Rodica and Emil Radita were arrested in Calgary on Tuesday morning on charges of first degree murder of their 15-year-old son. Alex Radita died in May 2013 under what police say were “suspicious circumstances.” His official cause of death is listed as a bacterial infection that arose from “complications of neglect and starvation.” Alex was […] More »

On Monday, U.K. comedian Avery Edison was detained and later arrested at Toronto’s Pearson airport over an issue with her visa. Edison admits she overstayed her student visa while previously in Canada, and had returned to visit her girlfriend and collect some belongings she’d left behind.  Avery Edison ‏@aedison  Feb 10 For those asking – I overstayed […] More »

So this might surprise you, but in today’s crazy mixed up world, subjects such as “rape” and “suicide” can be considered a little controversial, especially if you, oh I don’t know, combine those two subjects and make a homework assignment out of it. Surprised? Memorial University teacher John Shieh certainly was when the assignment he […] More »

It’s awkward enough having someone arrive uninvited to a party, but when that uninvited guest turns out to be the Mayor of Toronto, well… It seems that on Monday evening Rob Ford caused yet another social faux pas (among his previous ones: getting very drunk in public, loud racial insults, and smoking crack). Ford arrived […] More »

I really, really hope it is obvious to everyone that “the Holocaust was a bad thing” is a sentiment we can all agree on (if not, you might be reading the wrong magazine). It is certainly something that Prime Minister Stephen Harper believes in strongly. Strongly enough, apparently, to imply that the Holocaust is enough […] More »

Generally I think we are too quick to jump all over public figures for remarks they make —usually flippantly—that don’t jibe with our current understanding of sensitivity. It leads to a perpetually offended population where outrage, shock and condescending disappointment dominate the public discussion over what often amount to trivial matters. The endless string of […] More »

When the mammoth pharmaceutical company Bayer announced in 2009 that it would be making NorLevo, a morning-after pill, available over the counter to women in Toronto, it failed to mention one small detail: it doesn’t work for every woman. The drug, which is identical to Plan B One-step, (the more popular emergency contraception pill), may […] More »

On November 21st the Macdonald-Laurier Institute will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Free Trade with a “gala” dinner that promises to be a “remarkable evening”. It’s being billed as a can’t-miss event, presumably attended by autocratic millionaires who will be outfitting themselves with new monocles and pocket watch fobs for the evening. I imagine most […] More »

I’m not a psychoanalyst, but I can say with some confidence that the recent spate of Conservative party attack ads, trying to position Justin Trudeau as some dandy whose wrists are too delicate to prop up the weight of Canada’s mighty economy (“…in over his head”, in their words), are part of a rich, dumb […] More »

Watching the news last night I was struck by something in the coverage of this fiasco. I watched as increasingly influential Canadian politicians were asked about the Rob Ford situation. To a person they all played their roles perfectly. Premier Kathleen Wynne, Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair, Attorney General Peter McKay, former Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday […] More »

You’ve got nothing to hide. You’re an upstanding, shoes-wearing citizen who smells like soap and carries good conversations. You haven’t a single thing to hide. What does it matter if Bell Canada, this past week, announced that it will track their customers’ location, media habits, search activity, website interests, and application usage? You’re a modern […] More »