Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland spoke at a rally against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 27, in which she was photographed holding up a scarf associated with a Ukrainian paramilitary organization that massacred thousands of Jews and Poles during the Second World War. Freeland, who has made her heritage a major focus of her political brand, could benefit from a serious lesson in optics.

The pandemic has accelerated the growth of an economy in which most of our human interactions are mediated by the very for-profit firms for whom our identities are the product being sold to companies seeking to predict and shape human behaviour. A more cautious approach to big tech’s overweening role in society is necessary once the pandemic dust settles.

When it comes to foreign policy, Justin Trudeau appears to have more in common with Stephen Harper than his father. With the recent spate of killings in Ukraine and Gaza, the younger Trudeau took positions that seem more inspired by Harper than PET. It is worth noting that there is much to admire in Trudeau’s domestic agenda, with its calls for legalizing assisted suicide and recreational marijuana.