Tag: Featured
O! Canada
We often say a particularly mature young person is “not as old as he or she seems.” Canada, on the other hand, is not, by several important measures, nearly as young as it is often thought to be. Every July, we celebrate Canada Day, marking the confederation of the British North American provinces into Canada […]
The scourge of malaria
Imagine a city the size of Vancouver, teeming with life, where 90-plus percent of the inhabitants are very young children. Now try to envision the horror of this place if everyone in it were dead. This mental exercise dramatises, in the first case, the striking success of global efforts over the last 12 years to […]
Water and Sanitation: Everyone, Everywhere by 2030
Shamefully, millions upon millions of human beings today are unable to meet one of their most fundamental needs for survival: access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. What many Canadians take for granted for themselves and their pet cats and dogs remains inaccessible to children, women and men around the globe, and with terrible […]
Canada’s principled and firm stand on Ukraine
Vladimir Putin’s recent actions represent the greatest threat to security in Europe we have seen in some time. The Russian military occupation of Crimea and the transparent involvement of Russia in efforts to destabilise Ukraine are serious, but they represent a troubling approach to advancing Putin’s perception of Russia’s national interest. With the echoes of […]
East-Europe’s economic triumphs and territorial worries over Ukraine
The implosion of the Soviet Union after December 1991 brought freedom to almost 20 restored or new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe. Europeans were reunited, independent and free after almost half a century of oppression under an earlier version of Homo Sovieticus. Russian leaders Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin supported national self-determination and democracy. […]
Azerbaijan moves toward the limelight
“Azerbaijan — moderate, secular and with a majority of its population Muslim — lives in a tough neighbourhood. We should give whatever encouragement we can in terms of [this emerging] democracy.” — Barry Devolin, a Conservative MP who was commenting on the merits of opening a Canadian embassy in Azerbaijan. Preparing to vist Azerbaijan always […]
The travel world’s treasures
What do we want out of a vacation? Always intensely personal, the answer says a lot about who we are — our preferences, priorities and decision-making process. Travel forces us into difficult choices about two very precious resources — time and money. But travel is not merely about maximizing some cost-utility function that fits a […]
Slaughtering the innocent
Poachers have killed 300 gentle rhinoceroses since the beginning of 2014 in South Africa alone. So far this year, throughout the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, poachers have gunned down another 15,000 unsuspecting elephants. Lions are dying out, too. Fabled Africa, with its profusion of big game, is now imperiled by Asian greed, rampant corruption in […]
The Vatican’s man in Ottawa
Most Reverend Luigi Bonazzi hails from Bergamo, Italy, not far from where the world-renowned sparkling water, San Pellegrino, also hails, he proudly reports. But today, he is the diplomatic representative, known as the Papal Nuncio, for the Holy See. He has held the same position in Haiti, Cuba, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. He’s also had […]
New Zealand’s official home away from home
In winter, you might notice a snowman at the front door of a new, contemporary home on a modest street in Rockcliffe Park. Next to it is an official-looking flagpole, proudly bearing the flag of New Zealand. The message: a family lives here — and so does the country’s head of mission. The high commissioner, […]
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