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Category: Chairman’s Desk

How an organ donation saved my life

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Canada’s organ donor rates are significantly lower than the U.S., Spain, and France. And I can’t imagine any Canadians who thinks that’s OK.

If the headline didn’t already give it away, well then — spoiler alert — this column takes a wide turn from the politics I usually write about, to the personal, which I seldom do.

A year ago I had a kidney transplant.

Since then, my life has changed in ways I never dreamt possible. To be able to dream of something, you must be able to imagine it. But I could never have imagined my life today, much less dreamt of it. In fact, I have no memory of feeling this good.

Before my surgery, I had been living with end-stage kidney disease. And like many other illnesses that develop over time, you get used to things being just as they are. But with kidney disease, you eventually get to a very bad place. A place where you are faced with three options: do nothing and die; undergo dialysis; or get a new kidney.

And so while it is a surprise to many, a transplant is the treatment of choice for this disease. And that’s what I was blessed enough to have.

In every respect, I won the lottery of life. My partner and I were a match. I live in Toronto — the best place, on the evidence, on the planet to have your kidney transplanted. And our medicare system ensured I wouldn’t be wiped out financially.

Fortunate as I was, many are not. According to Canadian Blood Services, over 4,000 Canadians are waiting for not just a life-saving, but a life-transforming, organ transplant. And this is no comfortable “wait.” People really suffer; their lives deteriorate daily. And most tragically of all, the most unnecessary and painful fact is that — each year — for hundreds of our fellow citizens time runs out and they die while waiting.

The reason for this is no mystery: there are simply not enough organs to meet the demand. And the solution is not a mystery either.

International comparisons show that Canada’s donor rates are significantly lower than the United States, Spain, and France. And I can’t imagine there is a Canadian among us who thinks that’s OK.

The good news is the path forward has been discovered, tried, and tested here in Canada. The approach is what’s known as presumed organ consent (or “opt-out” legislation). In short, this means people are presumed to consent to donate their organs after their death unless they “opt out.”

In 2021, Nova Scotia became the first jurisdiction in North America to adopt this practice, and it’s already saving lives. But the policy rationale extends beyond life-saving potential. People who require organ donation depend heavily on our medical system for vital care and support.

Indeed, dialysis costs roughly $100,000 a year per patient in Canada. By comparison, a transplant costs approximately $66,000 with continuing costs of roughly $23,000 per year for monitoring and anti-rejection medications. These are not insignificant savings for an already overburdened sector.

There are, of course, many ethical dilemmas to navigate on this issue and any future plans must guarantee that religious and spiritual convictions are respected. However, the “opt out” policy option is a proven solution. One that saves lives. It is also a solution that matches the incredible compassion and generosity of the Canadian people.

In the late Paul Dewar’s final statement to Canadians, he told us he saw his illness as a gift. I never truly understood his words until I was lying by myself in an ICU bed with an IV in each arm.

But now, I do.

The finest gifts fill you with a sense of awe, humility, renewed purpose. Today, I have a new life because the man I love risked his own. You can’t quantify this feeling of gratitude. Or touch it. Or hold it in your hand.

You can live out your life with humility and renewed purpose and awe. You can give back and tell your story. You can keep the gift alive.

This article first appeared in the Toronto Star on March 5, 2023.

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Canada needs to take Chinese threat seriously

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Canadians must understand Chinese actions threaten our democratic institutions, economic independence, national security and, yes, our way of life.

 

This past week, disturbing revelations were made painstakingly clear to Canadians: the People’s Republic of China and its intelligence apparatus threaten our nation’s security and our democracy.

On the evidence, the authoritarian dictatorship in Beijing has interfered in our elections to the benefit of Trudeau’s Liberals and the detriment of Canada’s democratic foundations. While their tactics demonstrate a blatant disrespect for our way of life, they also show our inability to respond effectively.

Having engaged in diplomatic gaslighting, they are now laughing at us from behind the protected walls of the Politburo in Beijing.

It should not take a front-page exposé for Canadians to understand that the actions of the Chinese government threaten our democratic institutions, economic independence, national security and, yes, our way of life.

It is time that we understand our politicians have proven incapable of addressing Chinese state influence. Chinese aren’t just at our gates, they own them. And they’re standing idly by flipping us the bird.

Currently led by an aggressive, ambitious, and paranoid government, China exhibits all the characteristics of a hostile state. The détente that followed Chairman Mao’s rule lulled many Westerners into a false sense of security but under Xi, China is once again under the thumb of an ideological despot with, given the situation with Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, even more capacity to throw his weight around on the world stage.

Just this past week, the Globe and Mail reported news from CSIS that Canadian politicians, government officials, business executives and Chinese Canadians all have been prime targets of Chinese government espionage.

This espionage has deployed blackmail, bribery, and sexual seduction. The range and nature of the tactics used are usually reserved for spy novels, but national security experts now deem China’s espionage infrastructure to go far deeper than even the Soviet’s efforts at the height of the Cold War.

Spying has become a pillar of Chinese statecraft and thuggery, accompanied by denial and obfuscation, a hallmark of its government.

So, what’s the objective of this brazen approach given that it risks further alienating China from the international community — especially when it needs to make friends to increase trade and boost economic activity after its crippling pandemic lockdowns?

Clearly, it is to obtain political, economic, scientific, and military intelligence from Canada so they can stifle Canadian critics and hamper our own economic and political clout.

Just like a domestic abuser, China slaps our face with one hand then wraps an embracing arm around our shoulder with the other to comfort us when it wants something.

Sadly, these revelations were just the most recent development in an enduring crisis.

After all, Canada and the United States are still unpacking the implications of the Chinese spy balloon incident. And there is, of course, more.

Only a few months ago, Western media outlets and governments were seized with news that China was operating covert police stations abroad and that their consulates were developing suspicious relationships with domestic politicians. Who can forget the Chinese state’s kidnapping and arbitrary imprisonment of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig?

For the past two decades, China has built up an impressive portfolio of assets in Canada’s critical minerals and mining sector, real estate, and oil and gas. Trade with China remains a lucrative proposition — in 2021 alone, two-way trade between our nations totalled $94.7 billion.

It is, after all, the world’s second-largest economy. But, as Canadians, we must ask ourselves, has it been worth it?

All of that said, we cannot allow the actions of the Chinese Communist Party to undermine the integral role the over 1.8 million Chinese Canadians have played, and continue to play, in shaping our country. We are a better country because of their endless contributions.

Canada stands up to bullies, and China’s actions disrespect the soul of our nation. The prime minister’s response has been watery and self-effacing. Economic factors be what they may, now is the time to say enough is enough.

This article first appeared in the Toronto Star on February 26, 2023.

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Ignorance is far more dangerous than any spy balloon

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In a dangerous world, what we need is a little humility. And what we don’t need, most especially, is politicians fanning the flames.

More valuable than any of the signals it intercepted or military assets it observed, the Chinese spy balloon uncovered something else: a snapshot of the flaws and vulnerabilities in our public discourse. Somewhere in Beijing, someone is saying the risk was worth the reward.

The official narrative on both sides of the Pacific is that these spy balloons are nothing new. Pentagon sources have confirmed that at least three suspected Chinese spy balloons entered U.S. airspace during the Trump presidency, while Beijing claims U.S. balloons have flown over China 10 times since 2022. Only the naivest amongst us would not know that this kind of mutual surveillance has been standard operating procedure, even in the post-Cold War era.

What’s new is how the news of this balloon (and the apparent false alarms that inevitably followed) led to needless paranoia, controversy and social discord.

In the 2016 presidential election, Russia learned that conducting political interference through covert means could have profoundly destabilizing effects on the American political process. Famously, Russian intelligence ran “troll farms” that saturated social media with propaganda and misinformation. But in this case, the Chinese had no need to go so far.

Right across North American airwaves, we saw astonishingly imbecilic posturing and finger-pointing. Republicans lambasted the Biden administration for failing to keep Americans safe by not shooting down the first reported spy balloon straightaway as it traversed over land. Of course, doing so would only have put citizens below in harm’s way. Republican Rep. Michael Turner of Ohio told CNN that he would prefer to see the Biden administration be “trigger happy than to be permissive.”

I wonder how quickly his tune would change if an object as tall as the Statue of Liberty with a payload the size of a jetliner fell in his backyard? Meanwhile, here at home, armchair experts prattled on about a U.S. aircraft downing an object in Canadian airspace, even though this is exactly how Norad is supposed to function.

When it comes to matters of international security, a little grandstanding based on incomplete information is about as predictable as spring following winter. The problem is when such behaviours not only grow in prominence but become the norm. As we have seen time and again on Twitter and other online platforms, on the web ambiguity does not lie still, not for a moment. Rather, it metastasizes into outright conspiracies that sow mistrust and become accepted as fact.

Make no mistake, that we have the freedom to speculate and air bad takes, is a necessary feature of our political system, not a bug. But, in a dangerous world, what we need is a little humility. And what we don’t need, most especially, is politicians fanning the flames.

More valuable than any of the signals it intercepted or military assets it observed, the Chinese spy balloon uncovered something else: a snapshot of the flaws and vulnerabilities in our public discourse. Somewhere in Beijing, someone is saying the risk was worth the reward.

The official narrative on both sides of the Pacific is that these spy balloons are nothing new. Pentagon sources have confirmed that at least three suspected Chinese spy balloons entered U.S. airspace during the Trump presidency, while Beijing claims U.S. balloons have flown over China 10 times since 2022. Only the naivest amongst us would not know that this kind of mutual surveillance has been standard operating procedure, even in the post-Cold War era.

What’s new is how the news of this balloon (and the apparent false alarms that inevitably followed) led to needless paranoia, controversy and social discord.

In the 2016 presidential election, Russia learned that conducting political interference through covert means could have profoundly destabilizing effects on the American political process. Famously, Russian intelligence ran “troll farms” that saturated social media with propaganda and misinformation. But in this case, the Chinese had no need to go so far.

Right across North American airwaves, we saw astonishingly imbecilic posturing and finger-pointing. Republicans lambasted the Biden administration for failing to keep Americans safe by not shooting down the first reported spy balloon straightaway as it traversed over land. Of course, doing so would only have put citizens below in harm’s way. Republican Rep. Michael Turner of Ohio told CNN that he would prefer to see the Biden administration be “trigger happy than to be permissive.”

I wonder how quickly his tune would change if an object as tall as the Statue of Liberty with a payload the size of a jetliner fell in his backyard? Meanwhile, here at home, armchair experts prattled on about a U.S. aircraft downing an object in Canadian airspace, even though this is exactly how Norad is supposed to function.

When it comes to matters of international security, a little grandstanding based on incomplete information is about as predictable as spring following winter. The problem is when such behaviours not only grow in prominence but become the norm. As we have seen time and again on Twitter and other online platforms, on the web ambiguity does not lie still, not for a moment. Rather, it metastasizes into outright conspiracies that sow mistrust and become accepted as fact.

Make no mistake, that we have the freedom to speculate and air bad takes, is a necessary feature of our political system, not a bug. But, in a dangerous world, what we need is a little humility. And what we don’t need, most especially, is politicians fanning the flames.

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once stated:

… as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones.

I disagree with Rumsfeld’s tortuous assessment that the most dangerous category is “unknown unknowns.” In our social media era, the most significant threat is rather the utter collapse of the second category, “known unknowns” — that which we’re aware of but don’t understand.

When confronted with complex information, many in our society prefer to accuse or theorize rather than simply confess ignorance. Before long, that tendency will prove to be more dangerous than any balloon could ever be.

This article first appeared in the Toronto Star on February 19, 2023.

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An American fan writes to Tucker Carlson about Canada

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I await your presidential bid and call-to-arms against Canada with keen anticipation

Gee, Tucker, you’re always saying the stuff most Americans are afraid to say.

Like this invading Canada idea you’ve floated. Dude, this time, you’ve hit the nail on the head. I’m so glad that before you got back to your obsession with the sex appeal of M&M characters, you turned to our northern neighbour. I, for one, am sick of the Canadians and all their wokeness and think it’s time we did something about it.

You’re absolutely correct that Canada is a Justin Trudeau dictatorship. Hardly surprising given he is the offspring of Fidel Castro. You have to be careful because the Canadians will have you believe they have a parliamentary system where their political leaders are freely and fairly elected every five years. But, as we know all too well, the globalists have hijacked these systems to install whichever puppet they see fit. Being naïve as they are, the Canadians failed to perceive what was so obvious to educated minds like mine and yours. Those Boy Scouts didn’t even try to Stop the Steal!

On the question of liberation, I’ve no doubt once they are greeted with our trademark American charm and the promise of our glorious dream of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness the Canucks will welcome us with open arms. As you observed, liberating dictatorships is what we do! They’ll learn that American intervention is a gift from the heavens, just like the Afghans, Iraqis, Libyans, Haitians and Chileans have done.

This one will be even easier — I hear they all speak English anyway.

Tactically, we will need some help putting this together. While I’m all for a “Bay of Pigs operation,” we might want to model this invasion on something that actually worked, as Trudeau’s true father managed to scupper us on that occasion.

I like your idea that we could probably complete a successful invasion without the armed forces and that “just a couple college kids with sled dogs could do the trick.” While you might have been joking, this could be effective. After all, the Canadians whooped our ass back to Washington and set fire to the White House in 1812 when we tried with the Army, so why not try something more clandestine to finally right that wrong?

Of course, the hard work will come once we’ve successfully invaded, and we must introduce Canadians to real freedom. That will mean limiting the autonomy women have over their own bodies, letting every citizen have access to military-grade weapons to protect themselves against the deep state and ridding them of their Marxist belief in universal health care.

Given Trudeau and his communist cronies have been repeated violators of human and democratic rights, it’s important we install our system of voting rights, world-renowned for its openness and fairness. What’s more, they seem to have this strange belief in welcoming vast amounts of immigrants and refugees. Don’t they realize that free societies impose travel bans on Muslim countries and bus their refugees around state borders until someone caves in and takes them?

All this reinforces your point that “Canada is a sick society.” Wokeness, after all, is a virus. But not the fake kind that Dr. Fauci warned about. This one is far deadlier. There’s no vaccine for it (I wouldn’t trust it anyway) but there is such thing as a little shot in the arm of American freedom.

Seeing as you’re effectively the GOP kingmaker these days, why not run in 2024 so we can make this invasion a reality? I’ve always liked the idea of a for-the-people revolution led by a commander-in-chief in a polka-dot bow tie.

Anyway, I await your presidential bid and call-to-arms against Canada with keen anticipation. In the meantime, I’m going back to my regular routine of testicle tanning, then spending some alone time reminiscing on the good old days with some vintage M&M packets.

Yours faithfully,

A loyal viewer.

This article first appeared in the Toronto Star on February 12, 2023.

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Having found its nerve, the Bank of Canada must hold it

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The Bank of Canada must stay the course on high interest rates in the face of a frenzied appetite for them to come back down.

 

After being shelled with political fire for the past year, one might think the Bank of Canada would avoid differentiated forecasts until the noise around inflation began to abate. Instead, last week Canada’s central bank deviated from all others in G10 economies by explicitly signalling that a pause to interest rate hikes might be on the horizon.

While the Federal Reserve, Bank of England and European Central Bank were reluctant to make similar prognostications as they hiked rates this week, Gov. Tiff Macklem has boldly chosen to stick his head above the parapet.

In doing so, he has taken a significant risk; distinguishing himself from his counterparts gives his critics more fodder to misconstrue Macklem’s intentions.

Like its counterparts, the Bank of Canada was slow in acknowledging the deeply structural nature of inflation. Since then, it has remained steadfast in tightening monetary policy but now may have decided to move more quickly to a much hoped for endgame.

While Macklem was clear a pause doesn’t mean a pivot, his conditional commitment feeds an increasingly persistent notion that we are turning the corner on inflation. Speculative assets are up with markets champing at the bit for a return to cheaper money while the public, goaded by political criticisms that central banks are hell-bent on causing a recession, are ready to call it a day.

But people need to be reminded what the reality is rather than what they want it to be. While inflation has declined, it still sits at 6.3 per cent in Canada — a far cry from the target 2 per cent rate. Behaviour has a powerful effect on economics and promise of a pause risks playing into a yearning for sunnier alternatives.

Many underlying price pressures, such as wages, are proving persistent in the face of rate hikes. Meanwhile, uncertainty over the state of our federal finances is growing. Former Bank of Canada Gov. David Dodge recently issued a report concluding federal deficits are unsustainable for the decade ahead.

The Bank of Canada is a sophisticated and historically patient institution and its latest announcement certainly poured cold water on the idea that it is a blind follower of the Fed. Without further comprehensive employment and consumer price reports for a while, the central bank is probably just trying to temper expectations — but markets and the public are never that rational.

Einstein once famously defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. In the 1970s, after a temporary ease, inflation bit back more harshly than ever, with prices dropping then soaring — graphically looking like a McDonald’s M — with drastic quantitative tightening eventually bringing them under control. Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker is remembered as the man who saved the global economy, but was seen far less favourably at the time.

Having found the nerve to raise interest rates to battle inflation, the Bank of Canada must now hold it in the face of frenzied appetite for them to come back down. Should Macklem end up reneging on his conditional commitment, I am confident he will do so firmly and without fear of reprisal with monetary and historic responsibilities as his north star.

We have seen the Conservatives and the NDP quite willing to target the Bank of Canada. Although Macklem was clear this was a conditional commitment that fact will inevitably get lost as more Canadians struggle to make their mortgage payments.

Before their next rate announcement in March, it would be best if the bank worked to drown out the noise that will precede it and aggressively assert that a pause will only come if specific criteria are met, and that more hikes may have to follow if they are not.

Failure to do so will put Canada in a very difficult position to tackle inflation and failure to do that will result in pain for generations to come.

This article first appeared in the Toronto Star on February 6, 2023.

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