When journalists report social media as public opinion
As digital data about people grows, journalists are increasingly turning to social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to find information. One trend in journalism, particularly in political...
The forensic failures of the Stanley trial
We will never know precisely what happened in the moments before a bullet from Gerald Stanley’s gun killed Colten Boushie in August 2016. At Stanley’s trial, the prosecution argued...
Le besoin de nouvelles données pour la nouvelle économie
Lorsque les libéraux fédéraux ont pris le pouvoir en 2015, ils ont convenu de prioriser l’élaboration de politiques fondées sur des données probantes. Michael Barber, connu pour son travail...
How property and place were key issues in the Stanley trial
On an otherwise unremarkable summer afternoon in 2016, five Indigenous youth drove onto a farm in rural Saskatchewan owned by 56-year-old Gerald Stanley, a White farmer. The youth came...
Lessons from Ontario on big hospital funding changes
If there’s one thing provincial governments across Canada can agree on, it’s that the status quo in health care is no longer good enough to deliver equitable access to...
Jury reform will be contentious and limited after the Stanley trial
Jury reform has been on the Canadian political and legal community’s agenda since February, when a jury in Battleford, Sask., acquitted a farmer named Gerald Stanley of killing Colten...
Justin Trudeau’s balancing act on climate change
I met Jim Lahay during a drive across the prairies in 2016, when I followed the route of the proposed Energy East pipeline from Alberta to New Brunswick. Lahay,...
What Can We Learn from the Stanley Trial?
In April 2018, a group of legal scholars and practitioners formed Project Fact(a) as a response to the acquittal two months earlier of Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley. Stanley had...
What governments do in the last year of their mandate
It is true that governments in Canada do not technically have “mandates” to govern, as scholar Philippe Lagassé has pointed out. But for lack of a better term, let...
Legal and systemic issues left unexamined in Stanley trial
In many ways, I am inherently made and professionally paid to witness what the Stanley trial verdict in February 2018 revealed about the justice system, criminal trials and the...
Rigid cannabis branding rules could bolster black market
As Canada approaches the opening of its legal and regulated adult-use cannabis market on October 17, important gaps still need to be addressed before the legal industry will be...
Why think tanks should seek philanthropic funds
Canada’s foreign policy capability extends beyond government. Much of it exists in university centres and think tanks. Their leadership, starting from the time they are conceived, deserves more critical...
Quatre ans de gouvernement Couillard
Chronique d’Alain Noël
En concluant leur ouvrage étoffé sur les quatre années au pouvoir de Philippe Couillard, les politologues François Pétry et Lisa Birch notent que, depuis 25 ans, aucun gouvernement québécois...
How the First Poverty Reduction Strategy can be improved
The government of Canada released Opportunity for All: Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy on August 21, 2018. The good news is that we will finally have an official poverty...
Canada aims for the minimum on Indigenous consultation
The Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) decision that quashed the federal approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and tanker project on August 30 was big news across the...
La santé publique doit devenir une priorité
En 2010, les ministres canadiens de la Santé ont énoncé dans une Déclaration sur la prévention et la promotion que « la promotion de la santé et la prévention des...
Research shows that MPs who cross the floor lose votes
Leona Alleslev, MP for Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill, crossed the floor this week to join the Conservatives from the Liberal party. If she runs for re-election in 2019 under the...
Build the Indigenous economy to address poverty
In its past three budgets, the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made important investments to help address the critical needs facing Indigenous communities and families. These investments...
Cities need modern financial tools to cope with cannabis
Legalizing nonmedical cannabis across Canada — safely and systematically — is a significant challenge for all orders of government. That challenge starts with the local governments on the front...
The Senate of Canada can advance the UN 2030 Agenda
(This article has been translated from French.) The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) is a UN plan of action for “people, planet and prosperity” built on 17 sustainable...
Curbing oversupply risks in Canada’s cannabis market
Although predicting the future of the legal cannabis landscape in Canada is fraught with risk, there is enough information available to encourage informed speculation. I envisage a substantial oversupply...
De la petite histoire d’un dossier à l’accès à la justice
Lors de son entrée en fonction, le bâtonnier du Québec Paul-Matthieu Grondin a décrit les palais de justice comme des « hangars à papier ». Sable perpétuel dans l’engrenage de la...
Canadians not convinced current Senate has made a difference
The latest Senate report card from the people of Canada has arrived. A new survey completed by Nanos Research suggests that Canadians are not yet convinced that the current...
Manger du cannabis
Le Canada est le deuxième pays au monde à légaliser le cannabis à usage récréatif. La majorité des Canadiens sont favorables à l’idée, mais plusieurs se posent des questions...
The “Wild West” marketplace of legalized cannabis in Oregon
Among the jurisdictions that have legalized cannabis for recreational use in the United States, Oregon has received significant media attention for its booming supply of it. Consumers have enjoyed...
Rights-based approach key to alleviating poverty
Children are socialized at a young age to believe that giving to charity is a venerable, altruistic practice. We are regularly inundated with advertisements to support children in the...
How the media undermine women political leaders
On returning to Parliament after a six-week maternity leave, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern expressed the hope that one day it will be perceived as normal for women...
Le marché noir et la légalisation du cannabis
Il y a un peu moins de 100 ans, en 1923 plus précisément, le Canada fut l’un des premiers pays à prohiber la consommation de cannabis. Les motivations sous-jacentes...
The benefits of intelligent regulation of cannabis edibles
Despite projections that Canadians will spend up to $7.17 billion on cannabis in 2019, and despite the fact that 28 percent of users are already consuming edibles, our policy-makers...
Getting Trans Mountain expansion back on track
For Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Federal Court of Appeal’s recent decision to overturn approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion was a political thunderbolt that instantly derailed progress...
Naviguer sur le consensus québécois
Il y a d’abord eu Gaétan Barrette qui, en 2014, est passé de la Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) au Parti libéral du Québec (PLQ). Puis Sébastien Proulx, autrefois député...
What will the cannabis market look like in Ontario?
Cannabis is moving from the back alley to Main Street, and this will have profound implications for Ontario’s economy. The fact that the sale and purchase of recreational cannabis...
How economic principles help shape cannabis taxation
How should Canadian governments tax marijuana? Some possible guidance emerges from Canada’s recent experience in taxing cigarettes. As with cigarettes, the desire to tax sales to raise revenue and...
A“don’t-do” list for Trudeau on climate and energy
As Justin Trudeau and the provincial and territorial premiers confront a summer season of relentless heat, drought and wildfires, it’s tempting to ask what’s on their to-do list. But...