The methods of a former KGB operative remain applicable in the modern era, leading to disinformation and outright lies
“I cannot but wonder why are people pushing for socialism and communism?” an elderly friend wrote on Facebook. “Are they that misinformed and believing it?” If we concede the answer is “Yes,” the next question is “Why?” The late Yuri Bezmenov, a former KGB operative with the RIA Novosti press agency, had some answers. One…
The WE Charity scandal shows that our rules surrounding charitable work and fiscal reporting are too lax
The WE Charity scandal inspired the questions but so many other charities should be affected by the answers. In August, the House of Commons standing committee on finance called employees of Charity Intelligence Canada to the stand. Ninety minutes of testimony from managing director Kate Bahen and director of research Greg Thomson demonstrated the need…
The Quebec system offers an opportunity to dive deeply into outcomes. The results aren’t promising for children
Advocates of state-run child care saw opportunity in the COVID-19 crisis. It’s an old idea but not a great one. Working parents returned home to care for their children, some able to continue paid work from home and others not. As a result, calls for universal child care grew louder than they had for 15…
Sex advice for pandemic prevention makes as much sense as implementing a security system while leaving the front door open
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control threw logic out the window with its “COVID-19 and Sex” advice. The document reveals contradiction, ignorance and hypocrisy. “If you’re feeling fine and have no symptoms of COVID-19, you can still have sex. If you’re feeling sick, skip sex,” it says. Thanks. “Not tonight, I have a headache,” is…
Canadians are in greater need of immunity from undue government intrusion than they are from any disease
New Brunswick’s attempt to remove vaccine exemptions has sparked a political, ethical and constitutional controversy. The benefits of the legislation were marginal at best, but the heavy-handed tactics used to try to implement it were even worse. Citizens beware. “Stop the hysteria over measles outbreaks,” wrote infectious-diseases specialist Neil Rau and former Ontario chief medical…
Draconian responses did more to kill the economic, social, spiritual and educational lives of citizens than stop fatalities
Twenty-one years ago, the world panicked over an invisible, media-hyped enemy. That enemy was Y2K, a problem whose shadow was much larger than its substance. Unfortunately, COVID-19 may be this era’s equivalent of that ‘millennium bug.’ The Y2K problem was essentially this: many computers had two digits for dates. If they went to 00, the…
The international lockdown is pointless and unnecessarily painful. Is this really a pandemic or just another round of the flu?
U.S. Gen. George Patton once proclaimed: “Fear kills more people than death!” That makes as much sense as something baseball great Yogi Berra said: “No one goes to that restaurant anymore; it’s too crowded.” These days no one goes to the restaurant because the government freaked out and shut it down. But some eminent medical…
An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack could devastate modern society and result in massive casualties
On Feb. 2, thousands of Canadians lost by a landslide – and most weren’t even in politics! Ordinary citizens found normal life interrupted for days after a landslide near North Bend, B.C., cut fibre optic cables. Phone and Internet service was disrupted all weekend. Vancouver parking meters stopped working. Calgary security alarms started malfunctioning. But…
Given the billions of dollars and political agendas at stake, citizens should always take government stats with a measure of reserve
“This is the best number I’ve ever seen in my life!” Jim Cramer told CNBC. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics had just reported a 3.5 per cent unemployment figure in the United States. The November 2019 percentage was the lowest in 50 years. Others would say that might not be the case and that…
The free market economy is beautiful in its simplicity: offer a service people want at a price they will pay for and you get your reward. For decades, cab drivers offered what buses couldn’t – a ride on request from any location to anywhere else in a reasonable distance. But in the past decade, Uber…
Necessity was the mother of invention for Marlon McDougall. After 35 years in the oil and gas industry, McDougall was frustrated with the pressures of regulations, environmentalism, pipeline restrictions and the need for expensive technologies as more easily accessible reserves were depleted. Then, in 2019, he was approached to work with what’s been called “the…
When people believe it’s the government’s job to help someone, they stop doing it themselves
“God giveth and the government taketh away,” goes the old, wry saying. God aside, it’s people who won’t or can’t give when the government takes away. A recent survey of generosity in the United States and Canada gives proof. The more centralist and socialist a society becomes, the less voluntary giving occurs. Socialism doesn't help…
It’s time First Nations adopted property rights, economic development and self-governance
The saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same” should not be applied to First Nations bands. Those bands that have maintained the same tired model that has failed for decades are still failing. Ones that have adopted property rights, economic development and self-governance have improved drastically. Unfortunately, most judges, activists and…
How do we level the playing field when male-to-female athletes want to compete against biological females?
Mixed martial arts fighter Tamikka Brents had never felt anyone or anything like the blows that sent her to the hospital in 2014. Fallon Fox hit Brents so hard that she suffered a broken skull. Despite the brutal loss, observers didn’t wonder whether Brents should be in the ring. They wondered about Fox, a male-to-female…
From 5G concerns internally to military spending on equipment to contributions to NATO, Canada falls far short of pulling its weight
“Canada needs to be in a position to defend itself and defend its values,” U.S. national security adviser Robert O’Brien told delegates at the Halifax International Security Summit recently. He urged Canada to keep its NATO commitments and increase defence spending. He also warned that Chinese company Huawei must be shut out of building 5G…