When reading wild propaganda about Canada’s role in Haiti I often wonder if the reporter is a sycophant or whether they’ve been duped. With the Caribbean nation set to hold its most credible presidential election in sixteen years Ottawa announced it was withdrawing support for the October 9poll. The Trudeau government’s decision to follow Washington in seeking to undermine the... Continue Reading →
Mining companies receive Canadian ‘aid’
Significant sums in Canadian “aid” are spent promoting international mining initiatives. In a press release last week Ontario-based Carube Copper said it acquired over “500 square kilometres of the most prospective ground in Jamaica based on historic showings, the work completed and reported in 1993 by the Canadian International Development Agency (‘CIDA’).” Canadian aid has facilitated... Continue Reading →
Sordid tales of Canada-UN history in Africa
Canadian officials have long done as they pleased in Africa, loudly proclaimed this country’s altruism and only faced push back from hard rightists who bemoan sending troops to the “Dark Continent” or “dens of hell”. With many Canadians normally opposed to war supporting anything called “peacekeeping”, unless troops deployed with an African UN mission are... Continue Reading →
Tax dollars used to shape the news
Last Saturday the Ottawa Citizen published a feature titled “The story of ‘the Canadian vaccine’ that beat back Ebola”. According to the article, staff reporter Elizabeth Payne’s “research was supported by a travel grant from the International Development Research Centre.” The laudatory story concludes with Guinea’s former health minister thanking Canada “for the great service you have... Continue Reading →
The Left in denial over Canadian imperialism
As hard as it is to admit for a former junior hockey player who spends many hours writing at the neighbourhood Tim Hortons, some things are better in the USA. For example, comparing Green Party leader Elizabeth May to her American counterpart Jill Stein on foreign-policy issues puts Canada to shame. While Stein has articulated... Continue Reading →
GardaWorld private security firm a danger to democracy
Last week students at L’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) disrupted a board meeting after learning administrators planned to sign a $50 million, seven-year, contract with security giant GardaWorld. Protesters are angry the administration has sought to expel student leaders and ramp up security at the politically active campus as they cut programs. The world’s... Continue Reading →
A shameful episode from Canada’s history in Africa
Few Canadians are familiar with pre-colonial African cities, and even fewer know a Canadian military leader helped sack one of West Africa's great metropolises. In the fifth installment of its Story of Cities series, the Guardian recently focused on Benin City, the lost capital of an important precolonial state. At its height in the "Middle Ages," Benin... Continue Reading →
Laurentian the latest university to be mined by rich Canadians
He who pays the piper picks the tune. This bit of folk wisdom seems not understood or ignored by many institutions of “higher learning.” The neoliberals running Canadian public universities have signed a slew of deals with mining companies that are engaged in violently extracting resources from the Global South. In two of the more... Continue Reading →
Where seeking mainstream media attention leads
Do Black (Haitian) lives matter to Canada’s leading ‘left-wing’ foreign-policy think tank? Apparently not as much as having the corporate media mention their work by getting in bed with militarism disguised as peacekeeping. At the start of Black History Month the Ottawa-based Rideau Institute co-published Unprepared for Peace?: The decline of Canadian peacekeeping training (and what to do about... Continue Reading →
Kagame: dictator or great leader?
The Globe and Mail’s recent coverage of Rwanda has been schizophrenic. While South African-based correspondent Geoffrey York has done important work detailing how Paul Kagame’s government has assassinated its opponents and contributed to violence in Eastern Congo, columnist Gerald Caplan has justified its repression and echoed Kigali’s position on regional conflicts. At the start of January York... Continue Reading →
Canada’s Kagame apologist
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has long been the darling of prominent liberals such as Bill Clinton, Samantha Power and Tony Blair. But, it’s become ever more difficult to publicly back the bloodstained Rwandan dictator. After two decades in power Kagame recently had the constitution changed so (only) he can keep running for office. Alongside... Continue Reading →
Let us also remember the victims of Canada’s wars
Trudeau “unveils most diverse Cabinet in Canada’s history”, was how one media outlet described the new Liberal cabinet. It includes a Muslim woman, four Sikhs, an indigenous woman, two differently abled individuals and an equal number of women and men. Half even refused any reference to God at Wednesday’s swearing in ceremony. But in one respect there was... Continue Reading →
How soon until Justin Trudeau reveals his liberal imperialism?
Right-wing commentators are calling Justin Trudeau’s decision to withdraw fighter jets from Syria-Iraq “un Liberal” and unfortunately they’re right. But, by citing the Liberal sponsored Responsibility to Protect (R2P) to justify Canadian participation in the US-led bombing, these pundits are revealing the essence of this “humanitarian imperialist” doctrine. Last week senior Maclean‘s writer Michael Petrou called... Continue Reading →
Who has heard of Canadian gunboat diplomacy?
Former Prime Minister Kim Campbell once said “an election is no time to discuss important issues.” But surely the opportunity to free up $40 billion while making the world a safer place ought to spark a discussion about the Canadian Navy’s role in the world. Four years ago the Conservatives announced the National Shipbuilding Procurement... Continue Reading →
Jewish voters turning to Harper
Where are Conservatives most likely to be elected in Canada? Historically, rural and suburban White, Protestant ridings and the wealthiest parts of English-speaking cities have been where the Tories enjoyed the most success. Certainly the Conservatives have never been the party of those marginalized for economic, social or religious reasons. Yet, at the start of... Continue Reading →
Interview: Canadian ‘aid’ goes to policing Palestinians
Real News Network Interview JESSICA DESVARIEUX, TRNN PRODUCER: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jessica Desvarieux in Baltimore. And welcome to this edition of The Engler Report. Now joining us is Yves Engler. He is a Canadian commentator and author, and his most recent book is The Ugly Canadian: Stephen Harper's Foreign Policy. Thank... Continue Reading →
The long history of Zionism in Canada
Canada’s Conservative government is trying to convince Canadian Jews to support its right-wing imperialistic worldview. Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently spoke to the annual Toronto gala of the Jewish National Fund, which has a long history of dispossessing Palestinians and discriminating against non-Jews. Echoing the words of Theodor Herzl, a founder of political Zionism, Harper... Continue Reading →
Illegal in Canada, but okay in Israel?
In Canada it is illegal to restrict the sale of property to certain ethnic or religious groups but many of our business people and politicians promote an organization that does exactly that in Israel. Into the 1950s restrictive land covenants in many exclusive neighbourhoods and communities across Canada made it impossible for Jews, Blacks, Chinese,... Continue Reading →
Condemning is easy, but understanding is necessary
There are no shades of grey, no nuance or even cause and effect in the simplistic world view proclaimed by the current Canadian government. The Conservatives' response to the horrific attack in Nairobi's Westgate Mall has been to thump their chests and proclaim their anti-terror bona fides. "The fight against international terrorism is the great struggle... Continue Reading →
What is Ottawa’s position on the UN veto?
We support the UN veto, except when used against something we want. That seems to be Ottawa’s position towards the ability of the five permanent members of the Security Council to veto resolutions. Recently Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Minister John Baird criticized the possibility of Russia vetoing a UN resolution authorizing military action... Continue Reading →
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