Not all Canadian Jews support Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act

 As Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, continues its journey toward becoming law in Canada, representatives of Canada’s Jewish community, such as CIJA and B’nai Brith, continue to voice their support. In doing so, they are failing to represent the best interests of the community.

The Time Has Come to End Incitement in Palestinian Schools

With Iran's regional influence curtailed, the international community has a rare and crucial opportunity to address one of the most pervasive and insidious obstacles to Middle East peace: the systematic indoctrination of Palestinian children through their education system.

The operation against Iran is about more than nukes.

 For years, Western governments’ policy toward Iran concentrated on one objective: preventing that country from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Diplomacy revolved around enrichment levels, centrifuges, and inspections under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Sanctions were calibrated to nuclear benchmarks. Political capital was spent defending or dismantling the deal. But that singular focus created a strategic blind spot.

Canada’s conservatives take the bait – again.

As a long-time member of the Conservative party of Canada (and its previous iterations), organizer, and conservative activist I regret being put into a position where I feel the need to speak out against the actions of our party’s leader, Erin O’Toole, and those members who voted to eject Derek Sloan from the federal conservative party caucus.

Rethinking our response to this (and any future) pandemic

Let me make clear right from the start that I am not an anti-masker. I do question the efficiency of mask-wearing, but not because I subscribe to the theory that masks are “too porous” to filter a virus as small as the COVID19 virus, or because I detect a conspiracy to take away our rights and impose one-world government. I question the efficiency of mask-wearing because making it compulsory has done little to slow the spread of the virus, in contrast to the success we had in the spring, when masks were voluntary. So I question the usefulness of making mask wearing mandatory, given the evidence. 

It’s time for conservatives to take their party back

Last week, for the second time in the current Conservative Party leadership race, an elite group of establishment conservatives used the Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC for short) to deny rank and file members of the party the right to vote for or against a candidate of their choice.

Why did the CPC lose October 21? Don't blame so-cons.

Since October 21 there’s been much talk amongst the self-appointed grandees of Canada’s conservative establishment about whether Andrew Scheer should remain leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC). Most of that talk has focused on his alleged social conservatism. The narrative goes something like this: Scheer does not march in gay pride parades; he believes in traditional marriage and he’s pro-life. The Conservatives lost the election because Scheer and the party are too socially conservative under his leadership, therefore he must go.

Except…

Addressing the alarm over amber alerts

Ontario residents with cell phones were recently roused at 3 am by the pulsating sound of an Amber Alert, initiated by police in response to the abduction of a young child in Brantford, a small city east of Hamilton. It wasn’t the first time, and as with previous middle-of-the-night alerts, the alarm triggered an avalanche of complaints from irate citizens whose sleep was interrupted, which in turn provoked a barrage of counter-accusations of selfishness from both police and supporters of the system.

In truth, both sides are right, and both are wrong.

What conservatives can learn about polling from The West Wing

There’s a scene in the television series The West Wing when White House strategist Josh Lyman is discussing polling numbers with pollster Joey Lucas. Citing the lack of public support for a particular provision on gun control, Lyman recommends backing off the measure, declaring that “the numbers don’t lie.” But Lucas disagrees, pointing out the numbers “lie all the time.”

Maybe we should just say thanks?

Shortly after the recent fire at Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral was extinguished several prominent, wealthy Frenchmen stepped forward to pledge significant sums of money toward its reconstruction. One would think that people would be grateful for this generosity, and most are. But not, it seems, the high priests of the progressive-left who couldn’t help attacking these individuals for allegedly caring more for a building than people. These critics apparently believe that society would be better served if such generosity were directed toward eliminating perceived social inequality, and they are invoking Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables to help make their case. “Yellow Vest” protesters were quick to jump on the bandwagon. “Millions for Notre Dame, what about for us, the poor?” read a sign worn by a Paris demonstrator the Saturday following the fire. “Everything for Notre Dame, nothing for Les Misérables,” read another sign.

Antisemitism rears it head in U.S. Democratic Party

As the U.S. Democratic Party continues its relentless march to the left it was perhaps inevitable that the ills which have infected that side of the political spectrum would reach its very heart – the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. How else does one explain antisemitic statements recently made Ilhan Omar, the newly-elected Congresswoman representing Minnesota’s 5th district, and rising star in the Democratic Party?

Is it time to place armed guards in schools?

This past week witnessed calls from across the political spectrum for politicians, political activists and media personalities in America to tone down their rhetoric and adopt a more respectful attitude to one another in the wake of a deadly shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue that left eleven elderly Jews dead and several more wounded for no reason other than that they were Jews. Pleas for a more respectful and civilized debate were quickly accompanied by demands for tighter gun laws.  Both reactions are entirely predictable and understandable – and both miss the mark.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Balancing workers’ rights and union privileges

Canadian law with regard to unions and workers’ rights is sharply different from that of other western nations. Forcing workers to join a union as a condition of their employment is prohibited by law in most, and those individuals who exercise their right not to join a union are either exempted from paying dues altogether, or they - along with all members of the union - are entitled to a reduction in their dues if the money is spent on activities from which they derive no work-related benefit, or on causes with which they disagree.