Identifying Canadians by race on their everyday documents is divisive and discriminatory In response to the Alberta government’s redesign of driver’s licenses to prevent counterfeiting, the majority of Edmonton Police Commission (EPC) members have weighed in with an additional proposal: That the racial identity of Albertans be included on their driver’s licenses. The EPC’s justification…
Claims of widespread systemic racism in the Anglosphere are overblown As Rishi Sunak settles in as British prime minister, it’s time to revisit claims about racism in the Anglosphere, including the widespread assertions of systemic/institutional racism that now inform and, in many cases, guide public policy, corporate hiring and university staffing and admissions. That includes…
Cities are akin to living organisms where everyone can potentially thrive
When local voters across British Columbia recently ushered in a new slate of mayors and councillors – the City of Vancouver’s wholesale turnover being the best example – citizens sent a message: We like our cities and we love our neighbourhoods, so stop making them less desirable with ill-advised policies that exacerbate homelessness and crime.…
Churchill’s leadership contributed to a freer, more flourishing world
A statue of famed wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill will soon grace downtown Calgary, a gift from The Sir Winston Churchill Society of Calgary. In partnership with the province, the Churchill statue will be unveiled next spring on the south lawn of McDougall Centre, the provincial government’s southern Alberta home base. It will join another…
Governments must begin to address their own roles in keeping housing prices high
The recent rise in interest rates has dampened demand for home sales in Canada. The hike, inevitable given how historically low rates have been, has taken some of the froth off housing prices. However, given how high home prices still are in Canada, a useful question to ask is what governments can do to reverse…
Freedom is as Canadian as maple syrup and the Canadian Rockies. Don’t let collectivists tell you otherwise
Earlier this year, I stumbled across a framed copy of the Canadian Bill of Rights, the liberty-expanding law promulgated by then-Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and passed by Parliament in 1960. I read the document years ago but seeing it up close reminded me of Canada’s long tradition of freedom, ranging from anti-slavery efforts in the late 18th…
The left has long engaged in anti-reality thinking and behaviour. Now the right is in danger of making the same mistake
The ideological and political left has long engaged in anti-reality thinking and behaviour. Now the right is in danger of making the same mistake. Let’s begin with the left’s errors: the assumption that humans are mere pliable creatures to be directed from the top down and that societies and governments can therefore be recreated from…
Don’t let utopian perfectionists stop you from celebrating a tremendous accomplishment: Canada
To understand why it’s popular among the chattering classes to trash Canada at this time of year, it helps to understand the power of utopian thinking. In past centuries, utopian movements sprang from religious impulses and secular imitations of the same nature. Religious examples include communes which, in extreme forms, separated themselves from what they…
Queen Elizabeth represents continuity with the past, including the best developments in Canadian history
With the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation upon us, this is a useful opportunity to ponder the monarchy in Canada. Some will assert that the concept of royalty was long ago outmoded. Others oppose what Queen Elizabeth II represents – colonialism and the British Empire. It can also be argued that with an ever…
Teenagers have virtually no life experience and no expertise but are feted as if they were Einstein
By Mark Milke and Martin Mrazik The Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy The war on Ukraine instigated by Russian President Vladimir Putin should be a reminder that adults and their experiences and judgments matter, i.e. thinking through whether we wish to go to war with Russia. However obvious that seems, in recent years – on…