Big budgets deserve thinking big. Since Canada approached our defence buildup backwards, setting a spending target before we knew what to spend it on, the imperative of serious strategic thought is more urgent than ever www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

The war in Gaza rages on www.cbc.ca/news/world/i...

This is not just a current political issue. Charging & punishing these particular perpetrators is vital to keeping the fight against the ongoing abuse & killing of women & children by men in the spotlight. "Me Too" was only a start.

Even now, after the U.S. democratic system has collapsed, there are seeds of a new democracy poking through the ruin. Some Americans have discovered memory culture, the German method for building democracy through honest confrontation with your country's legacy of hatred www.cnn.com/2025/11/24/u...

At a #Ditchley Canada foreign policy conference last month, tech leaders from across the country raised the alarm that Canada has lost its digital sovereignty. Today's Globe makes that warning public www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...

A fresh take from the Berlin Security Conference, where Europe is struggling with staggering lack of U.S. commitment to its security even now that a monumental defence buildup is underway open.substack.com/pub/benrowsw...

Saab has offered to base all of its Globaleye Aircraft Warning and Control System (AWACS) system in Canada. The plane is built on Bombardier technology. Best of all, it’s not American. What’s not to like? Time to deepen Canada’s bonds with actual democracies

Listening to Sweden’s PM Kristersson it occurs to me this is the country Canada should emulate. Not for its approach to social welfare but to defence: Deep integration between government and world-class defence production companies like Saab, a dynamic engagement with citizens in Civic Defence

US Ambassador to NATO Whitaker does damage control after his President casts doubt on treaty commitments to defend allies. I don’t envy him the task. Why believe an ambassador when his boss tells the world he will keeps his options open if we are attacked?

I’ve arrived in Germany for a week of meetings with defence officials. Germany is the heart of the new international order we need to build for liberal democracies to stand together now that we have lost the U.S.

As the doomed CUSMA negotiations get underway, Canada’s first demand should be that we will remain free to negotiate any kind of trade deal with any other country. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com... the fates if these unfortunate Asian partners will not be ours

Predictably, G7 ministers did not raise the U.S. Navy killing civilians in the Caribbean. Because the G7 is no longer a club of like-minded democracies. Secretary Rubio proved the point when criticizing G7 colleagues anyway saying that allies have no right to speak up www.reuters.com/world/americ...

"Soft power," "hard power" - it doesn't matter as long as Canada gets more power. soundcloud.com/user-6094853... My take on debates at the recent Ditchley Canada conference, alongside former Amb to China Guy St-Jacques, Prof Anne Fitz-Gerald, and organizers Tom Timmins and Don McCutchan

Canada's political leaders don't speak publicly about this, but we voters know very well what's happening in the U.S. - and seek leadership to steer us away from an authoritarian hellhouse in the making relaywithkyla.substack.com/p/canadians-...

Remembrance Day brings some hard memories. Canada has fought to make the world a better place - and we have the scars to prove it. benrowswell.substack.com/p/what-canad...

We will remember them

Thrilled to join a team of nation-builders at Catalyze4, to help firms ready to seize the opportunities in Canada's new role in the global economy. The government has set out a plan spending to catalyze $1T in private investment. I'll lend my help on defence, tech and innovation

Polling shows that for Americans, Canada is vastly more popular than their own president. Keep sewaring at our elected leaders, attacking our economy and threatening our sovereignty. You're going to regret it. www.nj.com/politics/202...

The New York Times has laid out the case authoritatively, over and over again: the U.S. is no longer a democracy. Why bother with the question mark? www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

President Trump's "Peace after 5000 years" didn't even last until the end of the month www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Great timing that PM Carney is travelling to Asia just as President Trump attempts to cow Canadians into silence with a new 10% tariff. This is where we find our true like-minded today on.ft.com/4nYKFi1 Singapore’s prime minister warns of ‘messy’ transition to post-American order

All of Canada should thank the Ontario government for practicing modern diplomacy - taking the message straight to the voters of the United States www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

“It is time to swing for the fences again.” The PM announces that this is a time for the country to take risks. But the Public Service has one overriding priority, deeply encoded in its DNA: Avoid risk at all costs. So who will deliver his agenda? www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

So emblematic of what Donald Trump is doing to American democracy www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

In today’s Globe and Mail by co- authors and I outline an effort by democracy movements from around the world to ally with one another in defending our countries from the authoritarian wave coming from Moscow and Washington www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Another round of extrajudicial killings by a lawless government undermining security in our hemisphere www.cbc.ca/news/world/u...

An intellectual tour de force by U of at Law prof Douglas Sanderson today on the nation-to-nation relations that dominated Indigeous/settler relations prior to Confederation. Since then, “the problem is not colonialism, it is nationalism”

One hour to go! Join Douglas Sanderson at Trinity College Toronto for a masterclass on how diplomacy was practiced for centuries here in this land www.eventbrite.com/e/douglas-sa...

So proud of Maria Corina and the entire Venezuelan democracy movement for the recognition the world has given them today with the Nobel Peace Prize. And proud of the stand Canada has always taken for solidarity with the people of Venezuela in their pursuit of freedom.

The era of Canada-U.S. is well and fully dead. PM Carney is, at best, limiting the damage by refusing to sign bad deals with the U.S. We would do better to focus our energy on reorienting our economy to the emerging EU-Trans Pacific Partnership economic bloc www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

This argument strikes me as profoundly true. The U.S. is actively attempting to establish dominance over countries that remain democratic. It's not just Europe either ecfr.eu/publication/...

U.S. authoritarianism has arrived at the logical next step: organized violence against an innocent but marginalized group scapegoated by the government. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre....

The New York Times rightly calls the U.S. Navy’s murder of 17 Venezuelan nationals on the high seas a “moral stain on our country.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/o...

Alaa Abdel-Fattah is free at last. His writings inspired millions in the brief experiment with democracy in 2011. The punishment he received since then was aimed at intimidating all Egyptians. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/w.... Let us hope the thousands of other political prisoners will also be freed

In a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations today, PM Carney pointed to a new grouping in international relations - a "bridge" between the EU and the CPTPP. A zone of market democracies that spans Asia, Europe and the Americas which stands by the rule of law www.youtube.com/watch?v=neuZ...

Join us tomorrow for a discussion of the difference alliances make for upholding Canadian interests in world affairs. I'll draw on examples of my time leading Canadian missions in Afghanistan and Venezuela www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-import...

An eye-opening new history of Toronto hits the shelves Tuesday - one that combines Indigenous and colonial histories in a single book. I can't wait to attend the book launch Sept 23 - join us to hear Victoria Freeman introduce "Where Histories Meet" www.eventbrite.ca/e/where-hist...

Today, Canada recognises the State of Palestine.   My statement: www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/stat...

NATO is engaging in Article 4 consultations on the Russian incursion into our ally’s airspace when it sent drones into Poland. Alarming to hear that Canada’s defence minister was not invited to those discussions. podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/t...

Kudos to Brazil for standing up to an authoritarian superpower and protecting its democracy in a single court ruling www.cbc.ca/news/world/b.... Brazil teaches us that the sovereignty of our citizens always comes first in a democracy

Congratulations to artist Amy Sherald for her courage in objecting to censorship of her work "Trans Forming Liberty" at the Smithsonian. Celebrations of freedom should never be censored

Time for Canada to answer the FT's call: on.ft.com/464J0Qa "The collapse of U.S. influence under Trump may yet be reversed. If it is not, other nations and blocs should prepare a greater role in international affairs. The world needs a new global order, but not one designed by Xi Jinping."

“The Capitol Mall area gets visited by people from all around the world, and it's a good way to remind them of the land they're standing on and the people who have been here for a thousand years,” said Bruce Savage, chairman of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

When Canada's sovereignty comes under assault, we must be even more vigilant for the rules protecting the sovereignty our neighbours. Time to denounce the Monroe Doctrine each and every time the U.S. invokes it. My take in today's Globe and Mail: www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

An article circulating among many Jewish Canadians, which they ask non-Jews like me to read and pass on www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

First Nations are rebuilding their sovereignty, one historical artifact after another www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

An extraordinary postconviction court hearing was held to give family members of a serial killer to articulate how deeply the murder of Ashlee Shingoose has affected them. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

The Girl Guides have determined the U.S. is not a safe country to visit. Can someone remind me why the Safe Third Country agreement Canada has with the U.S. remains in place after all that has happened south of the border? www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

ICYMI These victims of authoritarianism have a reminder for us all: don't count on anyone else protecting you from the end of democracy. We all have to fight for it www.nytimes.com/video/opinio...

"Elbows Up" was more than a patriotic reaction. It was a template for contemporary democracy movements: broad-based movements that resist polarizing dynamics and that tell a better story than the competition. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...