Human rights: we all have some, although many of us apparently want ever-more of them. Although they’re written into constitutions, they seem to be changing all the time. Activists demand new rights, human rights tribunals and courts discover or invent new ones almost out of thin air, and politicians are quick to take credit for granting or defending them. But where do human rights actually come from? And what are they based on? Patrick Keeney provides a timely reminder of Christianity’s essential role in providing the key ideas that established human rights, leading the Western world out of its darkest times, shaping a singular worldview and providing a priceless bequest for all humanity.

All of us have a favourite tune – perhaps a whole list of them. But when was the last time any of us asked ourselves what melody actually is, where it came from or how it differs from other pleasing sounds? The animating spirit of music, melody travels deep into the human soul, moves the heart like no other sound and can be traced to the dawn of humanity. But what is it? Probing the evanescent force that is melody, David Solway finds that while the metaphysics may remain forever enigmatic, posing the question is more than half the fun. In this most magical, joyful and musical of seasons, Solway provides a taste of honey that might just cause your heart to skip a beat as you look to the stars, sense the transcendent and hear the sounds of the heavens.

In its drive to stop climate change, the Justin Trudeau government in 2022 mandated that Canada get to a “net-zero” power grid by 2035, a time-frame subsequently extended to 2050. But is that feasible? In this exclusive analysis, nuclear physicist Jim Mason crunches the numbers to determine what would be required to replace electricity from fossil fuels with zero-emitting power. It turns out it would take so long and cost so much – hundreds of billions of dollars – that the policy is not just unrealistic, it’s ludicrous. And, Mason notes, that is before considering the soaring power demands from mandatory electric vehicles and home heat pumps, which come with their own elusive targets. The numbers don’t lie: a net-zero electricity system is a pointless delusion.

Canada has a long record of obscure knife laws. Did you know, for example, that cane swords are legal while comb knives are not? Or that starting in 2025 Manitoba will restrict the sale of machetes throughout the province? Meant to deter young gang members from using the imposing-looking bush knives as weapons, Manitoba’s new law sets a national precedent for knife control. And its proponents want it expanded in ways reminiscent of federal gun control, including bans, a knife registry and storage requirements. In interviewing experts and other key figures, however, Peter Shawn Taylor discovers that Manitoba’s “cutting-edge” law misses the point entirely.

Decades of government neglect and underfunding have left the Canadian Armed Forces a depleted, demoralized and nearly shattered force. The country is increasingly being ignored or even shunned by its traditional allies at a time when an increasingly dangerous world poses escalating national security risks. Canada must urgently rethink and rebuild its military to meet these challenges, safeguard its sovereignty and fulfill its obligations on the world stage, writes David Redman. In this clear-eyed assessment, the CAF veteran and crisis management expert sets out a pathway to renewal, explaining what the armed forces need to rebuild and how Canada’s political leaders – if they have the will and the intelligence – can make it happen.

Canada’s beleaguered economy has become beset with strikes called by unions demanding double-digit wage hikes in an era of constrained budgets and slim profit margins. The latest one, by Canada Post, is already inflicting great damage and threatens to drag on, perhaps right up to Christmas. Yet recent legislation passed by the Liberal government (pushed by the NDP) has made it more likely that major strikes will occur, and even more difficult for employers to try to continue functioning. This, writes Gwyn Morgan, is increasingly dividing Canada into a nation of “haves” – overpaid unionized workers – and “have nots” – everyone else. It is time, says Morgan, that someone stood up for the millions of Canadians victimized by power-wielding union bosses and the governments that enable them.

Few things about Donald Trump’s recent election are causing worse disarray worldwide than the incoming U.S. President’s vow to erect a tariff wall against all imports in order to spur a resurgence in American manufacturing might. Canada’s up to $200-billion-a-year worth of oil and natural gas exports lie at stake, feared to be among the new Administration’s tariff targets. But how strong is the basis for such fears? Probing the political psychology of Trump’s economic and trade policies and examining the intricate mechanism that is North America’s vast integrated oil and natural gas sector, George Koch illuminates the role Canadian energy can play in the U.S. economic revival and the Trump team’s geopolitical drive for global “energy dominance”.

The Justin Trudeau government’s decade-long determination to drive immigration numbers ever-higher – a policy that public outcry now has it scrambling away from – has obscured a rather important and discouraging phenomenon: more and more people are choosing to leave Canada. Emigration is the flipside of the immigration issue – a side that has been largely ignored. With the best and brightest among us increasingly leaving for better opportunity elsewhere, this growing trend reveals Canada is no longer the promised land it once was. Using the most recently released data and analysis, Scott Inniss uncovers why so many are voting with their feet.

“The secret language of statistics, so appealing in a fact-minded culture, is employed to sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify,” cautioned journalist Darrell Huff in his famous 1954 book How to Lie with Statistics. It’s still useful advice, although Canadians might hope such a warning isn’t required for the work of Statistics Canada. In an exclusive C2C investigation, Peter Shawn Taylor takes apart a recent Statcan study to reveal its use of controversial, woke and unscientific methods to confuse what should be the straightforward task of reporting on the drinking habits of Canadians in various demographic groups. He also uncovers data the statistical agency wants to keep hidden for reasons of “historical/cultural or other contexts”.

Most Canadians have come to agree that the federal carbon tax needs to go. But while the rallying cry “Axe the Tax!” has been a deadly partisan tool for Pierre Poilievre, it does not constitute a credible election campaign platform, let alone a coherent environmental policy for a new government. The Conservative Party needs to develop both, writes Robert Lyman. The election this past week of Donald Trump as U.S. President creates an urgency to remake Canada’s climate policy on more realistic, sensible grounds. Drawing upon the pragmatic, economics-driven approach of the Copenhagen Consensus, Lyman proposes a middle path that discards the uncompromising, self-destructive ideology of the Justin Trudeau government while recognizing that most Canadians won’t accept doing nothing.