Chrystia Freeland

Living as we do in the age of Facebook, we shouldn\'t be surprised that some countries are starting to imagine themselves more as social networks than as a physical place.

A general charge of crony capitalism is easy to make. But dividing the \'bad\' crony capitalists from the \'good\' innovative entrepreneurs is much harder to do. And sorting them out without creating a new group of crony capitalists may be the hardest thing of all.

Slavery is America\'s original sin and was the great global injustice of that age.

The hollowing out of the middle class is a problem common to all Western industrialized economies. Maybe we should work together to solve it.

Corporations are not employment agencies, and judging them by that metric is a mistake.

There are no bad seats at the cabinet table.

Defending human rights should be an important objective of foreign policy, and that, too, will sometimes be hard to reconcile with an economic agenda, especially when it comes to dealing with rich but repressive players like China and Russia.

I have always liked hanging out with people and talking to people.

I am a very strong supporter of our government\'s view that it is important to engage with all countries around the world - very much including Russia.

Western investment is usually assumed to walk hand-in-hand with the democratic values of its home countries, and indeed, opening an economy to outside money is one of the textbook steps in a shift from authoritarianism to an open society.

Sometimes who is going to be taking care of all of my kids on any given day is more complicated than any trade agreement.

The irony of the political rise of the plutocrats is that, like Venice\'s oligarchs, they threaten the system that created them.

The economic reality is that, thanks to smart machines and global trade, the well-paying, middle-class jobs that were the backbone of Western democracies are vanishing.

All of us can agree that we want government to work as well as possible, and we should all applaud efforts to improve it. But there is no escaping the divisive and essential questions: What is the purpose of the state, and whom does it serve?

Creating jobs for your country\'s workers is about much more than ensuring that the balance sheets of your country\'s companies are strong, or stimulating domestic demand. It is about figuring out how your country\'s workers fit into the global economy.

Worrying about the poor is one thing. To contend that equality is necessary for growth is an altogether different and more radical idea.

Sprawling, earnest, and ambitious - its modest title is \'The Future\' - Al Gore\'s new book embodies both the virtues and the flaws of its author. But those hardy souls who slog past the weaknesses will be rewarded by a book that is brave, original and often fun.

I really believe in hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

The chief job of foreign policy today is helping to figure out the rules for the global economy and defending each nation\'s interests within it.

We recognize that NAFTA is a three-country agreement, and we need a three-country negotiation.

My respect for politicians has increased. It\'s hard work - even hard physical work.

Plutocrats worldwide have readily understood the advantages of evading the burdens of the nation-state.

The one source of criticism even the most repressive authoritarian leader cannot silence is the outside world. Autocrats are usually thin-skinned and like to be admired, so at least, at first, they often seek to be praised abroad.

When Canada works to counter extremism and terrorism, particularly in the Middle East, Israel is always a natural partner and a close ally.

We are all living in a world shaped by Reagan and his ideology of small \'l\' liberalism.

I see social mobility and equality of opportunity as really successful Canadian values.

Reagan\'s legacy is so powerful because he identified the state as the central issue in American politics.

This is the 21st-century paradox: Even as political democracy has become the intellectual default mode for much of the world, the private sector usually trumps the public one when it comes to accommodating consumer choice.

In a globalized economy, jobs no longer need a passport, but workers do.

Shipping middle-class jobs to China, or hollowing them out with machines, is a win for smart managers and their shareholders. We call the result higher productivity. But, looked at through the lens of middle-class jobs, it is a loss.