History shows plenty of radicals who pushed too hard. We have plenty on today’s world stage
In the summer and autumn of 1789, the French National Assembly overturned 1,000 years of law and custom to produce a modern constitutional democracy. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen spelled out all the new conditions of civil life: the abolition of feudalism and aristocratic titles, freedom from arbitrary arrest,…
We can never forget the love of freedom and the demand for the respect of the rights of each individual that brought about its fall
Nov. 9 marked the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This was most significant global event of my lifetime (I was born in 1962) and it’s worth remembering for many reasons. First, it’s significant to note why the wall fell. It simply couldn’t withstand the human desire for freedom. Throughout the communist…
The rule of law and its protection of property form the bedrock of economic freedom, but pressures from mainland China put those attributes in peril
By James Gwartney and Fred McMahon The Fraser Institute In the Fraser Institute’s latest Economic Freedom of the World ranking, Hong Kong again tops the list as the world’s freest economy. It has occupied this position almost without exception through the past half century – but will it remain there? The foundation for Hong Kong’s…
In my youth, I was embarrassed by Canada’s (seemingly) anachronistic constitutional monarchy. Why must we have a Queen, I raged? She doesn’t even live in our country. Why can’t we be a republic, like the United States? It wasn’t until recently that I began to question this view. Looking south of the border, I’m reminded…
Total automation, capitalist or communist, removes the very purpose of human existence
Since the publication of Fully Automated Luxury Communism in 2018, a manifesto by Aaron Bastani, millennials across Canada and the United States have embraced a new Marxism for the 21st century. This new socialism is based on the concept of a post-scarcity economy that embraces automation, the reduction of working hours and a universal income.…
Populism some call it, but the consequence in many regions around the world has been a slippage into autocracy
In 1972, Mitchell Sharp, Canadian secretary of state for external affairs, famously penned his Third Option doctrine. It was not exactly anti-American but it was American-anxious. The idea was to reduce Canada’s vulnerability to swings in mood and trade from the United States by diversifying our economic, cultural and political relations, especially toward rising powers…
The dangerous, violent seeds of the communist revolution were being sown in Canada
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike, the most dramatic moment in our nation’s labour history and one highly romanticized ever since 1919. All of this romance seems to have caused people to forget what was really at stake. In 1919, the communist movement was gaining ground in Europe and elsewhere.…
A democracy should respect the rule of law and the rights, values and tax dollars of its citizens
China’s dictatorship, once the apparent favourite of Canada’s prime minister, has become his biggest problem. When Justin Trudeau first visited China as prime minister, the Chinese lauded him as the “Little Potato” (with his late father Pierre being the big one). The name may be apt. A young potato has no eyes. Now that a…
The federal leader seems unaware of key issues. That can hardly give party supporters confidence in his abilities
In only a couple of minutes, Jagmeet Singh showed why he’s not going to last in federal politics. The federal NDP leader had an interview on CTV’s Question Period with host Evan Solomon on Sunday. Near the end of their discussion, Solomon asked him about a Jan. 9 Hill Times opinion piece written by Lu…
We must be on guard as China carves a disturbing global role that goes well beyond trade malfeasance
As China and the United States escalate their trade talks (or trade war), China is carving a disturbing global role that goes well beyond trade malfeasance. China has emerged as an old threat revived, the authoritarian seducer. The latest Human Freedom Index, published by Canada’s Fraser Institute, the U.S. Cato Institute and Germany’s Friedrich Naumann…