Not that long ago, Bill Clinton was half-jokingly hailed as “the first black president” because he was cool, a liberal and could play the saxophone, a bit. If Clinton tried that today, he’d probably be impeached for “cultural appropriation”. That’s because the phenomenon of progressive identity politics, which is sweeping across western civilization like a plague, is herding people into tribal associations based on skin colour, gender, ethnicity and other biological and cultural characteristics. Humans have gone down this road before, writes Mark Milke, and it always ends badly. We’ll do much better if we get back to celebrating, tolerating, and borrowing ideas from other cultures.

This spring Canadian MP Garnett Genuis joined a Parliamentary tour of the West Bank hosted by the Palestinian Authority. As the only Conservative and unabashed Zionist on the bus, he sought to challenge both his own assumptions and the narrative presented by his hosts. Genuis saw a friendly, welcoming, and gracious people whose rich culture has been subverted by politics. And despite the latest bloody confrontations in Gaza, he also saw reason to hope for peace and a viable two-state solution, which is a fresh and encouraging perspective on a tragic conflict that will never be resolved as long as the narrative is dominated by victimization, blame, and failure to understand the experience of the other.

Some conservatives may think that the current populist insurgency consuming more and more oxygen on the Right is a new development. But you don’t need to go back too far to discover that conservative-populist debates have been part of Anglo-American conservatism for a long time. Sean Speer discovers a 1984 issue of National Review that asked the same basic questions as we’re currently confronting. How should conservatives think about populism? What’s its place in conservative politics and thought? Speer argues that the answer is that conservative reformers must put forward a positive agenda that responds to the issues animating the populists.

Another day, another crisis. Last month it was plastic straws, so many of them they are getting stuck up sea turtles’ nostrils. This month it’s “food waste” allegedly contributing to the “food insecurity” of millions of Canadians, according to a Trudeau Foundation scholar. The solution is said to be found in government intervention to reduce food waste, drawing on Indigenous knowledge and “the principles of the circular economy”. Matthew Lau is skeptical of this month’s crisis and recommended solution.

Add 19th century liberal jurist Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie to the ever-growing list of Canadian historical figures whose reputations have been rubbished in the name of “Truth and Reconciliation”. Begbie presided over the trial of six Tsilhqot’in Indians who were executed for the mass murder of 18 white road builders and settlers during British Columbia’s so-called Chilcotin War of 1864. There were plenty of guilty parties on all sides in that fracas, writes Peter Shawn Taylor, but the mass scapegoating of Begbie – most recently in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s official apology to the Tsilhqot’in killers – is a crime in its own right.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has given Canadians many reasons to doubt his competence to lead a G7 country. Generally his foibles seem superficial and relatively harmless, like the “Mr. Dress-up” tour of India. But some of his public comments and policy choices are starting to cause real harm. Perhaps the worst of these is the January 2017 #WelcomeToCanada tweet inviting refugee claimants from everywhere – including Donald Trump’s America – to Canada. Now the country faces an escalating invasion of asylum seekers illegally crossing the border from the U.S. at a rate of hundreds per day. Processing the tens of thousands of claims and accommodating their needs is overwhelming government resources and creating serious security risks. All this, contends Candice Malcolm, is a consequence of Trudeau’s reckless and vain attempt to position himself as the “anti-Trump”.

This month the Canadian Taxpayers Federation gave its annual “Tax Fighter” award, which celebrates those who demonstrate “outstanding commitment and dedication to the cause of taxpayer emancipation”, to four long-serving professors from the University of Calgary’s Political Science department: Tom Flanagan, Barry Cooper, Rainer Knopff and Ted Morton. Through their teaching, writing and political activism the foursome – known as the “Calgary School” – had an out-sized influence on Canadian politics and mentored countless students who went on to successful careers in academe, politics and public policy research and advocacy. One of their books was even found in Osama bin Laden’s last hideout. Mark Milke, who received his Ph.D. from the department, delivered a pithy and humorous tribute to the foursome at the CTF event.