Category: Perspectives

I am far from the only one to label the recent trip by our Prime Minister to India a disaster.  Several media outlets have called it so and I will leave it to the reader to follow up on those.  What I wish to pursue is the Jaspar Atwal affair.  For those Canadians living in a parallel […]

Hands up anyone who uses Google.  Or FaceBook.  Or Twitter.  Or LinkedIn. Or just about any other social media platform.  Now, hands up anyone who has to pay for the use of those sites.  Not too many I would imagine. Why do you think that these platforms give you access for free?  Is is because […]

In the aftermath of what many are saying was a disastrous Prime Ministerial trip to India – official snubs, ridiculous wardrobe choices – the one issue that is still on the minds of Canadians is why our government – and our leader – elected to invite a convicted terrorist to dinner.  Jaspal Atwan was convicted […]

There are a few things that hold a place of note in my memory whenever I think back to the start of my career in intelligence in 1983. As a wet-behind-the-ears multilingual analyst fresh out of university I had joined CSE – Canada’s SIGINT agency – with little to no clue as to what intelligence […]

I would like to announce the creation of a fund for Canadian pedophiles.  Not those in prison or getting treatment but those languishing in squalid jails pending trial in southeast Asia after they were caught abusing young children, having traveled intentionally to that part of the world with the sole intention of having sex with […]

Humans like to have neat, obvious lines drawn around everything.  We do not do well with uncertainty or fuzziness.  Something is either black or it’s white.  We don’t like grey.  Once we have made a decision based on this dichotomy we stick to it and it takes a lot to change our minds. We also […]

If you had to come up with a recipe for a terrorist attack or an extremist movement what would you include? To my mind there are a number of ingredients that must be there in order for the finished product to succeed.  These are, among other things, a sense of grievance/anger, an identified target (meaning […]

This article appeared in The Hill Times on February 12, 2018 We get a peek at what security intelligence services do all too rarely in this country.  In contrast, the recent leaking of an FBI memo on the investigation into possible Russian meddling in the 2016 election is but the latest example of many on […]

I am enjoying a relaxing weekend at my brother’s house in London, Ontario, a welcome respite after a number of speaking engagements in a variety of places recently.  This is where I was born, where I grew up, where I went to school – elementary, secondary and university – and where I will always consider […]

Every year many Canadians flock to Trinidad and Tobago to escape the harsh winter climate.  In addition, there are some 70,000 Canadians of Trinidadian stock, including one of the hosts of CBC’s The National, Ian Hanomansing, and pop singer Amanda Marshall.  The ties between the two nations run deep. Alas, these ties also extend to […]