Imagine what Pierre Trudeau would have thought of his son's hyphenated Canadian fixation
Like father, like son? Not so for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who appears to have selected a path at odds with the best of his father's legacy. Pierre Trudeau, even as one of the most divisive prime ministers in Canadian history, was a champion of a singular, unifying notion: one Canada. He boldly fought to…
What can be done about it?
Dear Ian Wishart, Manitoba Minister of Education and Training: As someone who has taught history at the University of Manitoba for 25 years, I’m deeply interested in learning more about your government’s plans for post-secondary education in the province. Having read both the mandate that the premier gave you on May 3, 2016, as you…
An evolutionary change in transportation is under way. Will Canada be ready?
It’s time to start crafting legislation to govern self-driving vehicles in Canada. Many of the world’s leading automotive-related companies – Tesla, Uber, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Volvo, BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Nissan, General Motors and Ford – and some other less common brands plan to release driverless cars or driverless systems in the near future. The autonomous…
This isn’t a time for Canadians to be segregating each other, or rushing to put themselves and their neighbours into hyphenated categories
The attempt by a Victoria, B.C., promoter to institute “justice pricing” for a movie series has attracted considerable attention, most of it hostile. The Made You Look Media company had decreed that to view their latest offering at the Roxy Theatre, the “general admission price of $10 (would) be doubled to $20 for all white…
Taxis and ride-sharing services can happily co-exist. Even cabbies are starting to get that
“She's got a ticket to ride, but she don't care,” goes the old Beatles song. When it comes to Uber, most riders would sing along. If consumer demand was the only issue, the ride-sharing service would probably be operating across Canada by now, just like it does in over 600 cities around the world. Unfortunately,…
Racial purity laws – status cards – have no place in a modern country. They should have been gone long ago
Sen. Lynn Beyak says in an open letter that the Indigenous should give up their status cards and become true Canadians. The reaction to the letter has been fast and furious. She has been denounced by a host of worthies. As I write this, I’m listening to a CBC radio interview with the mayor of…
The USDA estimates every four storeys would save the same amount of carbon emissions as created by 500 cars every year
If a tree falls in the forest, can a tree-hugger cheer? Yes, believe it or not. Felled trees can now replace concrete and steel in high-rise buildings, saving their weight in carbon emissions. Engineers and environmentalists are both rightfully excited by the new innovation in building high-rises. Unfortunately, a recent competition south of the border…
The federal government must ensure that dividing the department into two helps bands negotiate self-government and create own-source revenue streams
Recent changes at Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada are causing consternation across indigenous communities, and with other Canadians. The decision to split the department in two, one part overseeing Crown-indigenous relations and the other overseeing service delivery to communities, comes right out of the 20-year-old report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP), which…
Mark Kingwell is vexed by the failure of democracy to silence the speech of those he disagrees with
Mark Kingwell is what is commonly called an intellectual social critic. He has an impressive list of advanced degrees and has published books on difficult topics such as baseball, cocktails and democracy. He’s paid by the taxpayers of Ontario to teach philosophy to their university-going young people. But a recent article in the Globe and…
Content-rich instruction is key to reading comprehension and critical thinking, and it empowers disadvantaged students
Content-rich instruction may not be as flashy as some of the educational alternatives but it’s a whole lot more effective. Educators have long debated the importance of specific content knowledge in the curriculum. Progressive educators generally favour a non-content-specific learning process. Traditional educators say all students should master a defined body of knowledge. The 21st century…