By Joe Couto on
Article originally published Nov 10, 2009 Pierre Trudeau still haunts us. The publication of historian John English’s sweeping biography of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Just Watch Me, is the second volume of English’s definitive look at the life…Read More→
By Joe Couto on
A few years ago, I visited the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. The museum bills itself as “a human rights laboratory and educational center dedicated to challenging visitors to understand the Holocaust in both historic and contemporary contexts and…Read More→
By Joe Couto on
In 1928, U.S. Republican presidential candidate Herbert Hoover promised voters, “A chicken in every pot. A car in every garage.” Hoover didn’t invent campaign promises, but he sure hit a grand slam with his chickens and car promise. Too bad…Read More→
By Joe Couto on
With all due respect to the venerable ideal that is democracy in Canada, Canadians should be excused for suffering from “election fatigue.” This ailment follows the recent four-week debacle that was the federal election, one that might be aptly described…Read More→
By Joe Couto on
Unlike other nations forged by revolution, civil war or other violent means, Canada has always prided itself on its rule of law. More than one of my professors drummed into my head that Canada has always been about “peace, order…Read More→
By Joe Couto on
If we are to believe Bloc Quebecois MP Pierre Paquette, Canada is being run by shadowy evangelical Christians. These mysterious religious types, when they are not in their prayer meetings beseeching the Lord on Stephen Harper’s behalf, are apparently pulling…Read More→
By Joe Couto on
A decision by Saskatchewan’s top court ruling that the province’s marriage commissioners cannot refuse to wed same-sex couples is a step toward equality rights for all Canadians–or is it? Justice Robert Richards of the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ruled that…Read More→
By Joe Couto on
In 2008, Parliament passed legislation to increase Canada’s age of consent law (the age at which a young person can legally consent to sexual activity) from 14 years old to 16. The move was based on a felt need to…Read More→
By Joe Couto on
Obscenity, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. For most people, looking upon a thing of beauty is much more preferable than something that disgusts them. But sometimes we need to be jolted out of our comfort zones…Read More→
By Joe Couto on
As Christian and other faith groups gird themselves for the inevitable next “battle of the bedroom”—this time a legal challenge to Section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada which prohibits polygamy—the question of how to tackle this threat to…Read More→