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 […]
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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 […]
This piece appeared in The Hill Times on June 18, 2018 Well, the G7 in La Malbaie, Quebec, is over and some would say ‘Thank God!’ It would be hard to imagine a weirder summit than the one Canada just hosted. The group of seven powerful economic and political nations usually gathers to talk shop, […]
If there is one thing that frustrates me most it is the tendency of a lot of people, well-intentioned or otherwise, to make sweeping statements about terrorism – what it is, what causes it, etc.- without doing the minimum amount of real research to back up their claims. I am sure you have read much […]
The 2002 movie Minority Report, based on a short story by sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick, takes place in 2054 Washington D.C. where crime has been all but eliminated. This happy result is due to the work of the ‘Pre-Crime’ unit which relies on the foreshadowing of ‘Pre-cogs’, people floating in shallow pools who see […]
A common refrain to many issues is ‘follow the money’. Whether we are talking about organised crime or campaign irregularities or other social ills it is believed that if you can establish who is paying who you can devise ways to interdict that cash flow and hamper the activities that it is supporting. If successful, […]
This piece appeared in The Hill Times on May 29, 2018 As Canadians we expect the authorities tasked with keeping us safe to do as they are mandated. We spend a lot of taxpayers’ hard-earned money on law enforcement and national security agencies and we demand an efficient use of those dollars. We want results, […]