For most of my life, I’ve considered myself a “progressive”. Over the last few years I’ve changed that description to “moderate progressive” – something US Senator Bernie Sanders said, during the 2016 election, a person could not be. I do not know if I left the progressive movement or if it left me but at…
The case for Canada joining the European Union
Since the start of the American Revolution, Canada has lived in the shadow of the US. At times America has been the enemy, at other times a close ally, Canada’s number one trading partner, the source of waves of immigration and the destination of Canada’s ‘brain drain’. For the entire time though, Canada’s politics have…
No one cares about sovereignty when they’re winning
As a dual citizen who believes in open borders, free trade and the need for a global constitutional republic to deal with an increasing number of issues that require an international response, I admit that sovereignty is a complicated issue. However, I certainly feel that people have the right to elect their own government representatives…
Before we can have better government, we’re going to need better voters
Photo credit: eldeeem via Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA One of the primary roles of any government, under any political system, is to allocate resources. Government regulates industry, controls public lands and sets tax rates to determine how big the “pie” is going to be and then decides how much of the pie various individuals and…
Andrew Scheer is wrong: Freedom of speech in Canada is just fine
As part of his bid to win the Conservative leadership, Andrew Scheer is pretending that free speech is under threat on Canadian campuses. What he is really talking about however, is protecting people from the consequences of unpopular speech including protecting hate speech from negative reactions. What really seems to trouble conservatives like Scheer is…
Republicans lost on health care for the same reason Democrats lost the election
In the United States there are two major parties, both of which consist of big tent coalitions. The Democrats start from the socialist left and run to moderates who could just as easily be moderate Republicans. Republicans do the same from the right, from the Neo-Nazi alt-right to people who could just as easily be…
Canada needs to respond to Trump with an emergency Safe Harbour immigration law
Given the turbulent times in the United States, Canada needs an emergency safe harbour law to protect vulnerable populations in the short term. The law would serve as an addition to our normal immigration laws and would serve as a test case for future global emergencies. It would grant a temporary version of permanent residency,…
After Brexit and Trump, electoral reform is more important now than it was in 2015
Photo credit: FutUndBeidl via Visualhunt / CC BY Fortunately, despite skepticism by many, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that electoral reform is still on the table. When Trudeau was elected just over a year ago, his promise that 2015 was the last election to be fought under the “first past the post” system. Since that…
If the left wants to win the big fights, we need to step up our game
Photo credit: gabrielsaldana via VisualHunt / CC BY-SA As a dual citizen of the United States and Canada I’ve had the opportunity to participate in and observe both political systems. One of the things that I’ve found as a constant in both countries, and in the UK as well from what I’ve observed, is that…
Trudeau’s pipeline decisions were bad optics but good politics
Photo via Unsplash via Visualhunt.com As I type this, activists in BC are preparing to protest the Kinder Morgan pipeline. Everyone, including the Liberal government, knew that was coming. It may very well even be part of Trudeau’s plan. Burnaby, BC and the “line 3” pipeline which runs from Alberta to Wisconsin. Trudeau rejected the…