‘Step aside and behold the wonder that is the free market’: The best comments from Hub readers this week

This week saw Hub readers engaging with a range of pressing issues, including how universities conduct themselves in the realm of politics, our country’s messy federalism, what the media needs to do to earn back public trust, the impact of the oil and gas emissions cap, and the importance of learning and appreciating our country’s history.

The goal of Hub Forum is to bring the impressive knowledge and experience of The Hub community to the fore and to foster open dialogue and the competition of differing ideas in a respectful and productive manner. Here are some of the most interesting comments from this past week.

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Reform is coming for entitled universities—one way or another

Monday, December 11, 2023

“Universities should be places where ideas can be explored, discussed, and debated freely. In our society today, sadly, civil discourse seems to have been lost.”

— A. Chezzi

“Different systems, different outcomes. Depending on who cuts the cheques, money does talk. The pace of cultural change within government-funded Canadian post-secondary institutions will be glacial, if in fact there is any movement.”

— RJKWells

“A key takeaway is that as universities face an increasingly difficult time defending their political neutrality on a range of issues and debates, it becomes more difficult for proponents higher education of to marshal a credible defense against political meddling by government. Administrators hopefully are waking up to this contradiction and fathoming that the ‘juice isn’t worth the squeeze.’ In sum, it is hard to see how universities don’t end up losing public support, public funding, and their intellectual independence if they continue to selectively take ideological stands on a range of issues from climate to indigeneity to anti-racism while downplaying antisemitism, their responsibly to fashioning genuine public, non-political goods, and providing neutral places and spaces for free and open debate and discussion.”

— Rudyard Griffiths (Executive Director at The Hub)

Does everything feel broken? Canada’s messy federalism is a big part of the problem

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

“Municipalities seem to be a lot less infected by party politics, which is usually a good thing. I could envisage a constitution that has the federal government playing a smaller role in dealing with truly national concerns, the municipalities basically taking over the provincial responsibilities, with the provinces having a residual power where there are no real municipalities that are sufficiently populous in order to bring the services needed.”

— Jon Snipper

The media must start listening to the public it serves

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

“Journalists used to be concerned with the ‘truth.’ As discussed in the article mentioning the three U.S. university presidents and their Congressional testimony, nowadays truth seems to require context. Rather than wordsmith around issues, I wish journalists had the moral backbone to ask elites hard questions. Where is the ‘science’ about managing COVID? Where was the risk analysis of closing schools or borders? Why were vaccine mandates seen as a good rather than as a punishment? Why do so many journalists seem to report politician’s statements rather than challenge them for evidence?

The best thing our media could do is to foreswear the federal funding as presently delivered and to be augmented by the social media tax soon to be collected. If they need paywalls, use them and explain why to readers. Sell the value of reporting Canadian stories to advertisers, rather than clicks.”

— Ian MacRae

“To be relevant and to be trusted, the news media must be responsible. That means being very strict with themselves about what is news, how it is reported, and the technical accuracy of the words and terms they choose.”

— Gregory Lang

“Respect your audience enough to listen to them and above all, ‘show, don’t tell.'”

— Zoe C.

Careful—an oil and gas emissions cap won’t just hurt Alberta

Thursday, December 14, 2023

“The one interregional conversation that needs even more focus should be about energy conservation and it should be taught in schools across the country.”

— Pierre Filisetti

“Canadians want action on climate change. Over 100 countries including Canada lobbied hard for strong language on the phase out of fossil fuels at COP28. This government is not an outlier on this issue.”

— Michael F

“Oil and gas will continue to be a part of our economy. The path to the less carbon-intensive environment (we’ll never be carbon-free, never) that you desperately seek today can only be achieved through innovation, not taxation. Those who believe in taxing the prosperity of others to achieve their elusive goals are free to join the soon-to-be unemployed minister Guilbeault and Greta Thunberg to engage in glib protests and unfurl shallow banners. Step aside and behold the wonder that is the free market.”

— RJKWells

No past, no future—How Canada’s historical amnesia is dooming our democracy

Friday, December 15, 2023

“Our history, good and bad, is our history and we must embrace it, but we have to study and understand that history to make the distinction. I think it is ignorance that leads to cancelling when we should be correcting the narrative to move forward.”

— Gregory Lang

“The threat of this has been hovering over Canadians for a couple of decades now. And now that it’s being treated seriously, it’s probably too late. Social capital (trust is another example) takes generations to build and once broken/lost is almost impossible to rebuild.”

— Menzies