CP/HANDOUT

Dear Minister Michael De Jong, perhaps it was a good thing that I was not available for your call because I have a feeling you don't really want to hear what I have to say about your government's fiscal management record.

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Even if your child is not among those who are likely targets at the border, imagine how she would feel if a classmate, friend or teacher were subject to a humiliating search, separation from the group or refusal of entry. How would she react? And how should teachers deal with this?

CP

On January 17, the Conservative Party of Canada held its only French-language debate of the leadership race. For anyone who believes that the French language should be an intrinsic part of the political life of Canada, it was an exercise in frustration. Of the 13 candidates who had the guts to participate in this sorry show, less than half were able to show the basic ability to debate in Canada's other official language.

Amir Cohen / Reuters

People engaged in conflict need to develop a language of grief. Religion has traditionally offered one, but in Israel's early years people weren't looking for the old mourning rituals that Judaism had to offer. Neither were they particularly interested in warlike language - "warriors," "glory," and so forth. They turned instead to the natural world.

Eric Vidal / Reuters

CETA, the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, has everyone talking about Canada in Brussels, the EU capital, ahead of February 15's vote - and it's not always good. So, here is a tip for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ahead of his Thursday speech at the European Parliament.

CP/Dominic Chan

I wrote a blog calling for the resignation of the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto, Yusra Khogali, citing her pattern of vitriol. I knew the piece would be a little controversial, but I did not predict such a firestorm of hate, punctuated by thousands of people labelling me a white supremacist or a racist.

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More and more I hear Canadians making mean and disparaging comments about those who disagree or have different points of view. I also hear racist remarks, which is terribly distressing. It's not who we are as a nation. Some of the things said after the shooting at the Mosque in Quebec made me feel like I was at a Trump rally. And I'm not ashamed, or afraid, to say I don't like it.

Chris Wattie / Reuters

It's shocking that he took something as complex as a broken health-care system and twisted it into a story complete with a bad guy and a motive in less than 140 characters. Flippant statements let people - important people like those in government - ignore the danger. And then, they don't have to fix it.

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The five finalists in this year's contest for the world's best non-fiction book in English on foreign affairs happen to focus on two themes that preoccupy the White House: Islamism as a disruptive political force and the coexistence of an authoritarian Russia with an increasingly militarized U.S. government.

Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

I joined the Conservative Party of Canada because of Stephen Harper. I am staying because there is a principled way for us to earn our way back into government, and his name is Maxime Bernier.

Chad Hipolito/Canadian Press

I'm going to vote for the B.C. NDP, not because they're the perfect party, and not because I expect them to undo 16 years of B.C. Liberal rule anytime soon. I'm going to vote for them because they're a team of good-enough politicians who I expect to do the very best they can given the massive provincial debt they will inherit from the B.C. Liberals.

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There are repeated references in the media to this being a coup or a hostile takeover of some sort. Even the word "insurgency" has been used. This was not due to a small radical group of the dissidents. More than likely, your own doctor supported this change.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

The idea that the prime minister can get away with tiptoeing around Trump's attack on international law and human rights isn't going to cut it. As much as Canada has economic interests, we have moral interests. And this isn't simply a question of values. This is also a matter of standing up for Canada's vital interests.

HuffPost Canada

Trump has undoubtedly emboldened Islamophobes across North America, but Canada has our own history with Islamophobia that we need to talk about. From 2012 to 2014, we saw hate crimes against Muslims in Canada double - and this is all while most of us knew Donald Trump as the host of The Apprentice.

Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press

Should Conservative party members decide that reality TV star Kevin O'Leary is the best choice to carry the party forward, they will have to contend with the party's own past. Attack ads against O'Leary have already been written, and they're quite effective. Problem is, the Conservatives wrote them.

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As cities across Ontario try to squeeze out savings to expand public transit, something doesn't add up. Too many cities, including Toronto, are missing out on hundreds of millions in savings. That's because Ontario has a labour law loophole that's putting cities, companies and taxpayers at a huge disadvantage.

Chris Wattie / Reuters

Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has been dragging his feet about deploying Canadian peacekeepers to Mali. Canada should never again contribute troops to the endless UN-led peace missions that pop up around the world. In 70 years of peacekeeping, I'm at a loss to think of a single mission that succeeded.

Chris Wattie / Reuters

The high level of cooperation between Canada and the United States over many decades has deeply intertwined our two countries and preserving Canada's long-held partnership with the United States will no doubt be at the top of Prime Minister Trudeau's to-do list in Washington. But he must be clear in sharing the message that mutual observance and commitment to upholding human rights must be at the very centre of the special bond between Canada and the United States. Worryingly, President Trump has so far given much reason to believe that regard for human rights is not high on his own to-do list.