Volunteering in Jamaica
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 [...]
Shoot thy neighbour
March 26, 2012 | 1 Comment
A friend of mine recently shared an observation about the tragic death of Trayvon Martin in Florida that revealed a much deeper truth about American justice. This friend, who has travelled for business in the United States for years and lives on the Ontario-Michigan border, is a keen observer of American culture, to put it [...]
Vigilantes – all of them – are a threat [Updated]
March 23, 2012 | 5 Comments
This is why I think the Conservative government’s fetish for protecting vigilantes* the fetish for protecting vigilantes by all federal parties is more than just foolish, it’s deadly: What we have in Florida–and doubtlessly in other parts of the country–is the state relinquishing a crucial aspect of meting out justice. The logic here militates toward [...]
Jamaican Journal
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
March 7, 2012 | No Comments
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 [...]
Votes and voices suppressed
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 [...]
Smears? Meaner political discourse in Ottawa?
February 20, 2012 | No Comments
When messages appeared on Twitter about details of the divorce of Canada’s minister of public safety, I thought nothing of it. Unlike most of my friends and acquaintances, I have not signed up. Then, thestar.com published this column and Calgary Herald published this column. I prefer the tenor of Kris Kotarski to Tim Harper. Politicians [...]
Trudeau-mania, 2012 edition
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
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?
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 [...]