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Before We Privatize Canada's Airports, Ask Who Will Pay

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  Prime Minister Mark Carney's government wants to bring private capital into the operation of Canada's four largest airports — Toronto Pearson, MontrĂ©al-Trudeau, Vancouver International and Calgary International. Ottawa frames this as a way to unlock billions in investment without selling the airports outright: the federal government would keep ownership of the land and assets while granting private investors long-term operating concessions. That distinction matters to policymakers, but for the passenger at the check-in counter, a different question matters more: who eventually pays the investor? Private capital is not charity. Pension funds and infrastructure investors who commit billions to Canadian airports will expect a return, and that money has to come from somewhere. Canada's aviation system already runs largely on the user-pay principle — the Competition Bureau reports that passenger fees alone accounted for 33 to 47 percent of revenue at the country's eigh...

RIVAL FANS AREN’T LAUGHING ANYMORE

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                                                       How Arteta Has Turned Arsenal from a Punchline into a Problem A subtle shift is taking place around Arsenal. The banter from rival supporters is becoming quieter, replaced by a growing recognition that Mikel Arteta has built a team that is increasingly difficult to solve. Chelsea Met a Different Arsenal Xabi Alonso arrived at Chelsea with serious credentials after winning the German league unbeaten. Chelsea’s early performances under him showed attacking promise, that so many expected them to provide Arsenal with a major test. Instead, after scoring early, Chelsea created very little of consequence. Arsenal remained composed, controlled the match and dealt with the challenge methodically rather than emotionally. A Team That Knows How to Win For years, Arsenal could play ...

More Government Less Personal Responsibility

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  There is a contradiction at the heart of modern politics. We complain that life is too expensive, that taxes are too high, that businesses charge too much — and yet the moment something goes wrong, the instinct is the same: the government should do something. Regulate it, license it, inspect it, subsidize it, create an agency for it. Then we wonder why everything costs more. Consider the difference between a few families buying a cow together, having it butchered, and dividing the meat, versus buying meat through the commercial food system. The first is a simple chain: farmer, cow, butcher, families. The second passes through layers of licensing, inspection, labelling, and record-keeping — all of it staffed by people who must be paid, either through taxes or through the prices businesses pass on to customers. Either way, we pay. What About Health and Safety? Regulation clearly has benefits, and nobody serious wants contaminated food or unsafe slaughterhouses. But the re...

Money Is the New Brawn. Guile Never Went Away

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For centuries, men and women built different survival strategies because they lived under different realities. A man's greatest asset was often his physical strength — he fought wars, hunted, defended, built, and performed the labour civilization ran on. Brawn wasn't just admired; it was economically valuable. The strongest men generally had the greatest capacity to provide and protect. Then society changed. Machines replaced muscle. Knowledge replaced manual labour. Capital replaced physical power. Today a man's biceps matter far less than his bank account — his ability to earn, build wealth, invest, and create economic value has become the modern equivalent of physical strength. Money is the new brawn. And you want to sit at home and not work as a man? Your woman will get uncomfortable ooo. Women experienced a different evolution. Historically, where physical dominance wasn't their comparative advantage, women leaned more heavily on persuasion, emotional intelligence,...

Double Standards, Racism, and the Uncomfortable Question

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  Two things can be true at once. A Black academic accused of plagiarism deserves a fair investigation. And the coverage of that accusation can still be excessive, racially loaded, or out of step with how comparable white academics are treated. We should be able to hold both thoughts without collapsing into one. The recent conversation around Professor Jason Arday raised, once again, the question of racism, accountability, and double standards in Western institutions. It is understandable that Black people look at cases like this and ask whether a white academic facing the same allegations would face the same scrutiny. That is a legitimate question. But there is a second one we owe ourselves: what are we going to do about it? Naming a double standard is only the opening move. Plagiarism Is Not a Black Word Plagiarism existed long before Jason Arday became a professor. White academics have been accused of it, investigated, and in some cases forced out; others have weathered the cont...

The War Without Coordinates

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  When war breaks out, we instinctively reach for a map. Ukraine, Iran, Syria, Gaza, Sudan — we talk about borders, missiles, casualties, territory gained and lost. These are the wars we can see. But beneath many of them runs a war with no coordinates, no battlefield, no ceasefire. It is the war of ideology, and increasingly its front line is the human mind. Weapons are expensive, and no government sustains a major conflict on hardware alone. Before a society spends billions fighting an enemy, someone has to convince it the fight is necessary. We are defending ourselves. They started it. If we don't stop them there, we'll fight them here. Some of these claims are true, some are propaganda, most are contested. The point is that the missile usually follows the narrative, not the other way around. Before governments mobilize armies, they mobilize minds. This is the defining struggle of the era: who gets to decide what is true. Nationalism against globalism, strongman rule against ...

The Lion Doesn't Fight the Elephant

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This article was honed out of comments made in a WhatsApp group.  There is an old lesson hidden in nature that many nations struggle to accept. A lion can kill a buffalo. It can take down a zebra. It can outrun many animals. Yet when an elephant walks by, the lion usually keeps its distance. Not because the lion lacks courage, but because it understands the difference between courage and calculation. The lion isn't looking for glory. It is looking for lunch. That distinction matters. Increasingly, conversations about Canada and the United States have become emotional rather than strategic. Political slogans, national pride, and social media applause often replace the harder question every country should ask: What outcome actually serves our national interest as Canadians?  The United States is Canada's largest trading partner, closest military ally, and by far the dominant economic power in North America. Whether Canadians admire or dislike a particular American president is a...