October 17, 2014 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs, Science, Technology & Environment
When an unarmed black teen by the name of Michael Brown was gunned down by police in the Missouri suburb of Ferguson in August, Twitter erupted with outrage over what many saw as an unjustified, ... Read More »
We live in an age where the spread of information technology has far outstripped our understanding or control over it. We face the daunting prospect of a reality where privacy is increasingly rare and the ... Read More »
October 17, 2014 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs, Science, Technology & Environment
The essay collection A Line in the Tar Sands: Struggles for Environmental Justice is variously a manual, a call to action, and a series of first-hand accounts of a movement. While the struggle over mining ... Read More »
October 9, 2014 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs
With the Canadian federal election coming next year, it’s no surprise that politicians and pundits are flooding bookstores with new tomes. Into the fray steps Green Party leader Elizabeth May with a volume billed as ... Read More »
October 2, 2014 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography, Politics & Current Affairs
When J. Patrick Boyer writes that the recent senate expenses scandal “dominated media coverage, overtook the national conversation,” he may be overstating the case just a little bit. The story of four senators – Mike ... Read More »
August 27, 2014 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs
For better or worse, there’s nothing like a scandal to rile people up about the political status quo. The Canadian senate, viewed by the public with begrudging apathy at the best of times, is a ... Read More »
June 26, 2014 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs
It is not difficult to get people, even former MPs, to agree that Canada’s democracy is broken. The challenge is getting people to agree on the nature of the problem and possible solutions. In Tragedy ... Read More »
June 26, 2014 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs
"The Web was designed as an instrument to prevent misunderstandings." So says Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with inventing the World Wide Web. Quoted early on in Paula Todd's new book, Lee's comment elicits about ... Read More »
June 23, 2014 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs
In the pantheon of history-altering near-misses, few political events have left as large and lasting a “What if?” as the 1995 Quebec referendum. On Oct. 30 of that year, Quebec’s citizens voted by the thinnest ... Read More »
June 19, 2014 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs
“A national political campaign,” wrote H.L. Mencken, “is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in.” After four federal elections in the seven years ... Read More »
April 16, 2014 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs