Issues, ethics, memory
Coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic has all but eliminated other stories from the news. In Ottawa, the prime minister sprints down a few steps from his cottage to deliver an ever-lengthening list of financial supports to beleaguered organizations and individuals. In Washington, the president offers home cures for the virus such as ingesting Lysol while... Continue Reading →
On March 8, 2020, Canada reported its first death from COVID-19. On March 11, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. Like many people, we had heard increasingly disturbing news, but it did not seem quite real. Declaration of the pandemic got our attention. Two months later, I looked back to see how the pandemic shifted from far away news to something that changed our lives.
There has been stunning news recently about hundreds of older people dying of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities (LTCs), most of them private, for-profit homes. In some cases those people had been left alone and drenched in their own urine and faeces. This is absolutely shocking and unacceptable. Advocates for the frail elderly, and unions... Continue Reading →
As COVID-19 spreads around the world, its trajectory is being accompanied by a stream of fake news. The two most prominent conspiracy theories are almost mirror-like in their presentation. One has it that the virus was created in an American military laboratory and spread to the Chinese city of Wuhan by visiting Americans. I received... Continue Reading →
I read recently in The Guardian that trolls on social media are spreading fake news that the raging bush fires in Australia had been set by arsonists and are not linked to climate change. This is a claim that has been picked up and repeated by shifty ministers in the British government of Boris Johnson.... Continue Reading →
In 2013, I was interviewed by Victor Enns of Rhubarb magazine about what lay behind my decision in the 1990s to run for political office. I posted the first part of that interview on this site recently. In the interview Victor also asked me about what it was like to serve as an NDP MP... Continue Reading →
In 2013, I was approached for an interview by Victor Enns, the founder of a (now defunct) Winnipeg-based magazine called Rhubarb. Victor and others involved with the quarterly publication described it as featuring work by writers and artists of Mennonite heritage for a general reading public. I am not a Mennonite but my wife is... Continue Reading →
Justin Trudeau’s re-election has unleashed political outrage in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is talking about Alberta’s being “betrayed.” Saskatchewan’s Premier Scott Moe sent a letter to Trudeau demanding that he cancel the federal carbon tax, build various pipelines and renegotiate the formula for equalization payments. I’ll withhold detailed comment on equalization payments,... Continue Reading →
On September 27, a day millions when of people around the world marched to demand action on climate change, I joined the climate strike in Ottawa with about twenty thousand others. It was a heartening exercise, made even more special by the presence of so many young people. Facebook posts That evening I placed a... Continue Reading →
Young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who will speak to the UN Climate Summit in New York this week, has said: “I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.” One thinks of the carnage at Fort McMurray in 2016 where the houses were on fire after a massive blaze... Continue Reading →
Pulpit and Politics 