A donkey ride to Texas
“This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice …” These words came to me in the quiet, early hours of November 6. The day after. Before I turned to any news. The night before, I waited until 8:30, then 8:45 pm, to check the election news the world was hanging on. I…
The duty of tension
I did not plan to write about polarization—I’ve filled my quota on that topic—until Maxime Bernier held a rally near my home. Bernier leads the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) and may be the most prominent populist politician in the country. I couldn’t resist the chance to cross the political divide. I attended the June…
Politics and paper cranes
As the policy analyst for Mennonite Central Committee Ottawa, I’m constantly engaging with Canadian politics. I mostly love politics, but it’s also so easy to get drawn into toxic and fruitless debates and arguments. In order to stay grounded, I’ve discovered that I need to regularly reflect on the roots of my political passion—so much…
Citizens for Public Justice hosting cross-Canada tour ahead of federal election
Ahead of the 2019 federal election, Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) is hosting a series of free, non-partisan events across Canada. The tour will provide the electorate with information to better understand important policy issues related to CPJ’s core policy areas: poverty in Canada, ecological justice and refugee rights. Additionally, the tour serves as an…
Murky lessons from a political firestorm
As the partisan jostling over SNC Lavalin wanes, we can more clearly examine the ethical questions at the core of a scandal that Mennonite cabinet minister Jane Philpott stepped right into the middle of. Philpott and former justice minister and attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould brazenly called out the Prime Minister, sacrificed promising political careers, took…
Can we talk politics?
Some years ago, when Canada was in the midst of a federal election, my husband proposed that our church “talk politics.” Specifically, that we set aside time in the adult Sunday school class to examine the issues and the options being offered by different parties and candidates. The proposal was originally met with hesitation; people…
A Liberal dose of generosity
Jane Philpott was elected to parliament and appointed Health Minister last fall. Prior to that, she worked as a family physician in Canada and also in Niger from 1989-98. Philpott and her husband Pep have four children and attend Community Mennonite Church in Stouffville, Ont. The minister spoke by phone with Canadian Mennonite’s Will Braun…
Philpott: blanket health coverage for refugees
OTTAWA – Health Minister Jane Philpott, along with Immigration Minister John McCallum, have announced blanket health-care coverage for newly arrived refugees, according to the Canadian Press. This essentially rips up a patchwork coverage put in place by the former Conservative government. Starting in 2017, the new Liberal government will also extend coverage to certain refugees…
Political nativity
At Christmas time families journey to meet other family members. There is a Christmas tree up in the corner, and some twinkly lights afloat somewhere. Somewhere in the corner there is someone like me, wincing to the sound of so-called Christmas “music” (cough … noise!), and a grandma or maybe grandpa has just pulled out…
‘Seeking the welfare of the city’
“In the New Testament,” said Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, who ran unsuccessfully for the office of mayor of the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ont., on Oct. 27, “the state is understood as part of God’s good ordering function in the world—but it is not the centre of God’s purposes in history; that distinction belongs to the church. The…
