Latest Posts

The Case for Re-Examining the Core Principles of Neo-Conservatism
[The piece was written in July 2020, but is published here – without any changes – for the first time. Today’s events in the world make the topic of this discussion particularly relevant.] Neo-conservatism, generally defined as an approach

How well do you know Canada’s political system? Take the quiz!
Take our advanced 20 question quiz designed to test knowledge of the basics of Canada’s political and electoral systems. The quiz consists of three levels of questions and a bonus level, starting with a few simple ones and ending with

Dr. Michael Bonner: Iran’s Grand Past and its Many Influences on Islam
“Though Islam steadily spread throughout Iran with time, the indigenous population refused any other form of assimilation. The Sasanian Empire lost the battle, but won the war.” When Islam appeared, the world was old. Two great superpowers – Iran and

Geoffrey S. Turner: Keeping Canadian Corporate Tax Rates Competitive
This is an abridged version of a longer article recently published by the Canadian Tax Foundation in (2020) 1:2 Perspectives on Tax Law & Policy. The full article can be accessed here. Canada’s corporate tax system is not designed to

Why we cannot make our plans entirely based on predictions
Mark Lilla wrote a great article for the New York Times in May 2020 entitled “No One Know What’s Going To Happen”. If you haven’t read it, I strongly suggest you do. During this pandemic period, there is a lot

Why we need to support democracy and civil rights in Hong Kong
By Denis Tsarev and Sabrina Zuniga Many undemocratic governments around the world are using the current pandemic to increase their powers and to crackdown on people’s freedoms. Thinking that the international community is too preoccupied with fighting the pandemic in
History Highlights

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea established
#OnThisDayInHistory in 1948, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was established by Moscow’s appointee Kim Il-Sung to the North of the 38th parallel on the Korean Peninsula. After Korea was liberated from the Japanese by the Allies in August 1945, the country

Communist Party of the Soviet Union Abolished
#OnThisDayInHistory in 1991, the parliament of the USSR (the Supreme Soviet), suspended all activities of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), putting an end to the Communist rule in the USSR. The collapse of the Communist dictatorship was a

Milton Friedman Born in 1912
#OnThisDayInHistory in 1912, one of the most prominent economists of the 20th century and a Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman was born. Friedman was one of the leading figures of the Chicago school of economics, which emphasized the importance of free

Viking 1 Lands on Mars in 1976
#OnThisDayInHistory Viking 1 was the first US spacecraft to land on Mars. It was also the first spacecraft ever to remain functional on the surface of the planet and to accomplish its mission. It kept transmitting information back to Earth for

Marquis de Lafayette became the commander in chief of the National Guard in France
Marquis de Lafayette was one of the most outstanding figures of the American and French Revolutions. If you have seen the musical, Hamilton, you may recognize his name from that, too. Lafayette was a very capable military commander and he

On This Day In 1796: First Vaccine Successfully Tested
On May 14 1796, Edward Jenner, an English country doctor from Gloucestershire, England, tested a smallpox vaccine. Smallpox is thought to date back to the Egyptian Empire around the 3rd century BCE. Early written descriptions appeared in China in the