Author: Phil Gurski

When we think of terrorism and terrorists our minds usually turn to men, and for good reason.  It is an undeniable fact that most terrorists are men.  Full stop.  Whether this has anything to do with testosterone or men seeking to establish themselves in the world or whatever all remain interesting questions but irrespective of […]

We all know that we live in an era where facts are in grave danger.  When the leader of the world’s most powerful nation regularly dismisses news as ‘fake’ whenever it goes against his bizarre view on, well on anything, you realise we are in trouble.  No longer do people rely on certain sources of […]

Pity the poor ex head of state, whether that person is a prime minister, a president, a monarch or a dictator, who settles for retirement,  although I’ d wager that many former dictators never get that far.  At one time you are cock of the rock. Everyone listens to you.  You get really cool perks […]

This piece appeared in The Hill Times on June 25, 2018 Canada and the US cooperate on many issues in many forums: the G7 (even with last week’s horror show thanks to the US President), the G20, the UN as well as a whole host of international bodies, in addition to numerous bilateral councils and […]

As we mark Canada Day today it is a good time to reflect on who and what we are as a nation.  We are made up of people from all corners of the world even if we were taught in elementary school (at least I seem to remember that I was) that Canada was ‘discovered’ […]

If you were to listen to enough news these days you’d think that Canadians have little, if anything, to celebrate this day, our 151st birthday as an independent nation.  An ‘epidemic’ of shootings in Toronto.   A trade war with our neighbour and (erstwhile?) closest ally.  Yet another year and no Stanley Cup winner among Canada’s […]

If there is one country that is garnering the headlines for all the good reasons these days (as opposed to Trump’s US for all the – well you know what I mean) it is Saudi Arabia.  The cradle of Islam has best been known for confirming the maxim “there is no FUN in FUNdamentalism” as […]

I know that I have written on this topic before so I am sorry for the repetition.  You probably don’t need to read yet another blog on that terrible Tom Cruise film but in the wake of CBC reports that alleged gay serial killer Bruce McArthur had been assessed way back in 2003 a “very minimal” […]

There was a very interesting juxtaposition of stories on violent extremism this week in two Western, democratic nations where two acts of terrorism shocked their populace’s in recent years.  Oddly enough, in an era where we almost instinctively associate terrorism with Islamist extremism, these two were right-wing in nature.  And, the perpetrators of these acts […]

Well this was a day of opposites in Canadian news.  This morning the Globe and Mail reported that a man convicted almost 20 years ago in a murder case that was secured thanks to a ‘Mr Big’ operation wants the Supreme Court to re-open his case.  That same court ruled in 2014 that this tactic, […]