Editorials - July 11, 2025
Unspeakable tragedy
Images in our news feeds and social media sites over the weekend from our American neighbours should have been waving flags and celebratory fireworks for their annual Fourth of July party. Instead, they were heartbreaking scenes of the tragic flash floods in Texas, where more than 100 people lost their lives, including dozens of children attending their annual summer camps. Parents had dutifully sent their children off to that rite-of-passage fully expecting to pick them up in a few days or weeks, suntanned and with stories of newfound friendship that would be retold for the rest of their lives. Instead, they are dealing with the heartbreak that no family should have to endure.
As always happens after a tragic event, emergency procedures will be reviewed and criticized. Yet, this tragedy comes as an administration has spent the last seven months dismantling emergency services and weather monitoring and slashed almost every departmental budget that was designed to prevent or deal with disasters. At the same time, the largely conservative mindset that climate change is not a thing and not causing a summer’s worth of rain to be dumped over two hours on a river full of happy campers is truly a tragedy whose message needs to be heard.
Let’s hope that lawmakers take a breath and reconsider such cuts. The hardest-hit county had no flood warning system or evacuation sirens. While the Guadalupe River is a known flood risk, officials faltered over budget concerns every time they tried to address it. The federal government should be stepping up its support, not tearing it down. – DS
Nothing to see here
For years now, the mythical Jeffrey Epstein client list has been a white whale for conspiracy theorists and, to take one step back, the cynical among us who maybe - just maybe - don’t trust those in power.
When Epstein - purveyor of women and children to the rich and famous, it should be noted - killed himself by hanging in his jail cell in 2019, conspiracy theories swirled, building to a near-consensus that he was murdered to keep him quiet, thoroughly dismissing suicide.
During their catfight last month, Elon Musk claimed that the list had not been released because Donald Trump’s name is on it. And now, earlier this week, Trump’s Department of Justice and the FBI dismissed the existence of an Epstein list and have concluded that his death was in fact a suicide. Further fueling speculation is the release of in-jail video with a one-minute gap at a very important spot in the timeline.
The term conspiracy theorist has taken its fair share of lumps over the years, from everything from the J.F.K. assassination to 9/11 to the COVID-19 pandemic, and yet, with coincidences such as these, it’s entirely understandable to question the official narrative from a proven liar and to proudly wear the conspiracy theorist badge. At best, it’s a situation that shows how easily one can be radicalized into that world.
Asked about it on Tuesday, Trump panicked, cutting off Attorney General Pam Bondi only to stammer through an “answer” that served more to scold the reporter asking the question. Where there’s smoke, there’s almost always fire. Asking critical thinkers to believe what you say and not what they see only serves to foster an environment in which scholarship in conspiracy theorism will thrive, not subside. – SL
A closer look
Erosion begins slowly, but left unchecked, it becomes structural. This week’s revelations surrounding veteran journalist Travis Dhanraj’s alleged forced resignation from CBC are not just a crisis for one reporter, they are a warning bell for a Canadian institution.
Dhanraj’s departure was not quiet. In a message sent to staff and now shared widely, he alleged, “a workplace culture defined by retaliation, exclusion and psychological harm,” levelling accusations of bullying and editorial imbalance against senior leadership.
CBC, for its part, “categorically rejects” these claims. But rejection is not accountability. Silence is not a shield. The stakes are too high for Canadians to be asked to simply trust a corporate communications statement. At minimum, CBC must immediately initiate a transparent and independent review into the workplace culture and editorial integrity of its newsroom; a genuine reckoning that acknowledges the seriousness of these allegations and respects the intelligence of its audience.
There is still broad recognition that CBC can serve a unique role: offering regional perspectives, nurturing Canadian talent and holding power to account. But Dhanraj’s perspective suggests a failure of mission, a gap between the values CBC professes and the environment it maintains. Critics of public broadcasting will seize on this moment, particularly Pierre Poilievre, whose animus towards CBC is well-documented. But calls to defund or eliminate the broadcaster are simplistic and misguided. Weakening our public media would only amplify the power of foreign-owned platforms and partisan outlets.
What CBC needs is not destruction, but course correction. To ask that CBC be better is to affirm its importance, not deny it. – SBS