Month: January 2023

Eurozone Economy Unexpectedly Grows in 4th Quarter but Weak 2023 Looms

FRANKFURT—The eurozone eked out growth in the final three months of 2022, managing to avoid a recession even as sky-high energy costs, waning confidence, and rising interest rates took a toll on the economy that is likely to persist into this year. Gross domestic product across the currency bloc expanded by a tiny 0.1 percent…


Canada Sanctions More Myanmar Elite, Bans Jet Fuel Sales Two Years After Coup

Canada has sanctioned more of Myanmar’s military elite, two years after the country’s coup. The country, formerly known as Burma, has seen a democratic backsliding and a series of humanitarian crises, in addition to the persecution of the Rohingya minority. Ottawa announced Tuesday that it is sanctioning six officials, which means Canada’s asset and travel…


John Robson: Feds’ Rapid Housing Plan Will Still Move at a Snail’s Pace, Despite an Additional $1.5 Billion

Commentary From the news releases I receive, particularly from the PMO, I gather that the government has both the will and the capacity to bring enormous benefits to me, my fellow citizens, and indeed the inhabitants of the entire globe. Alas, from the news stories I receive, particularly about the PMO, a rather different picture…


The Sovietization of Medical Care

Commentary My good friend professor Yuri Maltsev died this week and I’ve spent these mourning days recalling our conversations. He was a leading economist in the old Soviet Union, as the top advisor to Mikhail Gorbachev’s chief economist. He defected in 1989 before the Soviet Union fell apart. We became fast friends just after he…


Hybrid Parliament Can Stay, but Ministers Should Show up in Person: Committee Report

A House of Commons committee says the pandemic-era practice of allowing federal elected officials to vote virtually should be allowed to stay. Members of Parliament on the committee for procedure and House affairs studied the issue of the hybrid Parliament last year and their report was tabled today. It contains a series of recommendations, including…


Home Office Takes Over Illegal Immigrant Interception Role in English Channel From Royal Navy

The Royal Navy has ended its role as the official interceptor of small boats carrying illegal immigrants across the English Channel and handed the responsibility back to the Home Office and the UK Border Force. The end of Operation Isotrope comes as the Refugee Council published a report (pdf) that claimed 6 out of 10…


Jordan Peterson Warmly Received in Ottawa, No Protesters to Be Seen

OTTAWA—Despite some opposition and attempts by activists to shut down Jordan Peterson’s speech in the nation’s capital, the famed psychologist and academic went ahead with his sold-out talk at the Canadian Tire Centre on Jan. 30. No protesters showed up. Peterson began by chiding the 36 groups that wanted to ban him from speaking in…


Acute Psychosis After COVID-19 Vaccination

Unvaccinated patients have mentioned half-jokingly that COVID-19 vaccination in friends and family makes some of them “crazy.” While I have always brushed this off as fear driven vaccine ideology taking over common sense in some zealots, the building literature on neuropsychiatric symptoms is alarming. There are now ~10 papers describing headache, fever, and a range…


GOP Governors Call on Biden Admin to Delay Changing the Definition of US Waters

Republican governors called on President Joe Biden to delay the implementation of a new federal water rule pending a Supreme Court decision in a case related to the Clean Water Act (CWA) expected this summer. The Republican Governors Association (RGA) sent the letter (pdf) to Biden administration officials to delay the implementation of the revised…


GOP Governors Call on Biden Admin to Delay Changing the Definition of U.S. Waters

Republican governors called on President Joe Biden to delay the implementation of a new federal water rule pending a Supreme Court decision in a case related to the Clean Water Act (CWA) expected this summer. The Republican Governors Association (RGA) sent the letter (pdf) to Biden administration officials to delay the implementation of the revised…