A new generation of preachers is following in William Penn's footsteps by defending our constitutional freedoms
For the defiant act of holding church services despite public health orders, Alberta pastors James Coates, Tim Stephens and Art Pawlowski were arrested and jailed. Some, including those within the faith, think the pastors should acquiesce to the government edicts. These people forget that it was similar defiance by devout Quaker William Penn that established…
Oh, dear, the statue-defacing vigilantes are at it again! One of the latest targets is erstwhile Canadian feminist icon Emily Murphy (no relation). Her Edmonton statue got the red paint treatment in mid-July. Predictably, the ‘racist’ epithet was deployed. Indeed, the National Post’s news story went beyond merely noting the racist allegation. It accepted it…
Allowing politicians alone to change the Senate creates a system that suits their interests ahead of the common good
Canada needs to finally have a broad conversation about Senate reform before politicians and interest groups transform the institution without the participation of average citizens. The federal government has introduced a bill in the Senate that would formally recognize the Senate changes the Liberal government has been introducing since its first election in 2015. These…
Big tech knows there will be a gradual convergence of major technology companies until no small brand can compete in any meaningful way
Walking through a Manhattan subway station recently, I saw sign after sign advertising Google’s latest features on its Pay app. Huge walls of advertisements displayed photographs of happy users seeing how their monthly spending broke down, seemingly reaping the benefits of Google’s total control of their financial affairs. It feels like some dystopian future, with…
Supreme Court: “persons who are not Canadian citizens and who do not reside in Canada can exercise an Aboriginal right”
The Supreme Court of Canada has begun to repair the hundreds of years of friction between Indigenous people and European settlers. The court recently ruled that “persons who are not Canadian citizens and who do not reside in Canada can exercise an Aboriginal right.” Many people are thinking long and hard about the implications. Imagine…
It’s time for the media to deny the deranged the notoriety and fame they so perversely seek
Justice Anne Molloy recently found the man who drove a van down Toronto’s sidewalks, trying to kill as many people as he could, guilty of murdering 10 and attempting to kill 16 others. The judge also took the extraordinary decision to refer to him as “John Doe,” denying him any notoriety he might have expected…
Follow Australia's example and take a stand against China’s bullying and human rights violations
By Andrew Pickford and Jeffrey Collins Macdonald-Laurier Institute Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden joined his Japanese, Indian, and Australian counterparts at the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or Quad) summit. This informal grouping remains the most powerful collection of countries focused on confronting the security, economic, and geostrategic challenges posed by China. Canada may not have…
These absurdities don't fit any legitimate expectation of a legal proceeding, let alone a trial of the most powerful person on the planet
Since judges exist for the essential goal of delivering justice to fellow citizens, a vigorous ethical commitment should be a key part of their professional code. Spanish moral philosopher Adela Cortina notes that corruption is encouraged by the weakening of the internal good. The world had front-row seats to the judicial proceedings in the second…
Portuguese court finds that the test, in itself, is unable to determine, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a person is infected
Every day, the news tells us about new COVID-19 positive test results. But are they reliable? Kary Mullis, the late inventor of the diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19, explained how his test could be misused. So did a Portuguese court that ruled a positive test is an insufficient basis to isolate or…
No one has a moral obligation to obey COVID-19 lockdown orders. Therefore civilly disobeying them is justified
Lockdown orders are not justified. There is, consequently, no moral obligation to obey them. Let me explain. In the wake of SARS and H1N1, Public Health Canada drafted the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness guideline (CPIP). Although we failed to meaningfully operationalize this guideline it nevertheless maintains that, “when considering restrictive measures, it is important to balance…
For the defiant act of holding church services despite public health orders, Alberta pastors James Coates, Tim Stephens and Art Pawlowski were arrested and jailed. Some, including those within the faith, think the pastors should acquiesce to the government edicts. These people forget that it was similar defiance by devout Quaker William Penn that established…
