Is Donald Trump to blame for the downing of Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752 shortly after the aircraft took off from Tehran’s International Airport? Or does the blame lie solely with the Iranian regime and its Revolutionary Guard unit that fired the deadly missiles? As with most issues these days, there are hard, irreconcilable opinions held…
Yesterday’s Regret, Tomorrow’s Promise
As 2019 gives way to a new decade, another year is past us. Each passing year gives us an opportunity for reflection and for resolving to accomplish more in the year ahead. As the clock turns, we celebrate what was good or feel, for at least a moment, that yesterday’s troubles are indeed far away.…
The Future of Our Past Neglect
Welcome to the future of yesterday’s bad decisions. The problems we face today are a result of decisions we made or ones we declined to make in the past. For the City of Winnipeg, the financial crunch faced by Council may be this budget cycle’s problem, but its origins lie many, many years in the…
A Poppy for Intolerance
In Flanders Field is the most poignant piece of poetry I have ever come across. As much for the sacrifice it invokes as for the solemn responsibility it passes on to generations like ours who were tasked with holding the torch high. Those who once were, implored us never to break faith with that oath.…
Greta Thunberg’s Wager
There is a raging debate on whether climate change is caused by humans. A decade ago, Al Gore was the leading bell ringer warning of pending doom. Today, Greta Thunberg is the most recognizable climate change activist. She is the face of a global movement that demands action now to head off catastrophic climate change…
Wexit from an Alien Nation
On October 21, Canadians went to the polls. The preceding 40-day campaign felt long and uninspired. It just didn’t feel like Canadians were engaged or motivated by a campaign that was more about contempt amongst the parties than it was about ideas. Forty days in 2019 seemed a lot longer than seventy-eight days in 2015.…
The Ugliest American
Last week, Donald Trump, claiming to have “great and unmatched wisdom”, tweeted an empty, toothless threat to “destroy Turkey” if it did anything Trump considered off limits. Trump sounded more a wise guy hoodlum or a deranged, narcissistic megalomaniac than wise. But let’s set that aside for a moment and consider the broader implications and…
I vs Us
We live in an increasingly polarized world. Left and right, rich and the rest, liberal and conservative, climate change activists and deniers; these are some of the ways we define the opposing groups. But there is a more fundamental divide that simply boils down to how we see ourselves and our place in the world.…
Are “We the People” Just Too Stupid for Democracy?
I admit that is a harsh question. But I think it is a fair question. But before explaining why, let me start by saying that I believe the cliché about the electorate always being right to be true. Lat night, Manitobans re-elected the Progressive Conservatives led by Brian Pallister. While some are elated with that…
Manitoba Election: A Fool’s Forgotten Tale
Let’s play a little name recognition game. Don’t use a search engine, that would be cheating. Look at the following names. June Westbury, William Bayley, George Little, Albert Smith, Norma McCormick, George Palmer, Duncan Lloyd, William Short, Donald Smith, Curtis Bird, Hugh Armstrong, Henry Clarke, George Coldwell, Dwight Johnson, William Sexsmith, Walter Clark, Ivan Schultz,…