Facing the Biggest Challenges of Our Generation
- Analysis
- December 18, 2018

by Philippe Lagassé
What is the caretaker convention? When does a period of caretaker government begin? When does it end?
These questions should be pretty simple to answer. Shortly after the federal election began, the Privy Council Office (PCO) released …
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By Kent Roach and Craig Forcese
In responding to last year’s terrorist attacks, Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised his government would not over-react, but also would not under-react, to the ISIS terrorist threat. Unfortunately his government proceeded to do

Justin Trudeau has announced that the Liberals “won’t set a specific emissions target” for greenhouse gas emissions to address climate change. His reasoning is that, “what we need is not ambitious political targets. What we need is an ambitious plan …
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Postcard from North Korea
Photo: John Pavelka, Creative Commons License
Anniversaries have always been important in Socialist countries.
For the people, it means a day off from the humdrum of workaday life with maybe an extra ration of meat or …
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The Quebec government of Premier Philippe Couillard has announced some of the deepest cuts ever to one of the crown jewels of the national branding of the province abroad – its Ministry of International Relations. Nearly a quarter of its …
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A few days ago, cows and their owners were marching in front of Parliament in Ottawa. They were protesting against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which, they argued, would cause the demise of the dairy industry’s supply management regime. Last week, …
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There is no more annoying phrase in discussions of international affairs than “If the United Nations did not exist, we would have to invent it!” It is certainly true that the world urgently needs an effective collective security organization …
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A series of foreign ministry memos, leaked to the media in recent days, offer an unflattering assessment of Canada’s declining international influence and reputation. They are apparently draft “transition” documents, which the federal bureaucracy prepares before every election.
Some defenders

The Munk Leaders’ Debate was supposed to be about foreign policy, but at many times it was really about a three-man horse race. That race was about which progressive horse could finish first, or whether the conservative horse would end …
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The long federal election campaign has been knocked off course at various stages by the unexpected: revelations from the Duffy trial; the accelerating Syrian refugee crisis; the niqab issue in citizenship ceremonies; and now, courtesy of Monday night’s Munk debate …
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Last year I blogged about the decline in Canadian military spending as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP). The most recent figures at that time were for 2013. I noted that defence spending had fallen to 1.00 percent of …
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The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has long been regarded as the most authoritative guide to the status of knowledge about climate change. Read any report by a government, international organization, business group or NGO and they almost …
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