The Canadian Dissident

25 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, what has America's "War on Terror" accomplished?  Afghanistan is once again under the Taliban's control.   Iraq is fractured and overrun by competing militias.  Syria is ruled by a former al-Qaeda militant. Yemen is divided by civil war. Israel is bombing Lebanon and committing genocide against Palestinians.   The U.S. is entangled in another long-term war, this time against Iran.  Since 2001, the “War on Terror” has killed millions of people , cost trillions of dollars , caused  environmental devastation , and made the world more unstable and unsafe. It continues to be a complete failure on every front. Unfortunately, the U.S. has failed to learn from their overseas misadventures, and  Canada is still following America's lead, supporting and legitimizing U.S. militarism. If we want a foreign policy independent of the U.S., we must stop collaborating with the U.S. military and withdraw all our troops...

If there's one thing that defines Canadian culture, it's that we always define and evaluate ourselves in contrast to the United States. This has been a constant theme throughout Canadian history. Rejection of the United States was even one of the biggest reasons for the creation of Canada in 1867. The United States is not a great benchmark, given the country's long history of imperialism, militarism, racism, extreme inequality, and violence that continues to this day. Compared to the rest of the world, the U.S.  is an outlier in many ways. For example, the U.S. has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world and spends far more on the military than any other country (more than China, India, and Russia combined).  An unfortunate result of our fixation on the United States is we have become adept at ignoring our own country's problems. “At least we're not as bad as the States,” we tell ourselves.  We rightfully condemn Trump’s violent crackdown on immigration....

2025 was a major turning point in American and Canadian politics. Trump's second presidency has already made a huge impact on the world, as he launched trade wars against many countries including Canada. In March, Mark Carney took over as Canada's Prime Minister and steered the Liberal Party to the right . He adopted much of the Conservative Party's platform and won another minority government in April. The Liberal government's new restrictions on immigration led to a record decline of Canada's population. This sudden population drop is bad news for Canada's economy, which is struggling to maintain any growth. Add in the uncertainty caused by Trump's on-again, off-again trade war, and there is a strong possibility of a recession in the new year. Here is a look back at some of the year's best journalism and analysis. Israel-Palestine war How Israel’s West Bank strategy aims to bury Palestinian statehood  - Reuters As Israeli settlements continue to expan...

Political polarization can pose a big problem to democratic countries, but sometimes the opposite can also become a problem.  Canadian politics is dominated by the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party. It's not quite a two-party system, but no other party has ever formed government at the federal level.  Under former leader Justin Trudeau, the Liberal Party was center-left or simply centrist, depending on who you ask.  Faced with plummeting polls and the prospect of a Conservative majority government, new Liberal leader  Mark Carney decided to push his party to the right. He started by adopting Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre's signature policy: axing the carbon tax. Carney then copied much of the Conservative Party's platform for the April federal election. He promised to tighten border security, cut immigration, "crack down" on drugs, and increase military spending. Much like Poilievre, Carney also leaned into Canadian nationalist sentiment and promis...

During this year's federal election campaign, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet sparked outrage by suggesting that Canada is “an artificial country with very little meaning.”  Despite the media and political backlash, Blanchet is right. Every country in the world is an artificial, man-made construct. However, Canada is especially artificial.  Canadians are not united by geography, climate, politics, values, religion, or language. This has always been true, since 1867 when Québec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were united into one country. The original four provinces had different histories, different ethnicities, and different political aspirations. Canada has always existed as a pragmatic compromise.  The only thing that Canadians from coast to coast to coast have in common is that we are all living on land taken by force from Indigenous nations. The Indigenous nations of the land are diverse and not confined to the arbitrary borders of Canada. Desp...

The dust has settled from the federal election, and unfortunately Canadians voted for more of the same. More inflation, more deficits, more debt, more unaffordable housing, more centralized government. Canada needs significant change to empower communities, small businesses, and low-income families. Our current economic system rewards capital more than work. Our current government enriches politicians, bureaucrats, government contractors, and multinational corporations at the expense of everyone else.  Canada is also running the risk of devolving into a two-party system.  85% of the vote went to the Liberal and Conservative parties. A two-party system will not serve working class Canadians and will not enact meaningful change.  With the rising cost of living, many Canadians are being left behind. Low-income workers should be the government's top priority. Too many Canadians work full-time but still struggle to pay the bills. Here are 6 policies that would make life signif...

All the major parties, with the exception of the Bloc Québécois, are now promising to cut federal income taxes for low-income Canadians, by varying amounts. The Liberals have proposed a very small cut for the lowest income tax bracket, while the Greens want to eliminate income tax for Canadians earning up to $40,000 a year. You can compare all the party positions here:  Conservative Party: Reduce the tax rate on the lowest income bracket (up to $57,375) from 15% to 12.75%.  Source: party website   Liberal Party: Reduce the tax rate on the lowest income bracket (up to $57,375) from 15% to 14%. Source: Financial Post NDP: Raise the basic personal amount (tax-free income) to $19,500.  Source: party website   Green Party: Raise the basic personal amount (tax-free income) to $40,000.  Source: party website People's Party: “Cut personal income taxes… after the deficit has been eliminated, over the course of several budgets, as the fiscal room is found to allow it...

Due to the Trudeau government's misguided attempts at internet regulation, Canadians can no longer share links to news articles on Facebook and Instagram. Google has announced they will follow suit in blocking news for Canadian users. Michael Geist, an expert in internet law, wrote , "It is difficult to overstate the harm that Bill C-18 will create for the media sector in Canada, with enormous losses that will run into the hundreds of millions of dollars." Who knew that government regulation of the internet could backfire? (Almost everyone) It is bizarre that Canadian users now have to find ways around government restrictions in order to share news, but here we are. Here are 5 ways it is still possible to share news stories on Facebook. 1. Share a screenshot This is not ideal, because few people will take the time to find the article and read it. However, if the headline is accurate and you're in a hurry, this does work. 2. Link via the Internet Archive   The Internet...

Front page of the New York Times on March 20, 2003 In March 2003, the United States invaded Iraq based on a web of lies spun by President George W. Bush. Americans expected to find weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and biological weapons, as well as a program to develop nuclear weapons. After years of searching, inspectors determined that Iraq in fact did not have any weapons of mass destruction and no concrete plans to develop them. The Costs of War Project at Brown University recently estimated 550,000 to 580,000 people have been killed  by the war in Iraq and Syria since 2003, and "several times as many may have died due to indirect causes such as preventable diseases." There are also approximately 15 million Iraqis and Syrians currently displaced by the war. The US and Canada still have troops stationed in Iraq.  Yesterday the Canadian government extended its military mission in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon for another 2 years. Canadian troops wi...

Everyone who takes public transit in Edmonton is used to seeing homeless people sleeping on the bus, camping out in train stations, smoking, injecting drugs, yelling incoherently, and asking passengers for money. The same scenes play out in every major city across Canada, from Vancouver to Halifax. In Edmonton, the number of  homeless people doubled during the pandemic. The number of amputations for frostbite also doubled. People obviously don't live in train stations for fun. They have nowhere else to go. The days of blaming people for their own lack of housing are over.  Between high housing prices, inflation, years of covid restrictions, and unemployment, it's no wonder so many Canadians have become homeless. The City of Edmonton tolerates (and sometimes endorses) the use of downtown stations as informal homeless shelters. City councilors and politicians of all stripes are okay with people living, sleeping, and freezing in transit facilities. Why? Because politicians don...

2022 was a momentous year for Canada, with political turmoil, provincial elections in Ontario and Quebec, new premiers in BC and Alberta, and the lifting of covid-19 restrictions that had been in effect across the country for over two years. In January the Truckers for Freedom Convoy headed for Ottawa, and by February it was no longer possible to deny that millions of Canadians were fed up with the government's long-standing covid-19 restrictions. Vaccine mandates and other restrictions were gradually lifted  province by province , with the federal government eventually following the provinces' lead at long last. The return to normal life is arguably the biggest story of the year, but it was quickly overshadowed by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February. Millions of Ukrainians fled the country, including over 100,000 who arrived in Canada this year. The Canadian government has pledged  over $1 billion of military aid to Ukraine. The war has also highlig...

Supporters cheer on the arrival of the Truckers Convoy in Ottawa ( @steveglwalsh / Steve Walsh Photography) The ongoing "Truckers for Freedom" convoy is an example of a real populist protest and a genuine grassroots movement. It wasn't started by politicians or celebrities. It was started by truckers and other working class Canadians - insignificant "nobodies." It's not funded by big businesses or political parties, but $7 million (and counting) has been donated by thousands of individual Canadians. Politicians like Jason Kenney and Erin O'Toole only voiced their support after the convoy started and it became apparent that hundreds of thousands of Canadians were cheering the truckers on. But n o major politicians were involved in starting or organizing the convoy. Contrast the MAGA (Make America Great Again) "movement" in the United States, which was founded and funded by billionaire-politician Donald Trump. MAGA was never a genuine grassroots...

How we study and remember history affects our world in the present. In other words, remembering and commemorating military history is a political act. For that reason, as Remembrance Day approaches, I think it's healthy to question how we remember our country's wars. Remembrance Day in Canada focusses on Canadian and allied soldiers, especially those who were killed and injured in combat. Because all of Canada's wars in the 20th and 21st centuries have been fought overseas, far from the eyes of the Canadian public, we haven't witnessed first-hand the horrific toll war takes on civilians. Modern wars usually kill more civilians than combatants, and many of those who survive lose their homes, their jobs, their families and friends, even their limbs. Civilians don't sign up to live in a war zone, unlike soldiers paid to kill. They are left without choice, caught in the middle of state-sponsored violence. In World War II civilian casualties far outnumbered military cas...

Before this year, vaccines were mostly apolitical objects. The vast majority of people viewed getting vaccinated as a morally right thing to do, to protect both yourself and those around you. There has always been a small anti-vaxxer minority, but before 2021 they were inconsequential in both public health and politics. Then in early 2021 murmurs began in the political world, mostly from the left, proposing vaccine mandates, including so-called "vaccine passports." The concept was roundly rejected by leaders as discriminatory, unnecessary, divisive, and counter-productive. In January Prime Minister Justin Trudeau argued against vaccine passports, calling them "extreme measures that could have real divisive impacts on community and country." In April the Biden administration also argued against vaccine passports.  The World Health Organization, which has consistently opposed travel restrictions throughout the pandemic , also voiced their opposition to vaccine passp...

In June the Trudeau government pushed Bill C-10 through the House of Commons. The bill  aimed to classify online content as "broadcasting," thereby  granting the government sweeping new powers to regulate and censor the internet. Fortunately Bill C-10  died in the Senate as they didn't have enough time to pass the bill before Parliament's summer recess. Later this summer Justin Trudeau announced plans to further restrict free speech by expanding the legal definition of hate speech and creating a new bureaucracy in charge of "digital safety." The new Digital Safety Commissioner of Canada would have the power to regulate, spy on, and censor social media. On August 13th, only 2 days before calling a federal election, the Trudeau government made another divisive announcement. Vaccine passports would soon be required for everyone travelling by air and train within Canada, everyone working for the federal government, and everyone working in federally regulated in...

Canada currently has thousands of troops deployed overseas. That simple fact is not secret information, but it's not well known either. The press rarely talks about it and politicians almost never mention it. The Canadian public funds these overseas missions, but the average Canadian knows very little about our military's overseas escapades. How many countries does the Canadian military currently operate in? How many can you name? More importantly, are any of these operations actually necessary for Canada's national security? In Europe, Canada has significant numbers of troops in Latvia and Ukraine. Operation Reassurance , based out of Latvia, has "up to 915" members deployed at any given point in time from the navy, army, and air force. The operation's purpose is vaguely defined as " NATO assurance and deterrence measures" intended to "show the strength of Allied solidarity." It is Canada's largest overseas mission, but it is very diff...

Covid-19 is quickly dying out in Canada, but the media and governments are reluctant to give up their newfound power and influence. This summer is starting to look somewhat normal, but what will happen in the fall? Here are a few possible scenarios. 1. Covid makes a small comeback Covid is seasonal, so we may see a small "wave" of cases this fall/winter. The media will of course blow it way out of proportion. Will politicians lockdown again? It really depends on public reaction. 2. Covid makes a big comeback A vaccine-resistant variant emerges, the media freaks out, and we're back to indefinite lockdowns. But this time lockdowns will be even more controversial, because so many Canadians are exhausted and angry with the seemingly endless government restrictions. There will be mass protests, and major polarization between the pro- and anti- lockdown crowds. 3. A new disease emerges Maybe it's ebola, maybe it's SARS, maybe it's a brand new virus. Recent history ...

Canada's ruling elite has imposed draconian restrictions on Canadians for well over a year, but because they don't follow their own rules, they're incapable of  understanding just how much suffering they've inflicted on everyday people. As they shut down businesses and make it illegal to work, politicians never miss a paycheque and never have to worry about how they're going to pay the rent. As they shut down schools, they never have to scramble to find childcare at the last minute or miss work in order to stay home with the kids. As they close down gyms and criminalize sports, their one-on-one sessions with personal trainers continue.  As they make it illegal to see your friends and family, their parties with fellow elites go on. Earlier this week, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney was  spotted  partying with  Health Minister Tyler Shandro  and other high ranking officials. A photo shows them atop the government's "Sky Palace," gathered  around a tabl...

Long before covid-19 hit the country, hospitals across Canada were often stretched past their limits. Our healthcare system has long been underfunded, underequipped, and unprepared to deal with surges. In 2011 , hospitals in Ontario and Manitoba were overwhelmed by a surge of flu cases. Surgeries were cancelled as hospitals ran out of room for patients.  In 2013 , hospitals all across Canada were overwhelmed by surges of flu and norovirus. Surgeries in Alberta were cancelled as hospitals operated over capacity. In 2014 , Ontario hospitals were overwhelmed by another surge of flu patients. In 2016 , Ontario hospitals were overwhelmed again. Hospitals in Hamilton were forced to operate over capacity for months and the city ran out of ambulances. In 2017  numerous hospitals across Ontario were overwhelmed, as documented by extensive news coverage. Surgeries were cancelled and hospitals were  forced  to stuff patients into lounges, offices, and storage rooms. The On...