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Month: January 2020

OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND DOUGHNUTS

OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND DOUGHNUTS

It may not be a sign of the coming end time, but it certainly is a sign of our times and of the state of our media that the day Greta Thunberg is in Davos rebuking world leaders about “empty words and promises” on climate change,  a thinly sourced Global News story  reporting that Canadians were “attacking” Prime Minister Trudeau for his decision to buy his doughnuts at a pricy local bakery, rather than at a Tim Horton’s was trending on Twitter.

Now, there are many things Canadians can and should criticize Trudeau for, including his government’s less than robust approach to climate change policy, but his taste in doughnuts? Come on!

Unfortunately, at a time when many media outlets measure the value of a story by the number of click-throughs it generates, Canadians are more likely to see this kind of click-bait trending on Twitter than in-depth analysis of the government’s climate agenda.

WELCOME TO POLICY, STRATEGY…AND IDEAS

WELCOME TO POLICY, STRATEGY…AND IDEAS

I created this site as a place for sharing ideas and perspectives shaped by a 30-year career in policy, strategic planning, communications, association management, government, and politics.

I expect to post the occasional quick take on breaking news, but content will lean more toward in-depth opinion and analysis.  And while the news cycle will decide many of the issues covered, I intend to also focus on a small number of issues and policy areas of particular concern to me.

The state of our democracy and political system (particularly the impact of digital media) tops the list, with climate change and conservation a close second.  More narrowly, I will also examine how business interacts with government (and vice versa), aviation policy (a recent passion of mine), infrastructure funding and the evolving federal-municipal-provincial relationship.

And occasionally, I may share some thought on a book or two that have very little to do (or even nothing at all) with the weighty subjects referenced above.   

The vast majority of my posts will be current and exclusive to this site, I may however from time to time also share a column originally written for a mainstream outlet, as well as content from other contributors. In rummaging through my digital cartons, I also found a number of posts and op-eds written between 2011 and 2019 that I think might be of some relevance and interest today — those will be found in the archive section of this site.

If a search brought you here, I hope you found what you were looking for. If you stumbled on this page, I hope you find something of interest and stay a while,  but however you got here, welcome. 

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I look forward to the conversation!