Akaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism

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Debates, interviews, and broadcasts on Akaash's work to advance the national interest and to serve the public good in Canada. On politics, public policy, liberalism, foreign affairs, and equestrian sport.

Akaash Maharaj


    • Mar 8, 2019 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 9m AVG DURATION
    • 22 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Akaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism

    TVO's The Agenda: Animal Welfare at a Crossroads - Videocast

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2019 33:41


    The courts have ruled that the Ontario SPCA's police powers are unconstitutional. What is the future for animal welfare enforcement in Canada's largest province? Who can or will protect creatures who can not cry out for mercy?

    The Arc of History - Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2018 5:03


    All of us can wield a power that those who would divide us will never know: an ability to make common cause out of our common humanity and our common dignity, and a determination to join hands across the divisions that beset the human condition, to create a better world in the image of the better angels of our natures.

    Addressing the United Nations - Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2015 9:45


    Addressing the United Nations was one of the more intimidating experiences of my life. I spoke on behalf of GOPAC's global alliance of parliamentarians, on our work to bring kleptocrats to justice.

    TVO's The Agenda: The New McCarthyism - Videocast

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 2, 2012 3:59


    There is no worse cancer in a free society than the thuggish impulse to equate dissent as disloyalty... The greatest patriot is the person with the courage to be the lone voice in the crowd crying out that the Emperor has no clothes. The test of our society's democratic nature is our instinct to value the right of our fellow human beings to disagree with us.

    TVO's The Agenda: Forgiving the Unforgivable - Videocast

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2012 3:45


    Our capacity to do violence to one another is the worst tragedy of the human condition, but it makes our still greater capacity to forgive one another all the more powerful.

    TVO's The Agenda: The Raj, the Reich, and the Good Fight - Videocast

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 7, 2012 3:45


    Gandhi and Bose were brothers in the hunger for justice, and both had followers who were willing to die for freedom rather than live as slaves. But one group was so blinded by passion for its cause, that it was willing to join hands with regimes whose very names have become bywords for evil in almost every spoken language on the planet.

    TVO's The Agenda: A Meritocracy Worth Fighting For - Videocast

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2012 3:48


    Throughout our history, Canada has grown through the toil of generations of Canadians who were inspired by the belief that our country is free of the rigid class systems of the Old World, that Canadians' success or failure depends on our own efforts and our own abilities...But in recent years, we have come to doubt our faith in this meritocracy.

    TVO's The Agenda: Resistance is Not Futile - Videocast

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 28, 2012 3:42


    In any democracy worthy of the name, it is not merely the right, but the responsibility of every citizen to resist unjust laws... but there is a contrast between making a scene, and making a difference. There is a choice between the comfort of self-righteous illusion, and the peril of self-sacrificing commitment. There is a hard journey between railing against unjust laws, and living out a life that models justice.

    TVO's The Agenda: Hope for the Holidays - Videocast

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2011 3:14


    We will be able to hold our heads high before the judgement of history if we can reply that in our season, we held on to hope, we put aside our doubts, we came together believing in our better selves, and we remembered that we have always burned brightest as a nation during the darkest hours.

    TVO's The Agenda: To Lead or to Serve - Videocast

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 25, 2011 3:46


    Over the past quarter century, political parties have too often lurched away from being mass movements of individual Canadians sharing a common vision of the public good, and towards being backdrops for individual party leaders who speak the language of democracy while wielding near-absolute power over their elected caucuses.

    TVO's The Agenda: Liberalism of Conviction and of Convenience - Videocast

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2011 3:41


    The 20th century began as the age of the dictator. It ended with liberalism having come of age as the ascendant political philosophy across the world. Yet liberal parties everywhere are in crisis. Can they grow with the success of liberalism, or have they been outgrown by the success of their own political philosophy?

    TVO's The Agenda: Faith in Secularism - Videocast

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 24, 2011 3:38


    Speaking on TVOntario's The Agenda with Steve Paikin, I make the case that separation of church and state is as much in the interests of the church as it is in the interests of the state. However, upholding the ideal of the secular state often demands more courage than we might expect.

    TVO's The Agenda: The Arab Spring - Videocast

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 31, 2011 3:23


    In my broadcast essay for TVOntario's The Agenda with Steve Paikin, I argue that despite our sometimes chequered history in the region, Western states have an obligation to enforce the Libyan no-fly zone, both to protect civilians and to ensure that the Arab Spring and the hopes for democracy in the region are not snuffed out in the killing fields of Libya.

    TVO's The Agenda: Truth, Casualties, and War - Videocast

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2010 3:34


    Videocast of my televised essay for TVOntario's The Agenda with Steve Paikin, on Canada's role in Afghanistan: Our ability to successfully conclude the mission and effect an honourable departure is being prejudiced by an ignominious political retreat from the truth: the truth about why we went to Afghanistan in the first place and what we are actually trying to achieve there... I fear that the current government is unwilling to engage in an honest national debate about our objectives in Afghanistan, because it believes that Canadians prefer easy lies to hard truths. But Canadians are not the fools or the cowards that such politicians take us for.

    TVO's The Agenda: An Injection of Moralism - Videocast

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 25, 2010 3:34


    In this, my second broadcast essay for TVOntario's The Agenda with Steve Paikin, I argue that the efforts by the federal government to place emotion above reason and shut down Insite are unworthy of our country's better traditions and higher responsibilities. It is little more than an effort to purchase easy political popularity at the expense of a wretched and unpopular segment of society.

    TVO's The Agenda: The Rights of Vulgar Little Cowards - Videocast

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2010 3:27


    In this, my maiden broadcast essay for TVOntario's The Agenda with Steve Paikin, I argue that freedom of expression is too fundamental a right to be casually abridged, and that the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal must be stripped of its power to regulate public expression.

    Team Canada Rides Again - Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 18, 2010 14:28


    CBC Radio One's Fresh Air interviews me on whether Team Canada will be able to repeat our improbable dominance of tent pegging, the cavalry sport of horse, sword, sabre and lance, as I saddle-up to compete at the 2010 International Championships in New Delhi.

    Group Sword at the International Tent Pegging Championships - Akaash Maharaj Photocast

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2007


    On the final day of competition at the world equestrian skill-at-arms championships in Oman, my horse Shomool remained in a surly mood. The rider to our left is keeping a considered distance, as Shomool had just attempted to deliver a slaying kick to his horse; Shomool's rear hooves came within centimetres of the intended victim. The warhorse's wayward bloodlust would remain with Shomool for the rest of the competition, and he seemed dejected that I insisted on coming between him and his wrath. A full account of the games is at my March 2007 blog.

    Chivalry and the Thrill of Tent Pegging - Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 13, 2007 8:22


    An interview with CBC Ontario Today's Rita Celli, on UNICEF Team Canada, the international equestrian skill-at-arms championships,and galloping hell for leather for honour and country

    Sword, Lance, and Adrenaline - Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2007 5:28


    Andy Barrie tries, largely in vain, to restrain his mirth as we discuss the upcoming world equestrian skill-at-arms championships in Oman, at which I will represent the country as a member of UNICEF Team Canada. The segment was originally broadcast on CBC Radio One's Metro Morning.

    Politics and Principles - Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2006 34:55


    In the wake of the Quebecois Nation issue, TV Ontario's The Agenda asks if politics and principles are Canada's true twin solitudes. With Steve Paikin as moderator, Val Meredith for the Conservatives, Robin Sears for the NDP, and I for the Liberals.

    Visionary Politics - Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 5, 2006 42:03


    A feature-length CBC Radio One national debate between Judy Rebick of the NDP, Adam Daifallah of the Conservative Party, and myself on visionary politics in Canada.

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