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In the US, the January 6 Committee published transcripts of those who repeatedly pled, during Committee interviews, The Fifth Amendment. In Canada, some leaders in the January Occupation Convoy advocated replacing the Prime Minister and Parliament, with the (unelected) Governor-General and Senate – and themselves. There are some in society, with influence and power, who […]
In 2022, invocation of the Emergencies Act suspended the Charter Rights of Canadians for freedom of assembly and association. We have been told that there is a legal opinion which justifies invocation of the Emergencies Act. We have also been told that we cannot see the content of this legal opinion due to attorney-client privilege. […]
Contemporary Populism has a bad reputation amongst those who care about public policy – justifiably so. Complex problems are rarely solved by simple solutions. A recent reading* suggests that populism has respectable roots. The movement grew among late nineteenth century Midwestern US farmers who were fighting against rampant exploitation by the railroad monopolies, when capitalism […]
When did the rule of law become optional? Our political leaders seem to have decided that rights and laws can be set aside if their political agenda is more important. Consider these examples: • Citing the goal of laïcité (secularism), Premier Legault of Québec limits the rights of people to wear religious symbols. Citing the […]
Whence the call for dictatorship? Oath Keeper Stuart Rhodes is convicted of seditious conspiracy. He sought a sort of coup which would have negated the election of President Biden, and the retention of Trump as President. But there are those of that ilk in Canada too: some in the occupation convoy sought to replace elected […]
To be sure, the flapdoodle about the ducal interview with Oprah is a welcome tabloid-ish antidote to Covid dreariness. But it is far from an unprecedented controversy. This family line of royals specializes in poor behaviour and squabbling; they have done it for much of the last 200 years. The exceptions, of course, are the […]
Deconstructing social constructs We humans love to classify things. Classifications are a necessary part of organizing our perceptions: sometimes they are subjective, sometimes objective. Yet even scientific classifications involve some arbitrary decisions, which may or may not be accepted by all. For example, the decimal system is an arbitrary manner by which to organize numbers, […]
“Ick” is used to express our strong abhorrence of some object or person or event. The expression or reaction is typically spontaneous and visceral, rather than considered. It comes from the gut. Where such a reaction is accepted as knowledge it is considered ‘embodied cognition’, something of which we are certain without the need for […]
In my lifetime, talk about sex has gone from taboo to culture war. In part that progression has been the result of social events and the significant evolution of cultural attitudes. Homosexuality was a criminal offence when I was in high school. So was abortion. Misogyny was so prevalent that most did not notice. Along […]
Bill 21:Nobody Here but Us Chickens Québec’s Bill 21 prohibits the wearing of religious symbols for those in positions of authority, including teachers, lawyers, police officers, judges and politicians. Government justification for the prohibition is based on the “laïcité” (secularity) of the state; it is argued that the religious neutrality of the state supports the […]
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