Unpublished Cafe

It appears the money train has rolled out of each party’s campaign platform. In the pursuit of your vote, all parties are willing to spend to get your support at the ballot box. Which one do you feel will help the most?  Less than three weeks before we go to the polls, we’re getting a clearer look at how each party plans to get the economy rolling again. To get a better perspective on whether any...

We are three weeks away from heading to the ballot box in the country’s 44th federal election. Did Canadians really “deserve a say” on how to proceed with COVID as the Prime Minister claimed?  We’re just over two weeks into this campaign and the Liberal campaign is way off course. When the Prime Minister announced the election, it smacked of opportunism. There was no bill defeated to lead to an el...

The dream of home ownership for many Canadians remains out of reach which is why the Political parties are banging the drum of affordable housing in this election campaign, trying to get your support. Will it work?    According to Nanos Research almost 5 million Canadians fear they won’t be able to pay for their housing in the next 30 days. That is an enormous burden on people trying to navigate t...

We’ve been hearing the drums beating since the spring. A federal election is on the horizon. Maybe early summer, maybe mid-summer. Well, here we are in the first week of the 44th federal election campaign. Is this what Canadians want?    The federal Liberals have governed through the pandemic with a minority government propped up by the NDP. In this country we have fixed election dates. This elect...

It has all the twists and turns of an espionage thriller... missing scientists, questionable security, tight lipped police and a government trying to hide information from Parliament. What could possibly be in those documents?  The husband and wife team of researchers were escorted out of Winnipeg‘s National Virology Lab in the summer of 2019. All the Public Health Agency of Canada will say is tha...

It hasn’t happened in over 100 years in the House of Commons and it’s now setting up for a showdown between Parliament and the Courts. Who will come out on top?  This is a saga of twists and turns. Back in March, a House of Commons Committee asked the head of the Public Health Agency of Canada to produce documents regarding two Chinese scientists at the National Virology Lab in Winnipeg. It was un...

2021 Canada Day celebrations were a bit muted this year, not just because of the pandemic, but due to the discovery of three unmarked grave sites near residential schools in Canada. At this point more than one thousand graves have been discovered with ground penetrating radar. It’s expected many more will soon be uncovered.  The residential school system in Canada saw indigenous children pulled fr...

Canada Day is just around the corner. It’s a celebration of the beginning of our Nation. Barbecues, parties, fireworks are all part of the tradition. But in light of the discovery of 215 bodies at a residential school in Kamloops and now 751 in Saskatchewan, for some people, there is nothing to be proud of or to celebrate.    The residential school system in Canada is one of the dark moments in ou...

Locked up for 15 months, the Canada US border will remain closed to non essential travel for at least another 30 days. What will it take to see traffic crossing over to both sides?  Vaccines are being distributed, cases are coming down as are deaths and hospitalizations. The border has been closed since March 2020 and it has had a devastating effect on business, in particular travel and tourism. C...

The grisly discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children in Kamloops BC has stunned the world. The remains were found using ground penetrating radar. The RCMP has launched an investigation into the case.    The horrors of the residential school system was laid bare in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In 2008, then PM Stephen Harper apologized to Canada’s aboriginal people for the pai...

Since March 2020 as COVID-19 swept across North America, the longest undefended border in the world has been closed to all but non-essential travel. Border cities have really felt the effect of the closure, which dramatically reduced business.    Is now the time to open the border up?    14 months and counting, the Canada US border has been closed to non-essential travel. Travel is down 80 percent...

Bill 96 is Quebec’s legislation which aims to make French the primary language of the province. Bill 96 would also declare Quebec ‘A Nation’—a move that would require opening up the Constitution. What could possibly go wrong?  Premier François Legault says the main reason for the need is the declining use of French in Quebec. Supporters of Bill 96 see it as essential because there is so much Engli...

All apologies to those who glaze over when discussion arises about language or “Distinct Society”, with flashes of Meech Lake and Charlottetown. With Quebec’s Bill-96, that could be where we’re headed.    Quebec provincial Bill-96 will firmly entrench the French language as the only official language of the province. Quebec Premier, Francois Legault, wants to open up the Constitution to recognize...

What started off as an update to the Broadcasting Act in Canada, has ballooned into a “war of words” over the possible infringement on your freedom of expression. Bill C-10 has become a political football on Parliament Hill. Will it get across the goal line? The Broadcasting Act has not been touched since 1991. Long before Facebook, YouTube, Netflix and our lives relied on the internet. Broadcaste...

For the first time since 1991, the federal government is updating the country’s Broadcasting Act. Little did they know the firestorm that would arise against Bill C-10.    Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault has been the one feeling the heat, online and elsewhere over his Bill, which attempts to bring some regulation to the Internet and support for Canadian content. Social media companies like You...

The first Federal budget in more than two years promises big spending to get Canada back on the road to recovery. The Liberals have said the pandemic has exposed some glaring gaps between the “have” and “have nots”. $100 million in new spending, with a focus on a National Childcare Program, eventually getting to $10 a day. It also comes heavy with debt and deficit.   The massive spending Budget ha...

The numbers in the proposed 2021 Federal Budget are jaw dropping in their scope. The Liberals unveiled their plan for getting Canadians out of the pandemic and on the road to economic recovery. Will it lead to a federal election? More than $100 billion in new spending for job creation, business support, and the jewel in the crown, a $30 billion investment over five years to set up a National Child...

The leaves are bursting from their buds. Early season flowers are starting to bloom, and in the minds of some Canadians, it is time for a spring federal election. Will we see one? Canada remains in the grip of the 3 rd wave of the pandemic as case numbers rise and lockdowns become the norm. We haven’t been to the polls as a nation since 2019 when the Liberals scored a minority government. Since th...

Imagine an election campaign full of ideas, thoughtful debate, some respectful to-and -fro, without going to the lowest common denominator. Perhaps, that would engage more voters to turn out at the polls.  Section 91 of the Canada Election Act aimed to take the misinformation and innuendo out of election campaigns. It could bring charges against a person for sharing misinformation, whether they kn...

It’s said minority parliaments last, on average, about 18 months before voters are called back to the ballot box. We are rapidly approaching 18 months since the Liberals won a minority election. Is it time to head back to the polls?    It was October 2019 when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Grits won 157 seats and a minority government. Little did anyone know that a global pandemic would gr...

After more than a year of physical distancing, quarantine and lockdowns in the Covid pandemic, vaccine passports are seen as something to bring us together...or divide us even more.  GUESTS:  Lori Turnbull Director School of Public Administration at Dalhousie University  Marcus Kolga Founder Disinfowatch.org / Sr. Fellow MacDonald-Laurier Institute  Francoise Baylis University Research Professor B...

PUBLISHED: 22/01/2021 Honesty in politics. It’s something voters want and look for. Considering the vitriol and abuse in the last few elections, it would be refreshing to have more.   Last year, the federal government introduced Section 91 of the Canada Elections Act. Those against the law feel it brings a “chill” to political discourse. On the other side of the coin, those in support see it as ta...

PUBLISHED: 19/02/2021 We’ve passed the one year mark of the pandemic this week in Canada. Economically, the country has been savaged by the lockdowns to curb the spread, in particular now that there are more contagious variants. Vaccines are being distributed giving many the impression that we are out of the woods, but the economic recovery will be much slower. Can vaccine passports help open up t...

Is there anything else that fires up Canadians more than gun legislation? There is no middle ground. Both sides of the debate are entrenched in their views. Almost one year ago, one of the worst shooting attacks on Canadian soil saw 22 people killed in Nova Scotia over a 16 hour period. The guns in question were illegal in this country originating in the USA. In response to the carnage is Bill C 2...