Libya, Syria and R2P
It is only too obvious that thus far the peoples of the democratic states have failed in our responsibility to protect the people of Syria. This is hardly a...
To divest or not
Get Harvard out of oil and gas Speech at Divest Harvard/ Alumni for Fossil Fuel Divestment demonstration Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts September 16, 2013 In the past year, since...
A new civic model
I teach a class at MIT’s Media Lab called “News and Participatory Media” that’s become popular with Nieman scholars. I designed it as a class for engineers and software...
Debating euthanasia
Legalizing killing through confusion Margaret Somerville October 9, 2013 My concern is that my appearance here might be perceived as my being complicit in helping you to develop Bill...
Trans-Pacific trade is a win-win-win
In a century when the need for innovative pharmaceutical advances remains urgent and the cost and time required for innovation are both growing, the very intellectual property system that...
We’re in good shape
In order to maintain the close-to-world-class status of our premier economics departments we have resorted to hiring the best available professors. This is key to ensuring that our students...
Join the fray
In North America…academic economists as public intellectuals…have declined in recent decades. Beginning in the 1970s, PhD students in economics understood that, in order to be successful in their discipline,...
Get better data
The article is thought-provoking and draws out some important and interesting facts about the declining attention of Canadian economists to Canadian topics. My response is coloured by my own...
No crisis
This report raises three questions for me. First, is this an issue? Second, why is this happening? And third, what if anything can be done about it? Emery, Simpson...
Quality, not quantity
There is a danger [of economists in Canada] becoming so preoccupied with technique for its own sake as to lose sight of our objective as social scientists of understanding...
Schooled by Afghanistan (book review)
It is shameful that so few lessons have been learned from Canada’s experiences in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Some “after-action” reports were written, of course, but these generally failed to document...
That’s not marketing (book review)
Are you a Tim Hortons Canadian or a Starbucks drinker? Do you see yourself as a voter, a consumer or a taxpayer? Where do you land in the Phineas...
Breaking the Ottawa consensus (book review)
Paul Wells has written a fascinating, must-read book that details how Stephen Harper has managed to hold power through minority governments and consolidate it with his current majority. With...
Never too
smart to fail
(book review)
Full disclosure: I have always liked and admired Michael Ignatieff. Before he returned to Canada in 2005 to run as the Liberal candidate in Etobicoke-Lakeshore with his not-so-secret plan...
In the national interest?
In the competitive global race for high-wage employment, governments have begun to see intellectual property as a strategic tool to be corralled within national borders for the benefit of...
Deleting revenge porn
The Internet never forgets. And that permanent digital record, a blessing when it summons a moment we want to recall with the click of a mouse, can be a...
Freedom of conscience and the Charter of Quebec Values
The debate surrounding the proposed Charter of Quebec values continues apace. The most controversial part of the PQ government’s plan is the measure that would prohibit employees in the...
L’axe identitaire
En septembre 2012, le Parti québécois a gagné les élections avec moins du tiers des voix (31,95 p. 100, contre 31,20 p. 100 pour le Parti libéral). Après des...
Planning with art
Public art is not an indulgence. Cities are expressions of our culture, and public art has always played a role in defining that common space. But public art can...
Smart cities in a virtual world
A host of enthusiasts, from the early pioneers of Wired Magazine and the Electronic Frontier Foundation to the newest innovators of City Protocol (the new web-based global cities network...
Personal city: Journeys through Hamilton
Rust-belt cities often conjure an image of decay and decline, but beneath those easy impressions there is something richer: places that are still very much alive. To see this...
Urban planners vs. democracy
Democratic governments are supposed to express the people’s will and, for the most part, they do, if only out of self-interest. But there is one policy area where governments...
Rich core, poor burbs
When you think about it, a city is truly an amazing thing. Hundreds of thousands, even millions of people live in close proximity to each other, go about their...
Manifesto for a city-state
Far from being a land of forests, plains and prairies, Canada is an urban country. Nearly 70 percent of the population lives in urban centres and more than 90...
Free the Cities!
Too much recent news from cities has been about corruption and other unseemly scandals. But the uncovering of sickness at the top of the municipal political chain threatens to...
Time to encourage organ donation
When it comes to organ donation rates, Canada does not perform particularly well, falling significantly behind countries like Spain, the UK, the US, France and Austria. This is a...
Cutting greenhouse gases on the farm
Cows and sheep have always shouldered a chunk of the blame for rising greenhouse gas emissions, with extensive scientific evidence showing that the livestock production chain is responsible for...
The wisdom of crowds
A couple of years ago, as the Internet Goliath continued to drain news consumers away from newspapers and television, old media’s desperation to find a way to fight back...