Can’t tell the players without a program

March 17, 2015

Author and former NDP Federal Secretary Gerald Caplan comments on the incongruity of Canada getting involved in a multilayered sectarian war in the Middle East: March 13, 2015 Dear Mr. O’Malley, or may I call you Peter? Thank you for your letter and your highly perspicacious questions. You write: “Harper has now decided that Canada […]

The disastrous privacy consequences of Bill C-51

March 6, 2015

University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist outlines the dangers to privacy Canadians face with the impending passage of Bill C-51 (Total Information Awareness”: The Disastrous Privacy Consequences of Bill C-51, Michael Geist blog, 19 February 2015). In his post, Professor Geist lists three ways the new bill threatens the privacy of Canadians: First, the bill permits […]

Saudi arms deal makes mockery of Canadian values

January 26, 2015

By Peggy Mason Embassy News, January 21, 2015 The Harper government has made defending Western values a centrepiece of its anti-terror rhetoric. But our actions both at home and abroad tell a different story. Since the 9/11 attacks, Western democracies, in the name of fighting terrorism, have enacted countless anti-democratic measures to curtail free speech, […]

From the killing fields of Flanders to the recurrent Israeli attacks on Gaza: A century later, WWI continues to echo in the Middle East

October 10, 2014

Almost every city and town in today’s Israel has a “Balfour Street”, named after Britain’s foreign secretary during WWI.

It is a poignant reminder of the fact that while WWI was fought mostly in Europe, it had profound consequences around the globe, and its effects still shape today’s world, particularly in the Middle East.