While there’s no fast rule, the job of Canada’s ambassador to Washington often goes to a former politician or a high-profile Canadian who comes from outside of the ranks of career diplomats. But Kirsten Hillman, who took the post just over a year ago after serving as deputy ambassador, is very much from the public service side of Global Affairs Canada. A… Read more »
With the vaccination rates increase and businesses start to reopen, cities across the country are cautiously moving forward with economic recovery plans to coax workers back into offices and revive real estate markets pummeled by the pandemic. Some midsize cities such as Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho and Portland, Oregon may be set up to rebound faster than others because they… Read more »
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/china-detained-canadians-kovrig-trial/2021/03/22/75feb0b4-8ab3-11eb-a33e-da28941cb9ac_story.html China held a secret trial Monday for a second Canadian citizen, Michael Kovrig, in an espionage case that is commonly viewed as China seeking leverage to pry Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou away from Canadian and U.S. authorities. The outlook for the him was detained by China in late 2018 in “apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Meng, Huawei’s chief… Read more »
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/xinjiang-sanctions-european-union/2021/03/22/1b0d69aa-8b0a-11eb-a33e-da28941cb9ac_story.html The United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada each announced sanctions against China over human rights abuses in Xinjiang, a coordinated effort aimed at holding Beijing accountable for a years-long campaign against Uyghurs and other minority groups in the northwestern Chinese region. The E.U. was first to move, saying that it would hit four Chinese officials and a… Read more »
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/mexico-biden-immigration-surge-border/2021/03/23/2b993ec8-8bde-11eb-9423-04079921c915_story.html It is common knowledge that the number of migrants in the United States of America has increased exponentially in the past few years. Mexico is taking a series of high-profile actions to show it’s trying to stop the migrants heading for the border. They have restricted travel across its southern border, touting the deployment of nearly 9,000 troops, even… Read more »
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/03/03/democracy-declining-freedom-house-report/ This year’s survey marked the 15th consecutive year of global democratic backsliding — “a long democratic recession,” in the organization’s words, that is “deepening.” 3/4 of the people on earth live in countries where freedom is declining. That’s one of the darker takeaways in an annual report, Freedom House grades individual countries on 25 indicators that evaluate the health… Read more »
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/canada-keystone-pipeline-biden-us-relations/2021/01/19/ce09ea54-5a60-11eb-a976-bad6431e03e2_story.html After four years of trade clashes, unpredictable foreign policy and insults lobbed at the prime minister by tweet, Canadian officials are optimistic that the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden will mean a return to traditionally close relations between Canada and the United States. But this last week, they were dealt an uneasy reminder that Biden will also bring the… Read more »
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/01/27/biden-climate-change/ Our new president Joe Biden has promised for a while to become the climate president, and on Wednesday he detailed far-ranging plans to shift the U.S. away from fossil fuels, create millions of jobs in renewable energy, and conserve vast swaths of public lands and water. He says that the nation has already wasted precious years as it delayed… Read more »
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/22/canada-julie-payette-governor-general-resignation/ The disgraced tenure of former Canadian governor general Julie Payette, who resigned in shame on Thursday rather than endure yet another exposé of her reportedly vicious workplace behavior. The governor generalship, Canada’s “ceremonial chief of state,” is a ludicrous and embarrassing office at the best of times, so Payette’s humiliating departure marks a particularly pathetic nadir. If there ever… Read more »