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Sunday 20 September 2015

Slandering Canadians on immigration

This past Friday (September 18th) the Globe and Mail newspaper published an op-ed penned by former Conservative Senator Hugh Segal sharply criticizing Canada’s immigration and refugee policy, calling it “bigoted” and “vision free“, and contrasting it with the policy of Germany which, under Angela Merkel’s “enlightened” leadership he asserts is “set to take in more than 800 refugees.”
Setting aside for the moment the shockingly ad hominem nature of his attack – I will return to that presently – Mr. Segal is playing fast and loose with the facts.

Friday 4 September 2015

Justin Trudeau's reefer gambit

This past week, Justin Trudeau re-iterated that, if elected October 19, the Liberal Party, which he leads, will move immediately to legalize and regulate the production, sale and use of marijuana in Canada for recreational use.

Tuesday 18 August 2015

Daycare con game

This past week Statistics Canada released a report entitled Child care: An eight year profile alleging that "the proportion of children in child care has increased significantly." Daycare lobbyists, funded primarily by – you guessed it – taxpayers, were quick to jump on this report as further evidence of a growing daycare crisis in Canada. They are demanding that the spigots be opened and that Canadian taxpayers foot the bill for their dream of an expansive, national daycare system, run by – you guessed it again – the daycare lobbyists. The only problem is that the Statistics Canada report says no such thing. If anything, the numbers suggest the opposite.

Ronald Reagan and the scariest nine words in the English language

Ronald Reagan used to say that the scariest nine words in the English language were: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” The line was delivered with his trademark hint of humour, a trait that was at once charming and disarming, making it one of the most versatile and effective items in The Great Communicator’s toolbox. But Reagan’s humour could also obscure the importance of his observations with the result that his aphorisms were – and still are – cited more often as examples of his wit rather than the expression of fundamental principles that they almost always were.

Monday 3 August 2015

Income inequality charade

With a federal election imminent in Canada and presidential primaries looming in America, we are likely to read and hear a lot about the "scourge" of income inequality in the coming weeks and months. Income inequality and the growing gap between the rich and poor in our society is a common theme in politics these days as politicians from both sides of the ideological spectrum strive to demonstrate that they care more about poverty than their competitors.

The spectacle would be funny if it wasn’t so misguided.

Friday 12 June 2015

Saving the middle-class?

The idea that the middle-class is getting a raw deal is not exactly new. Liberal pundits and politicians have been beating that drum for some time now in an effort to attract votes from a segment of the population that has historically leaned toward more conservative policies. Envy, it seems, is as powerful a motivator today as it has been throughout history.

Tuesday 17 March 2015

Time for the right to really unite

Of all the silly ideas to have emerged from the wreckage that has been Canada’s conservative movement for the last 50 years, none has been more damaging for the prospects of conservatism, or more vacuous, than the idea of bifurcation, a notion that has now also taken root in American politics, manifesting itself in the conflict between conservative Republicans and their "Tea Party" allies on the one hand, and so-called moderate Republicans on the other.