Category Archives: Canada

For, and Against, an Elected GG

In light of my brief post calling for an elected governor general, Catelli over at Not Quite Unhinged asked if I’d be interested in expanding on my idea in the context of a debate with ‘Sir Francis’ of Dred Tory. Never one to shy from a debate, I agreed; the first round is now [...]

Want to Re-Empower Parliament?

Return executive power to the Governor General, and elect her.

Harper on Honduras

At the Three Amigos conference in Guadalajara, Stephen Harper gave Jake Tapper of ABC News a broad-ranging interview that touched on trade, health-care, H1N1, and Afghanistan. The interview also contained the first reported public statements by Harper on Honduras (at least that I’ve seen); I reproduce them here in full:
Tapper: There has been [...]

Eat Your Heart Out, Sarah Palin

Get it?
THE CANADIAN PRESS – RANKIN INLET, Nunavut — Governor General Michaëlle Jean, on the first day of her trip to the Arctic, gutted a freshly slaughtered seal, pulled out its raw heart — and ate it.
And yes, there’s a picture.

On Citizenship and Identity

[Note: This article first appeared at The Mark, Canada's daily online forum for news and opinion.]
The big news in the expatriate community is a recent change to the Citizenship Act under which children born to Canadians abroad are only entitled to citizenship if at least one of the parents was born inside Canada. In [...]

Why Not Intra-Riding STV?

I’m swamped with work at the moment and haven’t had a chance to do any real (non-work) writing, but yesterday’s BC election–and particularly the rejectiond of a single-transferable vote system of quasi-proportional representation–has me thinking. I must confess to not having followed the BC (or earlier BC and Ontario) PR debates closely with respect [...]

That’s Not the Final Answer

Jason Kenney:
Mr. Galloway received a preliminary notice of determination by the Canadian Border Services Agency that he might be inadmissible to Canada, I gather based in large part on his public admission that he provided funds to Hamas, a banned illegal terrorist organization, which would seem–on the face of it–to constitute grounds for inadmissibility under [...]

Khadr and The Prime Minister

[Note: I have to tread lightly here, so forgive me if this is a little opaque.]
The Federal Court issued an opinion today ordering the Canadian government to request Omar Khadr’s repatriation from Guantanamo Bay. Two thoughts:
First, the opinion’s logic strikes me as flawed. The fundamental holding is that Khadr’s Section 7 Charter rights [...]

The Price of Freedom

Warren Kinsella has a (mostly) thoughtful post about the consequences of negotiating with al Qaida to achieve the release of Bob Fowler and Louis Guay. The prime minister was very careful with his words yesterday, acknowledging that negotiation was the best option in the circumstances but maintaining that Canada neither pays ransoms to, nor [...]

Thoughts of an Unnatural-Born Citizen

In today’s Post, Rudyard Griffiths outlines an amendment to the Citizenship Act that goes into effect tomorrow. Griffiths writes:
From this point forward, any person born abroad to Canadian parents will be a Canadian only if their father or mother was born in Canada, or if one or more of their parents became a citizen [...]