The Buzz April 6th 2024: Donald Trump, the glass ceiling, Ukraine’s draft, and more.
Welcome to the weekend and welcome to The Buzz.
This is your chance to pause and reflect on the news behind the news through some of the stories that have impressed me over the past few days.
“Being fair means covering both sides.”
That’s a refrain that is often put forward to media organizations around the world. That’s what made this week’s editorial in Ohio’s leading newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, so interesting.
Basically, the message is simple… “Our duty is to the truth,” says the editorial. But there’s more. Like this great line: “Facts are facts and there are not two sides to the facts.”
The issue that prompted the editorial is Donald Trump and the way he is covered. It’s created quite the discussion, and the Huffington Post has this take on the fallout:
Newspaper Editor Tells Readers He Must Say Truth About Trump, Even If It Offends
When the numbers clicked over into the 2000s many of us thought it would also signal a final breakthrough of the glass ceiling.
That women would not only move into a male-dominated world but would do so in numbers and in areas they’d never accomplished before.
But it hasn’t happened. In fact, far from moving ahead, women (certainly in the United States) have been falling behind. According to an S&P Global Market study, we have reached an alarming turning point for gender parity in the corporate world. Taylor Telford of the Washington Post has the numbers:
Women’s share of executive jobs falls for first time in years, study finds 🔒
For many women, especially millennial women, the issues confronting them have more to do with just what’s happening at work.
I saw this piece more than a month ago from Ann Hui in the Globe and Mail and I keep thinking about it and the impact it must be having. It’s not easy to read:
Exhausted, burnt-out and disillusioned: Why millennial women are not okay 🔒
Canadian history is dotted with the divisions created by battles over conscription.
In the United States and Britain similar stories. Now it’s Ukraine’s turn.
The war against Russia has caused daunting numbers of casualties and Volodymyr Zelensky is left with a difficult decision on drafting new soldiers into the country’s army. The New York Times has been looking into the challenge the Ukrainian president has:
Zelensky lowers Ukraine's draft age, risking political backlash 🔒
Are you one of those who think the “drought in Canada” story is being overplayed?
One of those who feel “the rain is coming, relax.” Then sit back and read this one. It’s from the Wall Street Journal and you may not even get past the headline!
Canada Had Designs on Being a Hydro Superpower. Now Its Rivers and Lakes Are Drying Up. 🔒
A few weeks ago on Good Talk, we talked about something which comes up every few years – the possibility of a Liberal-NDP merger.
It often comes up at times of desperation, at least desperation on the part of Liberals and NDPers. It never seems to go anywhere usually for that reason. So apparently there are mumbles and whispers in the corridors again and Max Fawcett of the National Observer has been listening:
More on the NDP on this week’s Good Talk where one of the subject areas is “Is the NDP on the verge of collapse?” Join me, Chantal Hébert and Rob Russo filling in for Bruce Anderson. Watch the YouTube version by finding it on nationalnewswatch.com
Now to the full-on policy wonk section of The Buzz.
This is the corner where the nerds hang out. Okay, enough with the cheap shots. They’re not nerds or wonks – they’re very smart people who sometimes speak a different language than us non-nerds.
This article is by two of the country’s top former public servants and it’s about a crucial element of what makes Canada work (to steal a phrase from a current best-selling Canadian book!).
The issue is whether we as a country can still get things done. Big things. Things that make the country tick on time. Some say we don’t and we can’t. Others, like these two guys, Kevin Lynch and Jim Mitchell, say we can but only if we change the way we do big thinking stuff.
Lynch and Mitchell are involved with the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy named after two of Canada’s public service giants – both Al Johnson and Tommy Shoyama came out of the Saskatchewan public service to be major stars in the heyday of the federal public service in the 60s and 70s. My guess is both would be proud of what Lynch and Mitchell have come up with here:
We can’t seem to get things done in Canada anymore: how can we fix it?
You are probably tired of hearing about Monday’s eclipse and what you need to do and where you need to be to witness it.
But if you are not tired of all the hoopla, then spare yourself six minutes this weekend and watch this… it’s worth it. Thanks to Andrew Chang of the CBC’s About That team:
2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Why you’ll never see it again | About That
If you listen to my podcast, The Bridge, then you may have noticed that during each Thursday program since January, we’ve been asking listeners a question about Canada and the answers have been, at different times, revealing, touching, funny, and exciting.
So, this week on The Buzz we begin showing you some of the answers from The Bridge. Recently we asked this question, knowing full well some Canadians are always looking for a good Canadian book to read: “Name the one book, authored by a Canadian, that you would recommend”. We were swamped with answers: