Enemy of the People?
If you’ve never been to Baltimore, you may not want to trust Donald Trump’s Yelp review. Instead, maybe consider the range of artists who’ve each depicted distinct Baltimores—Barry Levinson, John Waters, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Anne Tyler, David Simon, among others—that are somehow all authentic and indelible. Baltimore is a microcosm of the United States in all its gritty, diverse, yearning, tough, tense, […]
Women splitting their vote more among various progressive options, says Bricker
A recent Ipsos poll showed Conservatives with a 10-point lead over the Liberals among female voters, 39 per cent to 29 per cent, respectively, but Ipsos CEO Darrell Bricker cautions against viewing this as a female surge towards Conservatives. “The Conservatives are not surging among women. What’s happening is that women are splitting their vote […]
Canadians deserve more than a white-bread response to racism
OTTAWA—“That’s not how we do things in Canada.” Are you sure about that? This was the statement our racially unsavvy prime minister gave to reporters in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s statements telling four congresswomen to “go back to where they came from,” and it’s very Canadian. So too is Bill 21, Quebec’s […]
The Trump nightmare hits full stride
OTTAWA—The thing about Watergate was that Richard Nixon resigned. With impeachment by the U.S. Congress over Watergate looming in 1974, Nixon stepped down—becoming the first president to do so. Would Donald Trump quit the White House if lawmakers were moving to impeach him? There’s every reason to think he wouldn’t. Two-and-a-half years into his term, […]
Take a lesson, premiers: women’s soccer leading the charge on gender equality
OTTAWA—If you only followed last week’s Council of the Federation meeting, you might believe that political gender equality and equity were in retreat. The annual premier’s meeting was notable not for its pronouncements, but for its pictures. Each shot featured male leaders, as, for the first time in a number of years, there are no […]
Trudeau’s self-muzzling on Trump is a bad look
If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were to react to every single revolting thing said by U.S. President Donald Trump, it would end up being his full-time job. No one wants that. Mr. Trudeau has better things to do, and it would be wholly disappointing if the head of our government were constantly playing peanut gallery […]
Liberals accuse Conservatives of promoting anti-abortion movie, reopening abortion debate
As an American film with an anti-choice message is set to premiere across Canada, Liberals say Tory MPs have been promoting the film and are trying to re-open the abortion debate. “Fact: conservative politicians screened this film on parliament hill[.] Fact: conservative politicians have been petitioning on the films behalf,” PMO chief of staff Katie […]
Ex-CSIS officer alleges wrongful dismissal, says he faced ‘blatant homophobia’ during 25-year career
A former intelligence officer alleges that he was wrongfully dismissed from the agency over his sexual orientation, saying that decades of serving in a toxic workplace has taken a debilitating toll on his mental health. Steven Hould, 52, an ex-field operations officer with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, claimed that the agency refused to accommodate […]
Independent MP Caesar-Chavannes says her job is to represent ‘disenfranchised,’ not to make others feel comfortable in House
There’s no such thing as cultural neutrality in politics, says an Indigenous advocate. But for many Canadians, diversity across other dimensions can be more meaningful than their race, says a former Harper-era aide. Some 150 attendees came out for a wide-ranging conversation around race and politics in Canada at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa […]
Journalists inherit ‘institutional blindspots’ that cloud coverage of race in politics, says media expert
Increasing the diversity of newsrooms isn’t a cure-all for improving political coverage of racialized people, says a media expert, who argues that journalists often end up inheriting the institutional blindspots of the outlets they work for. “Even journalists of colour sometimes will produce coverage that differentiates and treats white and racialized subjects differently,” said Erin […]
