“It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority,” Benjamin Franklin said. Canadians may complain that we have a small population and aren’t major players on the global stage. We’re certainly not a superpower but we can be quite influential. In addition, our elected officials on the federal level represent far fewer people…
Unfortunately, the list of ethical failures by the current Liberal government is very long
Canada recently failed in a bid to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. It’s something neither Stephen Harper’s nor Justin Trudeau’s government has been able to achieve. The last time Canada was on the Security Council was when Jean Chretien was prime minister in 2000. Before that, it was during the…
It takes true courage to hear another person’s point of view, admit we were wrong, shift our beliefs and move forward
One of the most important qualities of a good leader is the ability to listen. It’s very easy to jump on a bandwagon and it’s easy to jump to conclusions. It takes true courage to hear another person’s point of view, admit we were wrong, shift our beliefs and move forward. To be honest, my…
Just as in his reality show, Trump’s need to crush opponents and win at all costs leads to chaos. History shows us how to defeat him
I admit Donald Trump is a lot smarter than I thought he was. In fact, he’s quite cunning. I also once thought that the U.S. president was very unpredictable. I just couldn’t make sense of what he was doing. The guile of Trump came into clear focus in a statement by Michael Nutter, the former…
We need to acknowledge the impact of racist myths. There is no good or bad race of people, there are just people
A video is circulating on social media of a white woman in New York City calling 911 to report being threatened by “an African American man.” The truth is that the woman was allowing her dog to wander in a bird-watching section of Central Park and the man asked her to put her dog on…
The Specials helped calm racial tensions and drew broad attention to the unjust imprisonment of Nelson Mandela
It has long been debated whether you can change the world with a song. If it’s not possible, one band came incredibly close. The Specials (or The Special AKA) rose to prominence in England in the late 1970s and achieved international fame in the early 1980s. Their sound fused the music of Jamaican immigrants with…
If we have an awareness of our inherent greatness, we really don’t mind looking foolish. From there, all it takes is time and hard work
This phrase has become popular in the last several months: “Be brave enough to be bad at something new.” As a teacher, it would be easy for me to impose this philosophy on my students. We’re always telling our young people to try new things, be it a sport, school subject or art form. By…
Trudeau insinuated that if you support the rights of Palestinians, you must be anti-Semitic
I like to think I’m not easily offended, but a recent speech by Justin Trudeau at the Yom Hashoah Virtual Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration pierced my spirit. In this ceremony, Holocaust survivors and their descendants not only remembered the crimes committed against the Jewish people, they celebrated who they are and the beautiful traditions that…
Very few people have ever had the freedoms Canadians enjoy today. May we always be mindful of this
Like many of my generation of German descent, I’ve had to grapple with an uncomfortable family history. Though I know he came to regret his decision, my grandfather was a member of the Nazi Party and was part of the populist movement that brought them to power. I could make excuses for his decision and…
Doing good is not only vital to humanity and to the planet, it’s one of the key ingredients to living a happy and fulfilling life
Because there are no sports on television right now, my favourite movie, Field of Dreams, has been getting a lot of airtime. Near the end of the film, the main character meets his father as a young man and comments on his appearance, saying, “My God, I only saw him years later when he was…