oil sands lobby wants you to think that there’s no greater emitter of CO2 than the oil sands. They spread lies and doomsday rhetoric aplenty, rolling out jet setting celebrities to opine and lecture us, all the while protecting market share for the world’s conflict oil producers — because they claim to be fighting …

My column for today. It’s a good thing that Andrew Scheer, the speaker for the House of Commons, has four young children. Given the antics in Parliament over the past few weeks, it’s no doubt been great job training. Name-calling, cyber bullying and tearful apologies — all things that happen in both an 8th grade …

I was driving in Calgary recently and spotted one of those bumper stickers from 10 years ago that read “No Kyoto, no wheat board, no gun registry.” These were the issues that excited Harper’s Conservative base for years and helped propel the Tories into power. You’d mention Kyoto or the gun registry in a room …

My column for today. Justin Trudeau may be the closest thing Canadian politics has to a celebrity, so when he says something, people notice. Normally for a politician, this is a good thing, but when you have the habit of firmly shoving your foot in your mouth as Trudeau often does, it can be a …

Critics of Canada’s ethically produced oil often try and make it seem like the oilsands benefit only Alberta while the rest of the country is shut out. They smear an entire province along with painting the industry with a negative brush. Mike Hudema, a Greenpeace campaigner called Alberta “a rogue province that is setting all …

My column for today: The 2011 census is causing heads to turn because it reveals something fascinating: for the first time, Canada’s West has more than 10 million people. The ‘Rising West’ phenomenon has been talked about for years. Now, the West has definitely arrived. Since 1867, Canada has been defined by the interaction between …

My latest column. With the Shafia trial over and the verdict in, we’re left with a hard, undeniable reality: in Canada, some girls are being oppressed, abused and killed for trying to experience the same freedoms and equality as their peers. Freedom and equality are values that make Canada the best place in the world …

You can tell that ForestEthics has a foreign point of view: the things they say sound so utterly foreign to reasonable Canadians. Take Tzeporah Berman, a founding member of ForestEthics, the radical environmental group behind publicly bullying fortune 500 companies into swearing off Canadian ethically produced oil . She recently accused the federal government of …

My latest column. A trial that gripped the nation has come to an end with one positive conclusion: Justice has been served. On Sunday afternoon, a jury in Kingston, Ontario, found Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Yahya and their son Hamed guilty of first-degree murder for the horrifying killings of their beautiful teenaged daughters and …

My latest column: I haven’t been following the US republican presidential primary race too closely, but a clip from last week’s CNN debate caught my attention. Typically in a debate, it’s the candidates who get grilled. In this case, it was the moderator, CNN anchor John King, who was in the hot seat for his …

My latest for Huffington post Canada When Barack Obama was running for president of the United States, he made a bold promise. “If I’m president, I’m immediately going to direct the full resources of the federal government, and the full energy of the private sector, to a single overarching goal,” he said. “In 10 years …

With President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL, now more than ever we need to ensure that the Northern Gateway hearings are a Canadian process and the decision is made in the best interest of Canadians. Last week the Northern Gateway hearings began, and there has been a great deal of controversy and debate over …

My latest column. The Liberal Party of Canada held its “renewal” convention this weekend in Ottawa. This has been touted in the national media as the party’s big chance to renew and rebuild after their worst election results ever. There is no doubt the Liberals need to rebuild and find a sense of purpose. In …

As Canadians have learned more in recent days about the meddling of foreign money in our national policy decisions, they’ve been speaking out. They’ve written letters to the government demanding that Ottawa stop a swarm of activist groups backed by foreign billionaires from hijacking — as the prime minister himself put it — the hearings …

My latest column for 24 Hours Vancouver. It’s not easy being a woman in politics. It’s especially not easy being a conservative woman in politics. Just ask former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. She didn’t get dubbed the “iron lady” — also the title of a new Thatcher biopic — for nothing. Thatcher was ironclad, …

In case you haven’t already, check out www.ourdecision.ca On January 10, the federal government opens public hearings to determine whether to approve a new pipeline to deliver oil from Alberta’s oil sands to the B.C. coast, where it can be shipped to new markets overseas. More than 200 groups have registered as interveners in the …

I liked a tweet by Andrew Coyne the other day: “What did you do in the war on bananas, Daddy?” Many Canadians can now say: “We fought back.” Immediately after hearing word of the famous banana company Chiquita Brand’s  boycott of our oil sands, EthicalOil.org, the grassroots advocacy organization (which I am the spokesperson of …

My column in today’s 24 Hours Vancouver. We’re used to seeing Santa in familiar places — squeezing down chimneys; gobbling cookies and milk by the fire and delivering festively wrapped parcels with the help of his reindeer allies in a shiny, sturdy sleigh. One place we’re not used to seeing Santa is politics. Thank goodness …

Here is a post I recently wrote for HuffingtonPost.ca Anyone who’s been closely following the organized lobby against Canada’s ethical oil sands knows that many of the ENGOs (Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations) here in Canada that have been attacking oil sands development are really front groups for big American trusts. Vancouver researcher Vivian Krause has done …

I appeared on CTV’s ‘National Affairs’ today. Check it out here. What do you think? Also, EthicalOil.org launched a Trailer. Have you seen it? It’s worth the watch:

Here is my column for today’s 24 Hours Vanc0uver. Three teenaged sisters and a woman were found dead inside a car submerged in the Rideau Canal in Kingston, Ontario on June 30, 2009. At first it was believed to be a tragic accident, but the investigation revealed a more sinister story. The deceased girls’ father …

My column in today’s 24 Hours Vancouver. Want to end violence against women? Start with the boys, and start young. This is the unconventional approach being taken by some advocacy groups, and a strategy recently adopted by Rona Ambrose, Minister for Status of Women. Ambrose has thrown her support behind an innovative B.C. initiative that …

Good for Peter Kent, federal environment minister, for saying he will stand up for the ethics of Canadian oil. As the Vancouver Sun reported this week, while world leaders and Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (ENGOs) gather in Durban, South Africa to hash out new, grand schemes for carbon emissions controls in the name of fighting climate …

Tonight on CTV’s PowerPlay I debated Green Party Leader Elizabeth May on the ethics of oil and a recent ad campaign that attacks Canada’s ethical oil. Check out the debate here. What do you think?

Anyone who’s been closely following the organized lobby against Canada’s ethical oil sands knows that many of the ENGOs (Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations) here in Canada that have been attacking oil sands development are really front groups for big American trusts. Vancouver researcher Vivian Krause has done excellent work at her blog, Fair Questions, exposing the …

Here’s my column for today’s 24 Hours Vancouver. A North Vancouver man owes his life to a Good Samaritan. A few weeks ago, a young woman found Ralph Hollett collapsed on the side of a road a block away from his home. Hollett, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, had wandered from his home late at night …

Here is my latest post for Huffington Post Canada: While the anti-oil sands lobby promises that the zero-carbon economy is just around the corner, the people who the government actually employs as educated, realistic experts in matters of energy aren’t so sure. The National Energy Board, the government’s watchdog agency, issued a report this week …

Here’s my column for 24 Hours Vancouver this week. The municipal election is over and finally we’ll start seeing more Christmas lights than lawn signs. On Saturday, Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Vision Vancouver slate were given a renewed lease on their mandate and re-elected. Let’s take a glimpse at what three more years of …

Here is my latest column in 24 Hours Vancouver. Afghanistan is the war of my generation. I have several friends who have served there; some have even done multiple tours of duty. I am in awe of the sacrifices so many of these young soldiers have made: putting their lives in direct harm’s way, being …

My latest article in 24 Hours Vancouver Occupy Vancouver is now a death scene. This weekend, a young female occupier was found dead, alone in her tent. Mayor Robertson has finally admitted there is a problem and that “having people die … is not okay.” No kidding. There were a lot of things not okay …

Here’s my column in today’s 24 Hours Vancouver. On Feb. 19 2013, British Columbians will experience their first ever Family Day. Actually, let me clarify: British Columbians will experience their first ever government mandated Family Day. Let’s face it; most of us don’t need the government to tell us when we should spend time with …

Here is my column in today’s issue of 24 Hours Vancouver. There’s nothing quite like an election campaign to bring out the gimmicks. Last week, Mayor Robertson got a head start with his promise to impose a moratorium on expanding gambling in Vancouver. What Robertson really should have called it, is a moral-torium; another example …

Here is my latest post for Canada.com In a sad ending, the toddler run over twice last week in an market alley in Foshan, China and ignored repeatedly by people passing by has died. The tragic incident has caused the world to question the state of morality in China.Outrage and accusations of heartlessness have been …

Here is my latest column for 24 Hours Vancouver. There are movements that go down in the history books. Then there are movements that go down in Facebook newsfeed history, where they remain only until someone hits refresh. The “Occupy” movement falls into the latter category. Actually, it’s a massive stretch to even call it …

It’s encouraging to see David Suzuki, the godfather of Canada’s environmental left, is finally willing to start thinking about the ethical implications of our oil sources. It would be more encouraging if he was willing to acknowledge, as almost any reasonable Canadian will, that some oil producing countries still behave far more ethically than others. …

Here’s my column for today’s 24 Hours Vancouver. Early Sunday morning, Alberta got a new premier, and now, for the first time in history, women run the West. After a lengthy and hard-fought leadership battle, Alberta’s PC party replaced the unpopular Ed Stelmach with Alison Redford. Redford is an outsider to Alberta politics, having only …

Here is an op-ed I wrote for today’s issue of the Calgary Sun. The world shouldn’t be praising Saudi King Abdullah for granting women the right to vote and run in some fictional future election for a government that holds little real power. Women are still barred from participating in the election happening this week. …

My column in today’s issue of 24 Hours Vancouver. Like snow ball fights at recess, experiencing a teachers’ strike seems to be part of the shared public school student experience in Canada. This fall, B.C. students are getting their turn. While the B.C. Teachers’ Federation is embroiled in contract negotiations with the province, teachers are …

Here’s my column for today’s issue of 24 Hours Vancouver. Monarchy is not a rebrand, it’s our identity. There’s been a lot of talk lately about Harper’s alleged crusade to rebrand Canadian identity. Did he declare sushi as the national food, plant palm trees on Parliament Hill and start promoting wind surfing as the national …

Ask university undergraduate students what they’re doing after school, and many won’t tell you about their job plans. They’ll tell you about their plans for more school. These days, a Bachelor’s degree barely qualifies you to get a job at Starbucks. Welcome to degree inflation. It’s not just currency that’s going down in value. There …

I wrote this piece for Canada.com We’ve lived in the post-9/11 world for 10 years now. For many people, it’s a changed world. For me, the post-9/11 world is not new, different or uncharted. It’s normal. On Sept. 11, 2001, I was 16 years old, and like many people my age, I was still premature …

This column was published in today’s issue of the Calgary Sun. Our generation can do better than SlutWalk. A few weeks ago I received a Facebook invitation to attend a SlutWalk, a movement of rallies, like the one that took place in Calgary on Saturday, where participants wear their most risqué garb in an attempt …

I wrote this piece for today’s issue of 24 Hours Vancouver. Just when Vancouver is getting into the crack pipe business, Alberta is getting out of it. Last week Alberta Health Services announced plans to scrap its three-year-old crack pipe distribution program. This news came just days after Vancouver’s announcement that health officials will pilot …

  I wrote this piece for Monday’s issue of 24 Hours Vancouver. Two cities, two riots, two contrasting aftermath approaches. It’s a good thing that London isn’t following Vancouver’s embarrassing example. It’s been two months since the Stanley Cup riot shook downtown Vancouver, causing mayhem and millions of dollars’ worth of damage. So far not …

By now you have probably seen the open letter to Amnesty International written by Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism in reponse to the organization’s criticisms of Canada’s handling of war criminals. Good for Kenney. As I’ve commented before, Amnesty’s targeting of Canada is about ideology, not human rights.   This isn’t the first time …

I wrote this piece for today’s issue of 24 Hours Vancouver. There are more free drug tools available in Vancouver than there are free parking spaces. Last week the city made headlines across the country with the announcement that new crack pipes will soon be handed out to addicts. The crack pipe giveaway is part …

For the second time in a short period, Premier Clark is facing backlash from an embarrassing source: her own caucus. Who needs an opposition when you have a caucus like this? First, it was over her own initial public criticism of the gas tax hike, a measure which her own government supported. Clark swiftly did …

I wrote this piece for 24 Hours Vancouver which appeared in Monday’s issue. I used to commute across the Burrard bridge every day. When the bike lane was installed as a “temporary trial”, I noticed traffic got worse and it took me longer to get to and from work. Now the city has released reports …

This piece was published in Monday’s issue of 24 Hours Vancouver. Mayor Robertson may not have had a riot plan, but he has a plan to make Vancouver the “Greenest City” in the world by 2020. His green plan was unveiled last week and given the green light by city council. I hope you’re not tired …

Someone needs to stand up for young adolescent women, because the Toronto District School Board sure isn’t. They’ve been allowing an Imam to conduct prayer service for students in the cafeteria at Valley Park Middle School during class hours. During this service, girls must enter through the back door while the boys enter through the …

I wrote this column for 24 Hours Vancouver.  Brace yourselves. Metro Vancouver drivers are about to get another gouge at the pumps. It hurts to be a driver these days. Last week, Metro Vancouver mayors voted to request that the provincial government impose a special gas tax, just for the Lower Mainland, of two cents …

Earlier this week I was on The Source with Ezra Levant on Sun News Network. We discussed “Arts Hab” in Edmonton, which offers subsidized housing to artists, cultural industry professionals and non-profit arts professionals. The project recently received $2.4 million in funding from the city and province through Cornerstones, an affordable housing program. Stephen Mandel, …

I wrote this piece for 24 Hours Vancouver. Rick Moore, a North Vancouver father, is suing the school district and the provincial government, alleging that the education system discriminated against his dyslexic son, Jeff, by not doing enough to help him learn. By Grade 3, Jeff was unable to read, and the Moores were left …

I wrote this piece for Canada.com. Recently when I was in Ottawa and I visited the Byward market bakery that President Obama famously visited in 2009 to buy maple leaf cookies for his daughters. To my surprise I discovered the cookies had undergone a rebranding. They are no longer maple leaf cookies, they’re Obama cookies. …

I wrote this piece for 24 Hours Vancouver. Mayors aren’t in office just to cut ribbons, attend events and pose for photo ops. The mayor’s job is to ask questions, be on guard for the best interests of the people and ensure things are done right. The mayor doesn’t have to know every detail, of …

This piece was originally published in Monday’s issue of 24 Hours Vancouver. The HST referendum is coming up, and depending on when postal strike ends, we should be getting our ballots in the mail any day now. British Columbians have been inundated with reasons why they should, or shouldn’t vote to keep the HST. However, …

This column first appeared in 24 Hours Vancouver on Monday, June 12, 2011. When was the last time you had a lobster dinner? I can tell you exactly when the last time was for Vision Vancouver City Councillor Heather Deal. She chowed down on the red delicacy a few weeks ago at a convention in …

I was on the Byline tonight with Brian Lilley on Sun News, where we examined the question: should teachers be graded and should teacher performance be made public? You can check out my interview here

I wrote this piece on the latest in Vancouver municipal politics for 24 Hours Vancouver With summer almost here, the November municipal election is probably the last thing on your mind. Except if you are the NPA, Vancouver’s civic centre-right political party. They held their nomination meeting this past Saturday to fill their slate to …

I wrote this as a guest column for 24 Hours Vancouver. The BC Conservatives elected their new leader John Cummins this past weekend. If you haven’t heard of Cummins by now, you will be hearing a lot about him over the summer. He wants to be your Premier, and plans on taking his message on …

This piece was posted on Reuters Trust Law website here . Manal Al-Sharif is doing more to advance women’s rights in Saudi Arabia than the UN, NGO’s and Western feminists combined. Al-Sharif isn’t looking to spark a feminist revolution in Saudi Arabia. She isn’t calling for women to shed their burqas or burn their bras, …

  Tonight I appeared on “The Source” with Ezra Levant on Sun New Network. We discussed the dismal state of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, and Manal Al Sharif, a brave Saudi woman recently arrested for daring to challenge the country’s ban on women driving. What makes this story even more outrageous is that Saudi …

Before the Liberals paint the walls, they need to lay a new foundation. One of the biggest things holding the Liberal Party back from real change and renewal is their own internal party structure hampered by layers of bureaucracy and title holders. The way a party is structured affects its success as an organization and …

I discussed this topic with Ezra Levant on his show “The Source” last night on Sun News Network. Last week Amnesty International released their annual report. When people are dying in the fight for democracy in the Middle East and Africa, and women are being stoned to death in some parts of the world, Amnesty …

I wrote this piece as a guest spot in 24 Hours Vancouver   Hockey isn’t the only thing that has people at the edge of their seats these days. Wednesday’s byelection in Vancouver-Point Grey almost had the suspense of an overtime playoff game. Christy Clark barely scraped to victory, defeating the NDP’s David Eby by only four …

Who the next Liberal leader is will say a lot about where the party is headed and whether or not they have learned from past mistakes. While the Party’s national board has made it clear they will take their time in selecting a new leader, hopefuls for the top spot won’t wait long to begin …

Here is a piece I wrote for Canada.com that also appeared in the Calgary Herald This isn’t an election about nothing anymore; it’s an election about polls, literally. Poll numbers have consumed the recent election coverage and chatter, hijacking what most people had written off as a boring, meaningless election. After hockey, ‘poll spotting’ has become Canada’s favourite …

I wrote this piece for the Toronto Star People assume that youth voters are all a bunch of hippy lefties, interested in the same cliché social justice and environmental causes. A new poll shatters this stereotype. It shows that not only are youth voters divided, many don’t support the left wing agenda. In a poll …

Here’s a piece I wrote for Canada.com that also appeared in the Ottawa Citizen. Elections Canada has decided to take on the Twitterverse. It has announced that it will apply a law from the 1930s to prevent election results from Atlantic Canada being posted on Twitter before the polls close in the rest of the …

  Last night I appeared on  TVO’s “The Agenda” hosted by Steve Paikin. I was part of a panel discussion on “new politics” and how young people are engaging politically. You can view the episode here. One thing that came up frequently is the low voter turnout among youth. My position is that youth voter turnout (and voter turnout …

I wrote this piece for Reuters special feature on International Women’s Day. Feminism has many achievements; however it is failing to achieve something critical: evolve. In Canada, many of the leaders and voices of feminism are the same people who led the movement 30 years ago. It’s the same politicians, academics, authors and activists, singing …

After months of campaigning, Christy Clark is the new leader of the BC Liberals. Well, that was anticlimactic. Reflecting on the leadership race, one word comes to mind: boring. Where was the excitement, the fresh ideas and inspirational, bold messages? For the most part, the race was safe and status quo; resulting in the election …

Alberta politics may be many things, but it sure isn’t boring. There’s been a lot of political earthquakes in the province lately, and Ed Stelmach’s sudden resignation announcement has just thrown a giant hand grenade into the center of it all. What impact does Stelmach’s resignation have on Alberta politics and what does it mean …

By the end of February, the BC Liberals will have a new leader. Whoever that may be, it won’t be an easy job. Rebuilding the party and restoring the public’s faith are just a few of the challenges awaiting Gordon Campbell’s successor. There’s another challenge waiting for the soon to be leader, one that even …

On Monday I appeared on the Michael Coren Show as a guest on the “start the week” panel. I had a great time discussing the latest news in politics like Conservative Minister Jim Prentice’s recent resignation and what this means for Stephen Harper. Check out the episode here.

Naheed Nenshi. If you don’t know who he is by now, you’ve been living under a rock.  I can’t recall the last time a municipal politician got this amount of national attention. His Calgary mayoral victory came as a surprise, and many journalists, politicos and strategists are praising and hyping his ‘winning campaign’ as precedent …

Recently the Liberal Party released a new video. In depicts leader Michael Ignatieff dressed down, soft spoken, immersed in nature and engaging the viewer in casual conversation about his life living pay cheque to pay cheque. This is the new “regular guy” Michael Ignatieff Canadians are starting to see a lot of. His transformation has …

On Tuesday, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice took a step towards legalizing prostitution in Canada. While prostitution is not technically illegal in Canada, many acts associated with prostitution are. These include keeping a common bawdy house, communicating for the purposes of prostitution and living on the avails of the prostitution trade—laws against which have …

Recently, the new Secretary General of Amnesty International, Salil Shetty is reported to have said that “Amnesty International is more and more concerned about the serious worsening of the human rights approach of this government”. Which government do you think Shetty is referring to? China? Vietnam? Iran? No, he was speaking about Canada’s federal government. …

When the Afghanistan Wikileaks broke, the media jumped on the story with fervour, treating the thousands of uploaded war documents and information as fact–concrete, indisputable evidence of secrets that our government and military officials have been trying to hide from the public. One of the Wikileaks “bombshells” widely reported by many mainstream media outlets was a …

On Monday I was a guest on the Michael Coren Show.  I had a great time discussing the top headline issues, like “Census gate” and the Afghanistan Wiki-leaks  documents with the show’s regular weekly panelists: author Tarek Fatah and National Post Editor John Turley-Ewart. Check it out here.

They say politics ages you, but not this quickly. In only a few years, the Liberal Party has aged a good twenty years. There is something noticeably absent from the party front-lines these days, and that’s youth. Take a look at the main players occupying the Liberal spotlight as of late: Michael Ignatieff: age 63, …

On July 11th I did an interview with Sean Holman from Public Eye Online for his radio program. In the interview I discussed my experience at the Wildrose Alliance Party Convention last month,  how the party is growing and whether British Columbia may see a similar political movement. The interview is posted here, I’m on at around …

This week Rona Ambrose, the Federal Minister for Status of Women announced that the government will be taking steps to tackle honour killings head on. Recent high profile cases involving these brutal forms of murder have put the issue front and centre. It is positive to see that the media and some women’s advocacy groups …

It seems there is nothing Belinda Stronach does better than female tokenism. Her latest endeavour is the aptly titled G(irls) 20 Summit. At this summit girls from around the world will meet in Toronto for a weekend of patronizing gender segregation in the pink sand-box. On the agenda? Issues that affect girls and women, of …

In politics, the rule for effective messaging is simple: it must be deliverable in less than 15 seconds, otherwise forget it. The public’s attention span is short and the nature of the 24 hour news cycle favours quick and punchy over complex and detailed. Many politicians learn this rule the hard way. Remember Stephane Dion’s …

Published in the Western Standard, March 2010 The Opposition’s response to the government’s G8 Maternal Health Initiative can best be described as “Condom-Gate”. In all the fuss and rhetoric, the Opposition turned the NDP dubbed “No-condoms-for-Africa-Strategy” into a “No-babies-for-Africa-Strategy”. After Harper unveiled his G8 initiative, the Liberal and NDP caucus acting like the “Maternal health …

March 2010 As a pluralist society, new issues are constantly emerging for debate in Canada. Interestingly, it is an issue that has been around since before confederation that has erupted as the latest hot topic for debate in Canada: freedom of speech. The recent visit to Canadian campuses, including the University of Calgary, by American …

Published by TVO’s “The Agenda”, April 2010 Many people, especially the media, had hoped they’d seen the last of Sarah Palin on November 4, 2008 when the Republican ticket was defeated in the presidential election. It had been a rocky campaign for the Republicans during one of the worst economic meltdowns in American history. Initially …

November 2009 Over the last four years federal politics in Canada had settled into a pretty stagnant pattern. This pattern consisted of the Harper Conservatives being ahead in the polls–but never enough to form a majority government—with the never ending threat of the Liberals joining forces with the opposition parties to force an election. In …

September 2009 Canadians are used to frequent change in government. This is an inherent part of our multi party system. Political scientists call this the “swinging pendulum effect. “Alberta is an interesting exception to this rule. Since Alberta became a province the government has changed only three times: • In 1921 the United Farmers of …