Hello one and all, how’s everyone breathing these days.
Nominations are now open for the only award in Canada that I know of for free speech advocacy. The PEN Canada Ken Filkow Prize is awarded annually to an individual or group that has advanced freedom of expression in Canada. Get your nominations in by August 31, 2023. I know what you’re thinking: if this award went to Desmond Cole, it probably won’t go to X, Y and Z, but you never know. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and let’s nominate people.
In other news, I was a guest on The Agenda last week, part of a six-person panel discussing where Canada is going. (Panelists: Paul Wells, Margaret MacMillan, Ken Coates, Akaash Maharaj, and next to me in the studio, Daniel Bernhard of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship.) I did my usual “These are the last days of Canadian culture, and does anyone even care” spiel and they seemed to tolerate me well enough. Afterwards, one particular clip blew up on social media.