Beware the unintended consequences of being too family-friendly

I have an op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen which looks to make a contribution to the ongoing debate about how to make parliament a more "family friendly" institution for the MPs that inhabit it. While everyone brings up some standards, like cancelling Fridays or electronic votes, I caution that these changes will have unintended consequences that could damage the institution – and most especially collegiality – based on the history of changes that have been made to date.

Mandatory voting won't solve anything

I have an op-ed in today's Ottawa Citizen, which looks at the recent discussion on mandatory voting, and as I like to do so often with these kinds of pieces is, I work to debunk some of the arguments being made in support of such a proposal. In particular, the argument is that mandatory voting doesn't actually solve the problems that it proposes to, and I lay out why. It's a pleasure writing for the Citizen once again, and once again the story made it onto National Newswatch, which is always a treat.

Candiate, educate thyself

I have an op-ed in the July 31st print edition of the Ottawa Citizen, which asks that candidates running for the 2015 federal election start educating themselves as to the way that Parliament works, and what the roles of an MP really are. It was a good way to tie into a number of other pieces I've been writing lately, along with my recent reading of Tragedy in the Commons, and I hope that it provides some inspiration both to candidates, as well as voters looking to ask them questions in debates as the election approaches.

Op-Ed: A smaller Senate would be less effective

I have an op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen today, in which I respond to an editorial on Monday that proposed a form of Senate reform that seemed to have been resurrected from the 1970s. I was able to take apart those arguments and put forward some facts on the way in which the Senate actually works. As well, the piece was picked up on National Newswatch, which is always nice to see.

Gains slip away in AIDS work

I have a piece in today's Ottawa Citizen to coincide with today being World AIDS Day.  It was a somewhat difficult piece to write given that there was just so much information to cram into a mere 750 words, and getting useful information from government sources, as opposed to talking points, was a bit of challenge as well.

One paragraph in particular wound up on the cutting room floor, which I think summed much of the piece up quite well:

“If you liken the HIV/AIDS epidemic to a forest fire, and you have the resources to give us a plane full of water, why are you giving us a thimble-full in the first year?” Koornstra asks. “A thimble-full is not going to put out the fire – the fire is going to grow larger, and when you feel like you might need to give us a few more resources, you give us a cup of water as opposed to the amount of water that we needed to put out the fire in the first place.”

I do wish that it had managed to be included, but I am glad that the piece made it.

The piece can be found in the print edition on page C3, or in the online edition here.

Sensitive Documents - Citizen Special

I have an op-ed piece in today's Ottawa Citizen titled "Why We Find Sensitive Documents Abandoned on Street Corners," which is about the case of Environment Canada documents turning up on a street corner last week and being turned over to the CBC.  Having spent time working in the bureaucracy in records management, some of those records sensitive, I have a fair bit of insight into this kind of an issue, so I was quick to find a home for this piece.  Never having written an op-ed for the Citizen before, it was a bit of a gamble as they seemed to prefer the submission to be done on spec, meaning that I would write it and there is no guarantee they'd buy it.  Fortunately, the deputy editorial pages editor liked what he saw, and picked it up.

The op-ed can be found in today's Citizen on page A15, or online here.