Français
There are costs and benefits to living in a country with two official languages. Perhaps, if the British parliament had opted to implement Radical Jack's ideas, we'd have saved a ton of cash. But it didn't and here we are. A country with two
Politics
It was with shock and sadness that I learned of the sudden death of Benoît Pelletier. He was way too young and had so much more to contribute. The family did not reveal the cause of death but we know he nearly died of COVID in 2021. For those who
Culture
(Une espèce de suite à cet article.) English follows and summarizes the French, in a sort of sequel to this piece. Ceci n'est pas une bibliothèque ordinaire mais j'espère qu'un jour elle le sera. Je souhaite que les réseaux de bibliothèques publiques de partout
Culture
It’s been another incredibly busy week with more projects than hours available to work on them so the piece I wanted to write on Wednesday is the second part of this article and — well, why not. We’re a species that used to be able to handle two very
Gender
You didn’t think this could happen here because we in Canada should never be faced with disgusting American nightmares from times past. Yet here we are. The McRib is back. At the very same time, Danielle Smith is trying to turn Alberta into Florida minus the warmth. Coincidence? I
Urbanism
Monday night, along with my good friend the awesome architect Toon Dreessen, I went to the urbanism book club and was very surprised, A), that so many people showed up to discuss somewhat nerdy things and B), that the people who did show up came from all over the city
Politics
In my Ottawa Citizen column this week I talk about an idea whose time, finally, is coming: Giving legal personhood to natural phenomena worth protecting. Like the Magpie River in Quebec – the subject of a documentary that premieres Thursday on The Nature of Things by award-winning filmmaker and all-around awesome
Culture
English will follow and be different from the French because the older I get the more pleasure I take in writing in two languages. As usual I invite my bilingual readers to enjoy both versions. Moi, vous me connaissez, je n’aime pas faire les choses à moitié. Le mois
Culture
In my Ottawa Citizen column this week I enthuse, loudly, about the new heritage building program at Algonquin College that combines building, construction and other craft stuff, including practical business skills and significant elements from the humanities. What wags whom, and for what? Fascinating story in The Atlantic (behind the
Culture
Holy bullshit, but is this (behind paywall) a whack of nonsense. It’s a business column in the Globe that warns slackers that having work ethic is back in fashion. Among the many nuggets of wisdom I have received about building a successful career is this: Be the one who
Politics
A follow-up piece on that recent video from Pierre Poilievre in which he discussed extraordinary Canadians like electricians who wield lightning, farmers who master all kinds of science and waitresses who, technically, should be dead from exhaustion. English will follow and be different than the French; as usual I encourage
Culture
On Saturday afternoon I invited one of my personal social justice warriors (aka Middle Child) to the Cineplex for a testosterone shower. I’d read somewhere that The Iron Claw was useful to debunk toxic masculinity, or something equally woke. We simply had to see for ourselves whether it was