Insights

With a minority government in Ottawa, a federal election is possible at any time – triggered either deliberately or by accident. This encourages political observers to check opinion polls as often as regular people check the weather. | By Andrew Parkin

Nationalism has many different forms, from benign feelings of pride to aggressive chauvinism. Some speak idealistically of civic nationalism, quizzically of economic nationalism, or suspiciously of ethnic nationalism. | By Michael Adams & Andrew Parkin

For most of the past few decades our country has been welcoming large numbers of immigrants – both permanent and temporary – with the support of most Canadians. | By Michael Adams, Wendy Cukier & Keith Neuman

What has been the experience of South Asian people in terms of encountering racism, and how does this compare with other racialized groups in Canada? | By Keith Neuman

If ever there was a year when Canadians needed a national day off, it’s 2025. Certainly, politicians and journalists could use a break after months of campaigning, but ordinary citizens are also worn out: from tracking which tariffs are on or off, digesting the U.S. President’s latest threats to our independence, and searching for the “product of Canada” labels at the grocery store while trying to understand what they even mean. | By Michael Adams & Andrew Parkin

The latest edition of the Confederation of Tomorrow annual survey shows that Canadians haven’t changed their mind on provincial protectionism. | By Charles Breton & Andrew Parkin

This month marks the five-year anniversary of George Floyd’s tragic murder at the hands of the Minneapolis Police in May 2020. This event took place at a time of growing tension around police violence directed at the Black community in a number of cities, and sparked a massive wave of protests and demonstrations across the USA and other countries advocating for racial justice.

This year marks 10 years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission finished its work investigating the history and impacts of Canada’s Indian Residential School system. The commission’s final report marked the completion of a painful yet essential process of testimony and revelation, but even more important the starting point for the country’s reckoning with its colonial legacy.

On May 9, 2025, Michael Adams is being inducted into Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends. The award recognizes Michael's decades of helping people understand one another. Long-time friend and colleague Barry Watson has written a reflection on his influence on research, marketing, and society. | By Barry Watson

Hate motivated aggression is becoming alarmingly common in Canada. This typically takes the form of blatant disrespect, abuse and sometimes violence motivated by hatred or bias directed at physical symbols (such as a mosque or synagogue), individuals or groups of people, or communities as a whole. | By Keith Neuman

Canada is a much different place than it was three years ago. In 2021, the topic of racial justice was front and centre in the public discourse in response to George Floyd’s tragic murder, the Black Lives Matter movement, anti-Asian harassment, and uneven progress toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. | By Michael Adams, Marva Bailey-Wisdom & Keith Neuman

Prejudice against older people is relatively new in historical terms, reflecting a profound change from previous eras when elders were widely respected and often dominated positions of power and status. In today’s rapidly changing world, what was once valued in elders for their wisdom and connection to the past no longer seems to count for much as it once did. | By Keith Neuman

Survey research asks about what just happened. Unfortunately, what everyone really wants to know is: what’s going to happen next? I don’t pretend to have the answer. But I do have some ideas about what to watch for. | By Andrew Parkin

Holiday dinners are sometimes about making the best of an awkward situation, forcing smiles and exchanging pleasantries with people you’d rather not be sitting next to for very long. That’s just what Justin Trudeau did at the end of November, when he flew to Florida to dine with the incoming president of the United States. | By Michael Adams & Andrew Parkin

A new scale called the material deprivation index is better than the market-based measure when it comes to capturing the scope of poverty. By Michael Mendelson, Andrew Parkin, Geranda Notten, Richard Matern & Sofia Seer

Joe Biden’s frailty was an easy target for Donald Trump and the Republicans, but Kamala Harris’s presumptive presidential nomination at the upcoming Democratic Party convention in Chicago means they must change tack. | By Michael Adams & David Jamieson

The COVID-19 pandemic had both immediate and lingering impacts on our health. The immediate ones were all too obvious: millions died or became seriously ill. While some recovered quickly, others experienced persistent symptoms for months, if not years. | By Andrew Parkin & Justin Savoie

Should Canadians be worried about identity politics? Some commentators lament the current obsession with identity, which they say focuses on what makes us different from one another rather than on what we have in common; that identity politics only serve to divide society into resentful silos. | By Michael Adams & Andrew Parkin

A surprising resurgence of popularity for the Parti Québécois is not driven by growing support for sovereignty. But many Quebecers nonetheless identify themselves as mainly sovereigntist. What underpins this preference? Beyond an obvious preference for sovereignty, which of their views distinguish them from other Quebecers? | By Charles Breton & Andrew Parkin

The 2018 Quebec provincial election was notable not only because it brought to power a new political party – the Coalition avenir Québec – but because it was a historic defeat for the sovereigntist Parti Québécois, reduced at that time to only 10 seats in the National Assembly. | By Charles Breton & Andrew Parkin

At a time of rapid change in the workplace, access to skills training is key to workers’ success. Workers cannot expect that the knowledge and know-how they learned during their years in formal education will see them through their entire careers. | By Andrew Parkin

Since Brian Mulroney’s death last month, pundits and the public alike have reflected on his political acumen and accomplishments. The negotiation of the free-trade deal with the United States tops everyone’s list of his achievements as prime minister. | By Michael Adams & Andrew Parkin

As we move past the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a tension between the desire to go back to the way things were in the workplace before, and an interest in finding new and better ways to work. | By Andrew Parkin, Pedro Barata & Wendy Cukier 

It was quite a year in Canada. Satisfaction with the federal government and the Prime Minister nosedived. The governing party was eclipsed in the polls by the Official Opposition. Public anxiety about the economy grew, and as it did, support for immigration weakened. Despite a global summit on the environment, the issue of climate change struggled to make it to the top of the political agenda.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a challenging time. It threatened our lives and our health, upset our jobs and our livelihoods, and distanced us from friends and family.

Canada by global standards has had a successful history of immigration. The country has been fortunate in having a large land mass, oceans to provide for effective control over migrant flows, and a stable political ally along the undefended southern border.

Canada has long been an immigrant nation, starting more than four centuries ago when the first European settlers arrived on what many Indigenous Peoples call Turtle Island. Today, Canada stands out as having one of the most ethnically diverse populations on the planet.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a sudden disruption of everyday life. While many things are back to the way they were before, one change has proven harder to reverse: working from home.

A lighthearted stereotype of Canadians holds that we’re prone to apologizing, and under an absurdly broad array of circumstances. When someone steps on the toes of a Canadian, the joke goes, it’s the Canadian who will say sorry.

While Canada’s history has been marked by divisive constitutional disputes, one part of the Constitution brings us together: the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter is seen by more people as being very important to their identity as Canadians than any other institution or symbol. It is held in high esteem in every region of the country, including Quebec.

Discussions of how Canadians view their federation inevitably zero in on regional differences. Western Canadians are alienated, Quebecers are nationalist, Atlantic Canadians feel overlooked and Ontarians are more or less oblivious.

A series of attacks in Toronto — many occurring within the public transit system — has shone the spotlight on the issue of crime and safety in the city. As we search for solutions, we should start by thinking about who among us feels more vulnerable.

A series of attacks in Toronto — many occurring within the public transit system — has shone the spotlight on the issue of crime and safety in the city. As we search for solutions, we should start by thinking about who among us feels more vulnerable.

It is easy to list the political issues that divide Canadians today. Leaders and parties stand far apart on what to do about health care, climate change and firearms, to name but a few.

The arrival of Syrian refugees in Canada a few years ago is a well-known “feel-good” story. Images of Justin Trudeau greeting refugees at the airport and private citizens stepping up as sponsors are etched in the minds of many Canadians.

With labour unrest back in the headlines, it is reassuring to know there is at least one thing on which workers and bosses can agree: skills. In particular, both sides are on the same page when it comes to the type of skills needed to succeed in today’s economy.

Those of us who do public opinion research feel like we have the best seat in the house. The data we collect over the course of a year provide insights on how people are doing and what they are worried about.

Over the last 20 years, only two of the past seven federal elections have produced majority governments. Governing and opposition parties alike have struggled to grow their popularity with Canadians.

This past year offered Canadians plenty of reasons to question their national identity. The angry occupation of Ottawa last winter, on the edge of Parliament Hill, clashed with our stereotype of Canadians as polite compromisers.

Political leaders in Canada benefit from our inevitable tendency to compare ourselves to the United States. No matter how bad things are here, there is a good chance they are worse there.

We are living in an era of populism and polarization. Our politics is divided and angry. And if anything is changing, it is changing for the worse. Or so we are often told.

Canada is breaking records on immigration. The federal government recently announced increased targets for the next two years, with the intention to welcome a record 500,000 new permanent residents in 2025.

We surveyed more than 4,000 Torontonians to find out how they’re doing in the wake of the pandemic and what’s clear is a lot more of us are isolated.

Combatting racism is now firmly on the public agenda in Canada, reflecting an evolving acknowledgment of the systemic mistreatment of racialized people.

There is no shortage of new irritants in the relationship between Ottawa and the three Prairie provincial governments. In recent years they have faced off over the carbon tax, pipeline construction, energy exports, federal spending and vaccine mandates. Western alienation may have deep historical roots, but current events never fail to rejuvenate the sentiment.

After the optimism of the country’s centenary in 1967, one set of scholars published a group of essays entitled Must Canada Fail? In a similar fashion, the adoption of a new, made-in-Canada Constitution in 1982 was met with another classic academic volume: And No One Cheered.

Plus de 25 ans après le référendum de 1995 sur la souveraineté et à la veille du 40e anniversaire du rapatriement de la Constitution, il peut être facile d’oublier que, du début des années 1960 à la fin des années 1990, débattre des lois fondamentales au Canada était presque devenu un sport national.

Our survey finds that, prior to the pandemic, one in two Canadians who woke up on a workday feeling a little sick would have gone into work anyway. And a lack of paid sick days is not the main reason why.

After the optimism of the country’s centenary in 1967, one set of scholars published a group of essays entitled Must Canada Fail? In a similar fashion, the adoption of a new, made-in-Canada Constitution in 1982 was met with another classic academic volume: And No One Cheered.

Almost a year ago, Canadians tuned in to watch one of the scariest reality TV shows ever produced: early 21st century American politics. On Jan. 6, thousands of radicalized, ill-informed Americans stormed the Capitol building to disrupt the certification of the results of the presidential election.

Everything has changed. Work, school, shopping, travelling. Visiting loved ones, whether we can hug them. Each time we think this might soon be over, the COVID-19 case numbers rise again and the light at the end of the tunnel slightly dims.

Millions of Canadians are now well into their second year of working from home. As the COVID-19 pandemic hit, non-essential employees began working from their couches, kitchens and bedrooms, hopping virtually from one endless video meeting to another.

At first glance, the 2021 federal election appears to have changed very little. Each party was returned to the House of Commons with about as many seats as it had previously held.

The past two years have witnessed a transformation in the national conversation about race in this country. Within this relatively short span of time, the tragic murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis has crystalized the issue of anti-Black racism and the excessive use of force by polic

The retention of women in the labour force has emerged as one of the most pressing concerns of the post-pandemic recovery. At the height of the pandemic in June 2020, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland stated, “I think it would be fair, as some economists say, to describe the recession we are currently experiencing as a ‘she-cession.’”

On Oct 8, 1971, then-Prime Minister Trudeau announced multiculturalism as an official government policy. On the 50th anniversary of the announcement, Canadian Geographic is publishing five essays that explore the theme. T

Immediate media reaction to the federal election result is divided. Those who count the seats won and lost see the status quo. Those concerned with the tone and tenor of our politics fear the election has left the country more divided than ever.

There is never any shortage of reasons to track the ups and downs of regional grievances in Canada: Every year brings new developments that fuel perceptions of regional winners and losers.

Certain truths seem self-evident: We are all created equal. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Our democracy is imploding under the strain of declining trust and increasing polarization.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve all had questions about vaccines. Will a vaccine against COVID-19 be found? Will it be effective?

Cette année, les Canadiens ont dû admettre plusieurs vérités dérangeantes. Nous n’avons pas su prendre soin de nos aînés durant la pandémie. Les Canadiens noirs ont raison de se méfier de la police.

As we mark World Refugee Day this June 20th, the latest United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates there are 82 million people worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes, including more than 30 million children.

The COVID-19 pandemic’s devastating effects on Canadians are plain to see. Countless families are struggling to cope with their grief over the loss of loved ones. Hospital staff are exhausted by their non-stop efforts to care for patients in intensive care.

Millions of Canadians are now well into their second year of working from home. As the COVID-19 pandemic hit, non-essential employees began working from their couches, kitchens and bedrooms, hopping virtually from one endless video meeting to another.

In this report, we seek to explain how and why intergroup contact works to improve intergroup relations, using a representative sample that included racialized and non-racialized individuals in Canada.

The resignation of Canada’s governor general and the renewed in-fighting within the royal family have sparked a fresh round of reflection about Canada’s ties to the monarchy.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread in North America last March, it was hard to imagine anything else capturing a large share of public attention in the ensuing months.

Only a fool would set out to forecast events for 2021 considering the unexpected year we’ve had. But we can still reflect on how the events of the past 12 months have set the stage for what comes next.

While populists around the world have used the pandemic’s many upheavals to sow fears against newcomers, Canada might never have been more sure of its broadly welcoming spirit than now.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments in Canada have benefitted from remarkable public goodwill.

Are the robots coming for our jobs? For years, that’s been the fear. Experts have warned that automation and artificial intelligence will disrupt the labour market.

Some observers say Canada has never been more divided than it is today. They’re wrong. Oct. 30 marks the 25th anniversary of Quebec’s second referendum on sovereignty.

Whoever pens Wednesday’s speech from the throne has no shortage of topics and suggestions to choose from. Pundits on both the left and the right have not been shy about sharing their favourite ideas.

This coming October will mark the 25th anniversary of the last Quebec referendum on sovereignty. Many Canadians, inside and outside the province, will celebrate by being thankful that we have finally put the era of constitutional plebiscites behind us.

The year 2020 will forever be remembered for the COVID-19 pandemic, but it remains significant in other ways. Among other things, it marks 40th and 25th anniversaries of Quebec’s two referendums on sovereignty.

The one thing that the October 2019 federal election appeared to make clear was just how regionally divided the country had become. The Liberals were shut out of Alberta and Saskatchewan, the Conservatives fared almost as poorly in Toronto and Montreal, and the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois rebounded to form the third largest party in the House of Commons.

The anguish and confrontations spreading across the United States in response to the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer have captured the attention of news audiences in that country and around the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a sudden reversal of Canada’s employment picture: sliding from enjoying one of the lowest unemployment rates in decades to job loss or underemployment for millions of Canadians.

Data from the 2018 Wellcome Global Monitor, a major study of attitudes to science and health conducted by Gallup in 140 countries, shows that most people worldwide trust scientists, and trust a doctor or nurse for health advice over other sources, such as family, friends or religious leaders.

In just a few days, we went from wondering how COVID-19 would affect us to finding ourselves in the midst of a national emergency. Many expect major disruptions to expose the weak patches in our civic fabric, and there have been, and will continue to be, actions and episodes that have disappointed and shocked.

Canadians don’t just want things to get back to normal; they want things to get better. The country has moved on from where it was in 1990.

A functioning democracy depends on the support of its citizens. The popularity of specific leaders and political parties may rise and fall, but ideally without affecting the extent to which citizens are satisfied with the political system and have trust in its core institutions, including the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.

Americans don’t often talk about Canada, except when they need a foil in a political debate. Bernie Sanders has praised our health-care system. Gun-control advocates point to radically lower rates of firearms fatalities north of the border.

Functional families celebrate their members’ achievements – be they graduations from school, promotions at work, or personal bests in weekend pursuits.

When racist incidents in Canada grab public attention, they usually provoke two reactions: general condemnation, and then a resolution to finally start a serious conversation about race relations in this country.

As usual, the triennial report from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) – released in early December – brought a mix of good and bad news. Canada’s scores in reading, math and science are drifting downward over time; this is the bad news.

On December 3, the OECD released the results of the 2018 PISA assessment of students around the world. The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada released the results for the ten provinces.

Many international commentators have been impressed by the strength of public support for immigration in Canada. At a time of considerable backlash elsewhere, Canada has actually been increasing its annual immigration intake.

As the two most powerful parties promise that Canadians can have it all, without sacrifice, surely some voters have a sneaking feeling there’s something important they’re not being told.

There are few certainties heading into an election campaign; the outcome is up for grabs. The one thing many do feel certain of is that it is Canada's turn to be buffeted by the winds of populism.

As recently as a few decades ago, most Canadians didn’t look kindly on sexual diversity. In 1987, just one in ten approved of “homosexuals.” While fewer than one in five thought a job applicant’s race (18%) or religion (14%) mattered, 44 percent believed homosexuality should be taken into account. 

The issue of climate change, and how best to address it, is one that activates a number of society’s underlying fault lines, be they ideological, regional or even generational. In a federation such as Canada’s, however, there is an additional dynamic at play, namely views on the practice of federalism itself.

There have been many expressions of goodwill toward reconciliation since the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action in 2015.

A wave of authoritarian populism has been evident in Europe, Britain and the United States over the past few decades. Many Canadians are wondering how these energies might manifest in their own country’s upcoming federal election.

The political differences across the country – on issues ranging from energy and the environment to immigration and the best way to create jobs – sometimes leave the impression that the country is hopelessly fractured.

A poll released this week by the Environics Institute for Survey Research found that nearly half of Canadians said immigration makes the country a better place. A third said it makes no difference. Fewer than one in six said immigration makes Canada worse off.

People who think the non-religious Jewish Diaspora is dissipating can cite numerous tendencies to support their belief.

It’s rare for pollsters to be able to use the word “unprecedented” to describe survey results unless they’re releasing their first poll – or giving in to the temptation to use hyperbole to get attention. But a recent Environics Institute survey has indeed revealed some unprecedented results.

On the surface, the contrast between Canada and the United States on immigration is sharp. U.S. President Donald Trump was recently warning of an “invasion” by a group of migrants crossing Mexico on foot, even going so far as to send troops to the border in a theatrical flourish just ahead of the mid-term elections.

No socio-cultural change in North America has been more consequential over the past century than changes in attitudes and expectations related to the role and status of women in society.

Maxime Bernier has argued that multiculturalism is a divisive policy that encourages Canadians to identify with their own “tribes” at the expense of their wider society.

An estimated 25,000 people have crossed into Canada from the United States at irregular crossings, seeking refugee status and reportedly fearing deportation by the Trump administration to dangerous home countries.

It seems that in just a few short years the world has become much less certain and stable. In particular, we have seen the destabilization of democratic institutions and political norms.

In 1999, Canadian philanthropist Alan Broadbent gathered smart-minded thinkers about Toronto—three former mayors, several former city councillors, influential urbanist Jane Jacobs, as well as local journalists, academics, and business leaders—for a two-day conference around the matter of the evolution of Canada’s largest city.

Another provincial election has come and gone in Canada, and once again pre-election polling is coming under scrutiny for not getting it right. What used to be a predictable track record of accuracy in measuring voter support leading up to election day has now become anything but predictable or seemingly accurate.

News of two exceptional Toronto men has reached every corner of the world. One of the young men, who reportedly struggled to establish successful social relationships, especially with women, mowed down 25 pedestrians, killing 10, on Yonge Street last Monday.

Xenophobic retrenchment has been evident in many societies lately. Anti-immigrant parties have made or consolidated gains in countries such as Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands and, most recently, Italy.

America is deeply divided on issues related to immigrants and refugees, while in Canada, which accepts larger proportions of newcomers, there is a general consensus in the country over the issue.

Cultures have their own myths, institutions and trajectories. Some things have changed in America, as in other societies: slavery was abolished, women got the vote, same-sex marriage was allowed. 

Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson - in their February 10 Globe and Mail commentary - get it half right when they say the current tsunami of populism in western countries is largely an expression of cultural, as opposed to economic, insecurity.

As Carleton University political scientist Jonathan Malloy wrote in a recent Globe and Mail opinion piece, Ontario's Progressive Conservative party is a house divided.

In early 2007, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani led the pack of would-be Republican nominees for president – but some worried he was “too metropolitan” for heartland voters.

Data on immigration and ethnocultural diversity from the 2016 census show that many Canadian communities now have a larger percentage of visible minority residents than they did in 2011. Of the 338 federal ridings in Parliament, 41 have populations where visible minorities form the majority, compared with 33 five years earlier.

Populist, anti-government sentiment continues to surge in many countries with democratically-elected governments — most recently with the emergence of Andrej Babis, the new anti-establishment leader of the Czech Republic.

The resignation of University of Toronto emeritus history professor Michael Marrus from a senior fellowship at Massey College has provoked discussion far beyond the College.

Like Bill 101, Quebec's (in)famous language law, Bill 62 is likely to be remembered for a long time, both within Quebec and elsewhere in the country.

In his new book, The Retreat of Western Liberalism, Edward Luce points to the spreading anti-government sentiment and populism (most boldly typified by Donald Trump and Brexit) as symptoms that now threaten a collapse of the world order of democracy and reason.

As icons of masculinity, it would be hard to find a more vivid contrast than that between US president Donald Trump and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Although mass migration has been happening for decades, in recent years the flight of refugees from conflict zones in Africa and the Middle East has produced striking images of desperate people searching for a safe place to land.

Our world is changing rapidly, due in large part to fundamental and often disruptive transformations brought about by the globalization of economic production, finance and the migration of people, as well as the digital revolution and rapidly evolving social values.

Conservative leadership hopeful Kellie Leitch attracted attention last week with a proposal to screen would-be newcomers to Canada for "anti-Canadian values."

Even as most of us are glued to America's rancorous election, some Canadians--notably committed Conservatives and New Democrats--are charged with choosing leaders whose ideas and personal identities will rally current supporters and even attract some new ones.

Indigenous issues in Canada have been prominent in the news over the past few years. The Idle No More movement, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), and the Trudeau government's initiation of a public inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women have each helped to bring mainstream attention to long-standing concerns of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples.

On any given day, Canadians might wake up to a range of news stories related to Muslims in Canada. Most recently, it might be a story about Muslims and non-Muslims working together to welcome some of the 25,000 Syrian refugees who have arrived here in recent months.

"Because it's 2015," was Justin Trudeau's memorable response to a reporter's question about why he had made it a priority to have gender parity in his cabinet. The composition of the 42nd Parliament suggests that Canadians agree with their new Prime Minister that as one of the world's most diverse countries approaches its 150th birthday, the identities of its political representatives should match the identities of its population.

Two-thirds of Canadians (65%) support the Liberal government’s promise to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada, according to a recent Nanos survey. About a third (34%) oppose the move either strongly or somewhat.

The 42nd federal election is now over, and the deconstruction of what it was really about will go on for some time. What is already clear is that the outcome was driven primarily by a growing desire for change after almost a decade of Conservative government.

Baby Boomers have left their mark on society at every stage of life, from their stampede through the education system to the “echo boom” they produced in their own fertile years. Now, as they move into the second half of their adult lives, they will make their presence felt again—and not only by their sheer numbers but with the manifestations of their values.

As this year’s federal election approaches, the Conservative government is increasingly crystallizing its offer to voters around a single promise: security. The economy has been removed from the party’s display window, replaced by the global fight against ISIS and its sympathizers, some abroad, some next door.

US Democratic Party strategist James Carville famously coined the phrase "It’s the economy, stupid" as the theme of Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential campaign.

Many Canadians who will not vote Green will confide that they rather like Elizabeth May. She stands out as the only female party leader, and given her fourth-party status she can speak with a candour others won’t risk.

Societies have conversations with themselves. Sometimes these conversations are so noisy that everyone is forced to pay attention. In Canada, our noisiest conversations since World War II have been Quebec sovereignty and the War Measures Act.

One often reads in these pages about the many challenges facing marketing research today, but the industry overall is clearly alive and well. The most recent estimates of economic activity in 2013 totalled $600 million in Canada and over US$40 billion worldwide.

Recent surveys have found Canadians to be supportive of Canada’s military deployment to Iraq and Syria to aid in the fight against ISIS.

As this year’s federal election approaches, the Conservative government is increasingly crystallizing its offer to voters around a single promise: security. The economy has been removed from the party’s display window, replaced by the global fight against ISIS and its sympathizers, some abroad, some next door.

What has Stephen Harper done to Canada? To some, that‟s a rueful, rhetorical question. To them it‟s obvious: this government has changed the country drastically and for the worse.

It wasn’t long ago that Canadians voted in large numbers. Just a few decades ago it was normal to see turnout rates for federal elections in the mid-70s.

The past year has been an eventful one for aboriginal peoples in Canada. The tragedy of violence against aboriginal women has finally been forced onto the national agenda, thanks in large part to the Native Women’s Association of Canada’s insistent counting of victims.

As global warming emissions reach record-breaking levels, Canada’s environment minister will join world leaders in Lima, Peru, next week for the latest round of UN talks on an action plan to fight climate change.

Over the past eight years, the federal Conservatives have seldom missed an opportunity to show Canadians how seriously they take crime and how eager they are to make convicted offenders sorry for their transgressions.

Recent numbers from the World Bank remind us that the worldwide flow of remittances – the money immigrants send back to their countries of origin – is astounding. In all, international migrants were responsible for the movement of an estimated U.S. $529-billion in 2012.

When U.S. President Barack Obama won 71 per cent of the Hispanic vote in 2012, it dealt the final blow to an idea that had been popular during George W. Bush’s years: that Hispanic Americans’ conservative values on social issues (rooted in their predominantly Catholic religiosity), made them “natural” Republicans.

Much has been made of a purported rightward shift in Canadian values. But research shows that Canadians still want government in their lives, and a majority are not embracing conservative social values.

Justin Trudeau, leader of a Liberal Party that many recent polls have found nudging ahead of the Conservatives, is fond of describing his growing army of young volunteers across the country.

I’ve been committing sociology since my early youth. My parents and even my parish priest failed to detect early signs of trouble, even though I read the daily newspaper voraciously (a common warning signal among teenagers in the 1960s).

Climate change is once again emerging as a pressing global issue, and it is becoming increasingly clear that substantial actions will need to be taken. What to do?

Growing up in the 1960s, we learned about Canada’s ‘two solitudes’ defining our national identity – and our national division – the French in Quebec and the English in the rest of Canada.

Why does demographic change matter to politics? Different demographic groups are not hard-wired to vote differently.

Justin Trudeau has declared his candidacy for the leadership of a party has been desperately seeking a saviour for years. As one leader after another has failed to connect with Canadian voters, many Liberals have longed for "a new Trudeau."

It seems every day Canadians awake to another sober message from a bank economist or cabinet minister – one part scolding, one part warning, all very serious. We are spending too much relative to our earnings.

The first rule of fight club was don’t talk about fight club. The first rule of Canadian hockey seems to be never stop talking about it.

After 41 years of Progressive Conservative government, Albertans appear to be in the midst of a political shakeup. The polls show a more competitive election than most would have expected even a few months ago.

In many countries, conservative political parties are seen as hostile to immigrants. Right-of-centre parties in the United States and Europe tend to be more nationalistic than their left-leaning counterparts, and this pride in country can sometimes manifest itself in xenophobia.

The Canadian media have been almost obsessed with hockey these past couple of weeks. Although global events have occupied some of our attention, domestic matters (namely Sidney Crosby's concussion and Max Pacioretty's fractured vertebra) have forced reputedly peaceful Canadians to meditate on violence in our unofficial national sport.

A few pollsters caused a stir recently when they suggested political polls are polluting Canadian democracy. The ensuing debate, which has bizarrely pitted pro-polling pollsters against anti-polling pollster-pundits, has largely been a tempest in a teapot.

In June, the federal government announced the discontinuation of the mandatory long-form census. This article attempts to answer the question, “What will Canada lose if the mandatory long-form census is permanently discontinued?”

Canada’s successful approach to citizenship is being threatened by current trends in immigration policy.

Anniversaries such as Canada Day are a good time to take stock of long-term changes in the lifestyles, attitudes and values that characterize our society. Incremental changes can seem matter of fact as they unfold in daily life, but their cumulative effects can be remarkable.

American-born urban economist Jane Jacobs died in 2006. She was the thought leader and inspiration to a generation of Torontonians who celebrated diversity, density, vitality and livable neighbourhoods, who loved public transit and hated expressways and cars.

If someone asked you to describe all the important relationships in your life - to people, places, even to organizations and institutions - where would the federal government rank?

The climate-change Olympics are still under way in Copenhagen, with each nation in attendance participating in a bizarre competition to see how well they can pronounce the party line on climate change while making the fewest concessions for tough actions back home.

Toronto Mayor David Miller might be the only prominent figure in history to leave a high-powered job claiming he wants to spend more time with his family - and actually mean it.

By now, you may have made the acquaintance of Shona Holmes, a woman from Waterdown, Ont., who says her life was almost cut short by the plodding, government-run health care system of her native Canada.

I grew up during a time when it was said that everything that happened in the United States would eventually come to Canada. For me, the most evocative annual illustration of this was the auto show at Toronto's Exhibition Place, where Detroit's latest contributions to mobility and status were put on display for aspirational Ontarians to drool over.

Like many people around the world, Canadians have been suffering for several months with a nagging chronic condition. The affliction is likely to flare up painfully in the coming weeks. The condition is Obama-envy, and the flare-up will be induced by the visit of the new President on Feb. 19.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his team have expressed the desire to move Canada in an incrementally more conservative direction through successive Conservative governments.

In 1991, Tom Lukiwski stood in a campaign office in Saskatchewan, looked into a video camera and made some very derogatory remarks about gay men, to the giggling delight of whoever was filming.

It's the start of 2008. Do you know where Canada's international priorities are? When the Harper government took office in 2006, although its famous "five priorities" were all domestic, one of the goals that hovered around the edges of the Conservative agenda was to beef up Canada's role in the world.

'I have often regretted my speech, never my silence," the Greek philosopher Xenocrates said. One wonders whether, when the Bouchard-Taylor commission on reasonable accommodation has aired the thoughts of every Quebecer who chooses to take the microphone, the province (and indeed the rest of Canada) will feel satisfaction or regret.

It's been nearly a year since Earthlings everywhere were informed that if they wished to stone women, imprison girls, and ruin Christmas, they had better not try any of this in Herouxville, Que.

Asked to state his political philosophy in a nutshell, long-serving Ontario premier Bill Davis famously said, "Bland works." For his Progressive Conservatives, it worked until 1985, when he made the surprise announcement that his government would extend public funding to Catholic schools through high school.

Were you, like me, watching Quebec's election results pouring in last night, remembering Jacques Parizeau's denunciation of "the ethnic vote" in 1995 and anticipating that one of the defeated candidates might blame his ill-deserved fate on veiled Muslim voters - all 67 of them?

In June of 1989, a remarkable thing happened. When Environics asked Canadians what they saw as the top problem facing the country, the most common answer was the environment.

The members of the Parti Québécois have spoken, electing as their new leader a young, handsome, gay, and postcocaine André Boisclair, who has assured supporters a vote for him is a vote for a referendum " immédiatement" upon his moving across the aisle in the National Assembly.

Okay, Canada, Mother's Day Pop Quiz. Question: What policy idea is capable of uniting: (a) social conservatives, (b) advocates of smaller government, and (c) Quebec, the most socially progressive region in North America?

Who would have thought? The community responsible for Toronto's gay pride parade, reliably the opposite of dull, finds itself at the centre of a legislative debate that has become boring.

Canada’s Supreme Court recently declared that, should the federal govern-ment wish to proceed with same-sex marriage legislation, it should be encumbered only by its own fear of controversy–not by any constitutional constraints.

In the same-sex marriage debate that engulfed Canadians just before Christmas, The Globe and Mail ran comments from two of its more prominent Christian columnists, broadcaster Lorna Dueck and former Reform Party leader Preston Manning.

It was bound to happen sooner or later. As Americans and their leaders prepare for the most important and divisive presidential election in decades, pollsters, who like to think of themselves as scientists outside the arena of political contention, have become targets of partisan venom from both the Kerry and Bush camps.

As Canadians lick their wounds over our national election result – a minority that carries with it the likelihood of another round soon – we should be thankful for our limited campaigns compared to the endless electioneering in the United States.

In April the Federal Court of Canada dealt a blow to the Canadian Recording Industry Association when it ruled that online file sharing does not constitute copyright infringement.

Last January, U.S. President George W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin apparently hit it off over a breakfast of sausages and eggs at the Summit of the Americas meeting in Monterrey, Mexico.

What a difference a few months have made in the life of our Prime Minister. When Paul Martin was "crowned," he inherited the most popular three-term government in Canada's history; he and his party seemed invincible.

Alliance Party leader Stephen Harper and Progressive Conservative Party leader Peter MacKay have finally reached an agreement to merge their parties in an effort to unite the right.

This is turning out to be quite a year for Canadian liberalism. The Liberal Chrétien government has gained international attention for Canada by indicating its support for legalized gay and lesbian marriages and a promise to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

The debate over same-sex marriage occurs at a time when Canadians are realizing how quickly social values have evolved in this country - and diverging from those of Americans.