Elizabeth MayI write this from the House of Commons where for the sixth night I am working until the appointed hour of adjournment— midnight. Although tonight I will not…
Over his political career Stephen Harper has done a lot of shocking things: proroguing Parliament—twice—to avoid political embarrassment (the third time was a normal prorogation); cancelling a planned…
When I became an intervenor in mid-April, realizing that the first deadline to submit questions was early May — and that preparing questions required getting through the 15,000…
One year ago, nearly to the day, the former minister for Democratic Reform stopped by my desk in the House of Commons to tell me that he planned…
In early February, I made my way through the complex, web- based, National Energy Board application to be an intervener in the upcoming hearings on the proposed massive…
In the last few weeks, there were a few shake-ups on the Canadian political scene. Allison Redford resigned as Premier of Alberta, the Supreme Court ruled that Stephen…
There was a time when the United States had high regard for its own rules of citizenship. If a US citizen moved to another country, took up citizenship…
There are a lot of intersecting issues coming to a head in the health of Canada’s rail capacity and safety. We have explosions and derailments in shipping hazardous…
It is shocking to hear the Chief Electoral Officer for Canada, Marc Mayrand, describe the overhaul of the Elections Act as ‘an affront to democracy.’ But that is,…
In every one of my January town hall meetings, certain issues were always raised. Constituents of Saanich-Gulf Islands spoke out against the Enbridge and Kinder-Morgan projects for risky…
It used to be understood that a healthy economy included low unemployment and available jobs right across the country. Pockets of persistently high unemployment would receive help in…
As 2013 winds to a close, I have good news to share of a doubled caucus! Independent MP Bruce Hyer (MP for Thunder Bay-Superior north) has taken out…
Despite months of aggressive lobbying from the Canadian government, the European Parliament remains poised to support a measure that would see Canadian bitumen exports labeled as more polluting…
On November 11th there was more than one set of sombre events. While those nations that observe the Armistice of 1918 gathered at cenotaphs to honour those lost…
Okay, maybe this is not really the beginning of the end. I think the beginning of the end may have been last spring when some of the Conservative…
It could be a self-parody, but it isn’t. In the wake of the breaking scandal about Canada’s espionage unit spying on the Government of Brazil, I realized I…
Since my last article in Island Tides, I have spoken almost from coast to coast to coast: from Victoria to Halifax and Fredericton, and to our north—Whitehorse and…
From September 4-13, I held the fall 2013 round of Town Halls in Saanich-Gulf Islands. The Town Hall meeting is my favourite way to connect directly with voters…
The very idea that the federal government, having slashed scientific research into climate change, freshwater science, ozone depletion and contamination of marine mammals (to provide an incomplete list)…
In some ways, I wish I could pile on with other politicians in attacking Stephen Harper’s latest prorogation. It is like a piñata waiting to be smashed –…
Canadians now have a dizzying array of pipeline proposals dominating news coverage. They are presented as though they are alternative options. Problems getting pipelines to the US approved?…
The political news of the summer was supposed to be the Cabinet shuffle. It had been hyped well in advance. Unexpectedly, it was the leak of the compilation…
On my Canada Day travels, I was asked what I would change about democracy in Canada. There is so much wrong in the current state of politics that…
The headlines covered some of what happened: scandals, Senate fraud, a $90,000 cheque from the prime minister’s chief of staff, Nigel Wright, (who quickly became the former chief…
In case you missed it, earlier this month an article appeared in a little known physics journal, rated by scientists as of ‘low influence,’ the International Journal of…