Columns & Essays
Harper must defend conservative policy, not play political games
Let me make one thing very clear right from the start – I do not approve of the federal Liberal and NDP parties’ attempt to topple Stephen Harper’s minority government and replace it with a coalition government of their own. But “coup d’état”? “Sedition”? A “subversion of democracy”? Now that Parliament has been prorogued and the crisis averted until at least the end of next month, can we all please, please take a deep breath and relax?
A feckless Conservative Party? Principled conservatives have only themselves to blame
It has been said that the only things certain in life are death and taxes, but in Canada, there’s one more thing you can count on, and that’s conservatives – both fiscal and social – accusing the Conservative Party of "abandoning" its principles and "deserting" its core constituents. It’s no great surprise then that a handful of prominent Canadian conservatives are now doing just that.
A small step toward fixing Canada’s broken immigration system
I’ve often said that the single greatest problem Canada faces today is the general, and in my view cataclysmic, decline in the quality of thought that politicians and policy-makers put into the positions they take on issues. Take the recent brouhaha over the government’s proposed changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for example.
God save us from 'public' health care
It’s ironic that the politician most credited with bringing health care under the control of government in Canada was also an ordained Baptist minister – in today’s secular parlance, a Christian fundamentalist. Given his strong religious convictions, one cannot help but wonder how Tommy Douglas would react to the drama now unfolding in a Winnipeg courtroom, where a Christian hospital is fighting, with the approval and full financial backing of the government (meaning taxpayers are footing the bill), for the “right” to stop caring for an elderly disabled man by the name of Samuel Golubchuk.
RIP Big Blue Machine
Crushing – that’s the only way to describe the latest Liberal victory in Ontario. Crushing, and yet, not altogether surprising. In case nobody noticed, Ontario’s Big Blue Machine is dead and has been for years. And as a principled conservative, I say good riddance!
Note to Ontario Appeal Court: Play time is over children
It's a good thing that I’m not a lawyer. If I was, I might very well be sitting in a jail cell right now. The reason is simple. If I was a lawyer, I might have found myself representing one of the intervening parties in the case that led to the recent decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal that a child can have three parents - one father and two mothers. Had I been there I would certainly have been charged with Contempt of Court, and for good reason, because when it comes to this Court and this Ruling, I would have been unable to express anything other than contempt. One reaps what one sews after all.
Daycare con game
This past week Statistics Canada released a report entitled Child care: An eight year profile alleging that "the proportion of children in child care has increased significantly." Daycare lobbyists, funded primarily by – you guessed it – taxpayers, were quick to jump on this report as further evidence of a growing daycare crisis in Canada. They are demanding that the spigots be opened and that Canadian taxpayers foot the bill for their dream of an expansive, national daycare system, run by – you guessed it again – the daycare lobbyists. The only problem is that the Statistics Canada report says no such thing. If anything, the numbers suggest the opposite.
Government should fight exploitation of women – not join in
Prostitution isn’t an ‘industry.’ It’s abuse – the ultimate in sexism. It’s also a lucrative business and now certain politicians want you and me to get a ‘piece of the action’.
Time to put the brakes on nationalized daycare
Since last spring the government has been implementing, almost by stealth and without serious debate, its daycare agenda. But the case for institutional daycare is weak at best. At worse it’s based on bad science and outright deception.
Conservatism: A Rediscovery explains how Anglo-American conservatism became a distinctive alternative to divine-right monarchy, Puritan theocracy, and liberal revolution. After tracing the tradition from the Wars of the Roses to Burke and across the Atlantic to the American Federalists and Lincoln, Hazony describes the rise and fall of Enlightenment liberalism after World War II and the present-day debates between neoconservatives and national conservatives over how to respond to liberalism and the woke left.
