Culture
I went to see Civil War with Beloved last night. We were both super keen on it. And we were both very disappointed. It’s like blood porn without any pleasure at the end. First of all, too many of the scenes are way too long when not altogether unnecessary.
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
Urbanism
My Citizen column this week asks the sempiternal Ottawa question: Why can't we be chill about shit? Toronto, of all places, now allows adults to drink in public parks. And here in Ottawa we're like, oh, look. A new, fresh, fun idea to allow people to
Politics
For the Ottawa Citizen this week I wrote about making commencement ceremonies more inclusive and you can read that column here. Mais là j'ai besoin de péter une coche. Jeudi la ministre québécoise de l'Habitation, l'inénarrable France-Élaine Duranceau, s'est plainte de ce
Politics
The other day, whilst criticizing Justin Trudeau, Pierre Poilievre used the term "Jewish ridings" in a sentence without, apparently, pausing to worry about it one bit. Trudeau “paused” UNRWA funding because of ties to terrorists and revelations that their employees took part in the October 7th attacks. A
Gender
Special days have a special way of being irritating. I never liked International Women's Day, in particular, because since women represent roughly half the species they shouldn't need special recognition. Yet there's no denying they do. Hence my frustration. In recent months there have
Gender
There are half-baked ideas, and then there are ideas that are so stupid they deserve to go back to the oven to die of 16th degree burns. Somehow today Pierre Poilievre managed to produce not one but two such clunkers. The first one concerns a private member's bill,
Politics
Before we start, you should know that I have nothing against lobster even though it is a giant bug. Except for poached eggs I also don't like boiling my food. So the odds of catching me luxuriating in some exotic locale enjoying sea-bug meat with butter sauce are
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