Gideon Spevak: A trend has been forming within Western democratic institutions, one that contradicts the democratic ideal of such bodies: Elected officials face censure and being stripped of their rights (and obligations) as members of elected bodies to represent their constituents — at the hands of their fellow members, with whom they often find ideological differences. In May 2025, the U.S. Supreme [...]
Tanis Cortens: Sean Feucht, an American Christian rocker, is experiencing a wave of venue cancellations across Canada. He was scheduled to begin his “Revive in 25” Canadian tour with a performance at the York Redoubt National Historic Site near Halifax, N.S., on July 16. Parks Canada revoked his concert permit, citing “heightened public safety concerns.” According to the CBC, some residents living [...]
Rick McGinnis: Interim writer, Rick McGinnis, Amusements With the recent announcement that government employees must return to their work in office, the physical remnants of the COVID-19 lockdowns are mostly gone. Do you remember where your vaccination documents are? The arrows on the floors of stores telling us which direction to walk are gone, as are the stickers on subway [...]
Paul Tuns: The Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada is challenging the constitutionality of a London, Ont., bylaw that is designed to restrict pro-life speech, while the Ontario Court of Appeal has agreed to hear the Christian Heritage Party’s challenge to the city of Hamilton’s refusal to accept a bus advertisement that questioned transgender ideology. The Ontario Court of Appeal has [...]
Paul Tuns: Since February 2024, the Progressive Conservative government of Tim Houston has opened two facilities geared toward youth providing so-called gender-affirming care. In February, Nova Scotia Health opened a youth “clinic” in Kentville (Kentville Gender Affirming Care Clinic) and in March, opened one in Bridgewater. The facilities – which have pediatricians, mental health practitioners, nurses, and pharmacies on-site -- provide puberty [...]
Paul Tuns: On June 17, the British House of Commons voted 379-136 for an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that would end prosecutions of women who obtain abortions. In 1967, the Abortion Act permitted abortion up to 28 weeks if approved by two doctors under supposedly limited circumstances such as to protect the health of the mother. The law was [...]
Paul Tuns The Conservative Party’s 2026 national convention, scheduled to be held in Ottawa, has been moved to Calgary following a vote by the party’s national council. The convention, to be held Jan. 29-31 will also serve as the location for a party constitution-required leadership review. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who lost his own seat despite improving the party’s seat and vote [...]
Kesiah Beere: On May 20, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted the Pandemic Agreement after three years of development and negotiations. Started in December 2021, the Agreement was proposed to implement strategies to “make the world safer from – and more equitable in response to – future pandemics,” according to the WHO. On the surface, such an international agreement may seem appealing [...]
Unholy Kingdom: Religion, Corruption and Violence in Saudi Arabia Malise Ruthven (Verso, $46, $368) BBC editor Malise Ruthven has written an expose of Saudi Arabia, the Unholy Kingdom, the alliance between the House of Saud – the royal family that ruled modern Saudi Arabia since its founding – and extremist imams who he labels a “sectarian Islamic cult.” Their extreme Wahhabism has become [...]
The Baton and the Cross: Russia’s Church from Pagans to Putin Lucy Ash (Icon Books, $36, 384 pages) Journalist Lucy Ash has written a broadside attack on the Russian Orthodox Church and its relationship with Moscow, which inevitably focuses on how the Church provides ideological backing for Vladimir Putin’s regime. Ash, who has worked as a foreign correspondent in Russia for three [...]
Interim Staff: On May 15, the Supreme Court of Canada announced it would not hear the case of Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee Mike Delgrande’s challenge to the TCDSB’s censure over his opposition adding gender identity and gender expression to the board’s code of conduct. In November 2019, during debate on amending the code of conduct – in contravention of Church [...]
Man-Devil: The Mind and Times of Bernard Mandeville, The Wickedest Man in Europe John Callahan (Princeton, $48, 315 pages): Bernard Mandeville was a self-exiled Dutch writer who found his work on the Catholic Church’s Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Banned Books). The libertarian writer is most famous for The Fable of the Bees, a book which stood trial in 1723 in Middlesex [...]
Kesiah Beere: On May 26, Alberta’s Minister of Education and Childcare, Demetrios Nicolaides, announced in a press conference that Alberta intends to establish “clear policies and guidelines for all school divisions to follow,” regarding the inclusion of sexually-explicit books in school libraries. This message was delivered in response to four “coming-of-age” novels found in Calgary and Edmonton school libraries, according to Jack [...]
Ripper: The Making of Pierre Poilievre Mark Bourrie (Bibliosis, $28.95 paperback, 437 pages): Anyone wanting to know why Pierre Poilievre lost the 2025 federal election need go any further than Mark Bourrie’s Ripper: The Making of Pierre Poilievre, which could be more accurately titled Ripper: The Making and Unmaking of Pierre Poilievre. While Bourrie has a clear and admitted anti-Poilievre bias, and [...]
Samara Douma: On May 18, eligible Polish voters headed to polling stations to cast their vote in the Polish presidential election. When votes had been counted, none of the thirteen candidates had the majority needed to win the presidency. The top two candidates, Rafal Trzaskowski, with 31.4 per cent of the vote, and Karol Nawrocki, with 29.5 per cent of the vote, [...]