Volunteering in Jamaica

Kate Chappell

April 14, 2012 | No Comments

Please excuse this moment of shameless self-promotion. To be accurate, actually, I want to promote the organization I am volunteering with (Cuso) and this beautiful country I am enchanted with (Jamaica). I have been here a month now and have written a piece for the Mark News on what I am doing here and what [...]

Jamaican Journal

Kate Chappell

March 19, 2012 | No Comments

This post has little to do with voter turnout, politics, or even Canada. Just a quick update for Commons readers- I have moved to Jamaica as a Cuso volunteer to work with Y.O.U. Jamaica. It is an NGO that works with youth, providing mentoring and career counselling. I am excited about this wonderful opportunity, but [...]

Competing priorities

Kate Chappell

March 7, 2012 | 1 Comment

Regular readers of this blog might have picked up on my penchant for writing about the importance of voting. It’s boring or irrelevant to most people, I know, but I continue to be convinced of the need to increase turnout at the polls. So naturally, the robocall scandal has captured my attention. Whether it is [...]

Robocalls robbing our right to vote?

Kate Chappell

March 5, 2012 | 2 Comments

Imagine that every morning, you buy a double double at Tim Hortons. You purchase it with a pre-loaded card so you can conduct the transaction with speed and without hassles. This has been the way for as long as you can remember. But lately, there’s a guy outside the door when you arrive. He heckles [...]

Votes and voices suppressed

Kate Chappell

February 26, 2012 | 3 Comments

At last year’s Canadian Association of Journalists’ Annual Conference, one of the panels was a post-mortem on the recently held federal election. The panelists (Chantal Hebert, Elly Alboim and Jeff Sallott and Paul Adams of the Globe and Mail) debated the question of whether it could be called “the Twitter election”. The panelists addressed this [...]

Trudeau-mania, 2012 edition

Kate Chappell

February 16, 2012 | 2 Comments

Several things are true about the latest episode of Canadian political drama involving MP Justin Trudeau and his comments on Quebec separatism. (He said the following: “I always say, if at a certain point, I believe that Canada was really the Canada of Stephen Harper — that we were going against abortion, and we were going [...]

The human cost of manufacturing our iPhones

Kate Chappell

January 26, 2012 | 10 Comments

Canada has fared relatively well during the current economic crisis. There are many reasons why, as many as why the U.S. has suffered so much. One factor shielding Canada is also something that people lament: a lack of a substantial manufacturing base. This extends to an innovation or productivity gap. So while Canada has definitely [...]

So is dual citizenship really dangerous?

Kate Chappell

January 19, 2012 | 8 Comments

The more I think about it, the more the issue of citizenship seems to beg greater discussion than the rhetoric thrown around when political parties want to attack their competitors. (Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful comments on the previous post.) And the debate is unavoidable, since globalization continues to advance it. So Andrew Coyne [...]

More than one nationality is dangerous

Kate Chappell

January 17, 2012 | 5 Comments

The question of citizenship in political office has re-emerged. NDP MP Thomas Mulcair also holds French citizenship, which he secured through his wife, who was born in France. Perhaps this is just the Sun newspaper chain agitating the issue in a slow news period, as protest is minimal. Nevertheless, the question of dual citizenship pops [...]

Canada’s morale deficit

Kate Chappell

November 30, 2011 | 2 Comments

The other day, a run with a friend took me by the Lester B. Pearson building, a bunker-like structure that houses hundreds of Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade staff. The building overlooks the Ottawa River, the Parliament Buildings, the National Gallery. It was late afternoon, so the sunset had coloured the entire sky pink [...]

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The Commons has brought together a diverse cross-section of unique and intelligent voices to generate meaningful debate and discussion. All contributors have made the solemn commitment to cultivate respectful, honest, vigorous, and open dialogue—and to promote that very kind of dialogue within the larger Canadian political discourse.