Amnesty for War Resisters
October 19, 2012 | 14 Comments
There was an episode of All in the Family in which one of Archie Bunker’s conservative friends was coming to dinner. Archie, the lovable reactionary curmudgeon, was horrified when one of Meathead’s friends was coming, too. Meathead’s friend, you see, was a deserter who had fled to Canada during the Vietnam war. Archie’s friend had [...]
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 [...]
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 | 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 [...]
Canada’s World
February 8, 2012 | 5 Comments
On Tuesday, the New York Times published an article on the declining influence of the United States Constitution. The article chronicled how, once upon a time, constitutional designers looked to the United States Constitution as a model for their own. As a citadel of democracy and home to world’s oldest written constitution, the United States [...]
What Were the Republican Presidential Candidates Like in High School?
January 19, 2012 | No Comments
Tonight is the most important Republican presidential debate yet. Two days ahead of the South Carolina primary, this evening’s showdown among the last four standing Republican candidates could help consolidate Newt Gingrich’s recent surge or catapult Mitt Romney back into what was once a seemingly insurmountable lead. It will also be interesting to see how [...]
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 [...]
I don’t care about helicopter rides or gazebos
December 5, 2011 | 4 Comments
The Tories have gotten some bad press recently for some wasteful activities of some Cabinet Ministers. Tony Clement is getting roasted for a bunch of border security funding being diverted to his home riding in cottage country, and Peter MacKay is catching flak for hopping a military helicopter for a ride back from a fishing [...]
Canada’s morale deficit
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 [...]
The Fallacy of ‘Security’ and the Israeli-Palestinian Question…
November 9, 2011 | 15 Comments
Recently UNESCO accepted Mahmoud Abbas’ bid for the recognition of the Palestinian state in the United Nations. The bravery that surrounded the bid, its tactical astuteness and the bravery of the nations that actually voted in favour of Palestinian recognition cannot be overstated ( it resulted in the loss of 28% of UNESCO’s funding with [...]