Blocks entrepreneurship, economic growth and jobs
The introduction of a wealth tax in Canada is a recurring subject that has drawn new interest during the current COVID-19 crisis. It’s a temptation best ignored. In the 2020 throne speech, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “The government will also identify additional ways to tax extreme wealth inequality,” arguing that it will help the…
One hundred years ago, a flu pandemic swept across the world, killing tens of millions of people, particularly those in the prime of life
From the wet and windswept northwest of Ireland to rural southwestern Ontario, the flu pandemic of 1918 to 1920 was remorseless. My mother and my wife’s father lost siblings to an illness where death might come within 24 hours of first symptoms. And sometimes it was particularly brutal. Historian John Barry has described it this…
History shows plenty of radicals who pushed too hard. We have plenty on today’s world stage
In the summer and autumn of 1789, the French National Assembly overturned 1,000 years of law and custom to produce a modern constitutional democracy. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen spelled out all the new conditions of civil life: the abolition of feudalism and aristocratic titles, freedom from arbitrary arrest,…
Next year the Province of Manitoba will celebrate its 150th anniversary of the founding of the Province.
Next year, 2020, will be celebrated by the Province of Manitoba as the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Province. How will we, in Portage la Prairie, acknowledge this? Check the latest Statistics Canada census results (2016). Portage la Prairie had 12, 949 folks in the reporting boundary of the municipality. Of this total,…
From the failed Franco-British Union during the Second World War to Brexit, some things are just meant to fail
In these contentious Brexit days in the United Kingdom, it’s strange to remember that there was once a plan for a Franco-British Union. No, I’m not making that up. However short-lived, the plan was real. On June 16, 1940, the British cabinet approved a “declaration of indissoluble union” to this effect: “France and Great Britain…
The following is a summary of police activity in the Central Plains Area (Portage la Prairie, Treherne, Amaranth and the surrounding Rural Municipalities). The reporting dates are between Jan. 28 and Feb. 3. During this time period, police responded to 229 calls for service Traffic violations 79 Traffic Offences (Highway Traffic Act) 9 Vehicle…
Woodrow Wilson failed to accept the limitations and checks explicit in the American democratic system
When the Paris Peace Conference opened on Jan. 18, 1919, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson seemed to be at the top of his game. America’s entry had played a critical role in ending the First World War and Wilson’s famous Fourteen Points were acclaimed as the blueprint for a just settlement and a future world where…
Some Canadians and French believe that their ‘leaders’ are mere followers of a supra-national agenda, not champions for their electorate
“Canadians do not need to be liberated,” said Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson half a century ago, after French President Charles De Gaulle lit the fuse for Quebec independence with his famous “Vive la Quebec libre!” speech. But neither of their current counterparts are standing for national freedom, let alone calling for it. President…
Charles de Gaulle's view of the English should help inform the conversation about whether the U.K. belongs in Europe
Watching the fraught state of Brexit negotiations brought Charles de Gaulle to mind. On Jan. 14, 1963, de Gaulle – in his capacity as president of France – publicly blocked Britain’s entry into what was then known as the common market. “England,” he said, “is an island, sea-going, bound up by its trade, its markets,…
London’s National Gallery exhibit offers rare glimpses into the artist’s examination of the play of light on human structures
One of the great things about being a retired museum and art gallery CEO is that you know most of the basic tricks of the trade. For instance, you can get a very quick gauge of an exhibition’s successes and high points by talking with the gallery security staff. So as soon as we had…