Rory Leishman: On March 31, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson dealt a devastating blow to the predominance of transgender ideologues, by announcing that his Conservative government would not proceed with a promise to ban transgender conversion therapy. What can account for this abrupt about-face on a key policy issue by a government and prime minister that have hitherto sedulously courted the favour [...]
John Carpay: The constitution of Communist China expressly protects human rights and fundamental freedoms, including private property rights; freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, procession and demonstration; and religious freedom. Unlawful detention is expressly prohibited, as is the unlawful search of a citizen’s person or home. However, these rights and freedoms are subject to Article 1 of the Constitution, which declares [...]
Rick McGinnis: Interim writer, Rick McGinnis, Amusements I’m sure it’s not just because I have COVID as I write this, but I’ve found it hard to escape the sensation that modern life – society, culture, whatever you want to call it – is a lot less fun that it used to be, even if the circumstances of the last two [...]
Josie Luetke: Interim writer, Josie Luetke, Talk Turkey The Canadian government, in consultation with “experts,” is presently determining “how MAID can be provided safely to those whose only medical condition is a mental illness.” In less than a year, on March17, 2023, they will become eligible for euthanasia, deceptively referred to as “medical assistance in dying,” even though the only [...]
From the editor’s desk: You probably saw that during Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings, she refused to answer what a woman is. Joe Biden appointed Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court because she was a black woman, the sole qualification Biden outlined for his first Supreme Court appointment when he was running for president. Asked if she agreed with the late Justice [...]
Rory Leishman: David French is senior editor of The Dispatch, an excellent, on-line, news magazine. He is also one of the most prominent pro-life lawyers and political commentators in the United States. In a recent address to conservative law students affiliated with The Federalist Society at Yale University, he recalled the hot reception he received upon arrival at The Harvard Law School [...]
John Carpay: A person who is arrested or put in prison because of his or her political beliefs is a political prisoner. This also holds true for peaceful activists who are wrongfully arrested under trumped-up criminal charges. Long-standing readers of The Interim will immediately think about Mary Wagner and Fr. Tony Van Hee as examples of Canadians who were arrested or imprisoned [...]
The mainstream media has parroted a Democrat talking-point in labeling a Florida parental rights law a “don’t say gay” prohibition in the classroom. Florida House Bill 1557, the Parental Rights in Education Act was passed in the state house in February and the state Senate in early March, and was set to be signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis. The move [...]
By Andrew Lawton: Once again, the Conservatives are searching for a new leader, and once again it seems the party is rehashing the same fight over its identity and future. At the time I’m writing this, the Conservative leadership race has six candidates, including the scrappy frontrunner, the media favourite, the social conservative, the outsider, the renegade, and the “Who the heck [...]
Rory Leishman: Then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau promised that the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms would enhance the constitutional rights and fundamental freedoms of Canadians. Instead, the opposite is true: Canadians today are demonstrably less free than they were 40 years ago. As evidence, consider the unprecedented, freedom-stifling provisions of Bill C-4, the notorious legislation adopted in December by Parliament with [...]
AndrewLawton: Call them the honks heard ‘round the world. The convoy that rolled across Canada in January before making downtown Ottawa the freest spot in the country sent a message about much more than vaccine mandates. In a country whose pandemic restrictions have been defined by complacency and acceptance rather than resistance, the convoy was the moment at which Canadians decided they’d [...]
Josie Luetke: Interim writer, Josie Luetke, Talk Turkey Pulling straight from Wikipedia: “Body positivity is a social movement focused on the acceptance of all bodies, regardless of size, shape, skin tone, gender, and physical abilities, while challenging present-day beauty standards as an undesirable social construct.” It’s dominated by social liberals, which, given the above buzz words, may be unsurprising, but, [...]
Paul Tuns From the editor’s desk: Cardus, a Canadian think tank, released a report, “Needs Improvement: How Public Schools Teach About Religion,” authored by Andrew P.W. Bennett. The study looked at how religion is taught in elementary and secondary schools in British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Ontario. It found that approaches varied, with Ontario being a “stand-out example of a more [...]
Rick McGinnis: Interim writer, Rick McGinnis, Amusements The ‘90s don’t get a lot of love. The last decade of the 20th century is often seen as a kind of pregnant pause – a political and social interregnum between an event that put an (apparently) full stop on the conflict that had shaped much of the previous century (the Cold War) [...]
Whatever Happened to Tradition: History, Belonging, and the Future of the West by Tim Stanley (Bloomsbury Continuum, $38, 266 pages) Tradition and especially traditionalism has a bad reputation. It is often conflated with the old-fashioned and nostalgia, which barely begin to scratch the surface of the richness of tradition. Tim Stanley, an editorial writer for the Daily Telegraph in London comes to [...]