Opinion
By taunting Mark Carney, Donald Trump’s trade team is only helping Canada

By taunting Mark Carney, Donald Trump’s trade team is only helping Canada

If U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration hoped to strengthen Canada’s hand in trade talks, it could hardly have done a better job. This week, the U.S. deputy trade representative Rick Switzer told the Council of Foreign Relations that Prime Minister Mark Carney is guilty of “political malpractice” for pitting himself politically against the president, that he’s driven by his “ego,”...

The important questions raised by Parliament's game of musical chairs

The important questions raised by Parliament's game of musical chairs

With Liberal MPs holding a majority of seats in the House of Commons, government House leader Steven MacKinnon moved a motion on Thursday that would see that majority reflected in the allotment of seats on House committees. This would be an entirely remarkable development — the sort of procedural housekeeping that occurs at the start of each Parliament — except...

With a Little Help from his Friends: Mark Carney’s New Trade Committee

With a Little Help from his Friends: Mark Carney’s New Trade Committee

In the classic Canadian tradition of diffusing the pain by enlarging the official target field, Prime Minister Mark Carney this week unveiled a 24-member Advisory Committee on Canada-US Economic Relations to buttress his negotiating team heading into the looming CUSMA review with the United States and Mexico. The committee is composed of some pan-partisan political figures, from former federal Tory...

Trump may be temporary. The damage he is doing isn’t

Trump may be temporary. The damage he is doing isn’t

Was John Turner right? Is Donald Trump’s weaponization of Canada’s dependence on trade with the United States vindication of the Liberal leader’s dire prophecies during the 1988 election campaign? Is this the bitter fruit of the Mulroney government’s decision, all those years ago, to sign a free-trade agreement with the United States?

Expect Trump to try to punish Canada for not bending the knee

Expect Trump to try to punish Canada for not bending the knee

We’ve been warned for months that Canada faces exceedingly tough talks on renewing the CUSMA/USMCA trade deal. With Donald Trump blowing off the importance of Canada (“we don’t need anything they have”), it was shaping up as a cage match at the negotiating table. As of this week, though, we face the very real possibility of an even more ominous...

Political Pulse: NDP to lose last Quebec MP as Boulerice set to resign

Political Pulse: NDP to lose last Quebec MP as Boulerice set to resign

In a recent op-ed, Liberal MP and former environment minister Steven Guilbeault wrote that the government's energy ambitions put the country at a climate crossroads. Power & Politics questions Guilbeault on his hopes for the Canada-Alberta Memorandum of Understanding, and on his thoughts regarding the current state of the Liberal party.

Carney can’t stickhandle a new world order alone. He’ll need help from his hockey buddy

Carney can’t stickhandle a new world order alone. He’ll need help from his hockey buddy

When Mark Carney skated over to the TV cameras at an ice rink in Ottawa this month, he introduced his hockey buddy Alexander Stubb to Canadians as “the man, the myth, the legend” and the prime minister’s “No. 1 draft choice.” Carney isn’t putting together a beer league, nor is he trying out for the Ottawa Charge, whose practice he...



Avi Lewis is smart to shed light on surveillance pricing

Avi Lewis is smart to shed light on surveillance pricing

New NDP Leader Avi Lewis has set his sights on bringing an end to the practice of surveillance pricing, calling it a “crystal clear example of why we desperately need government guardrails to protect us from the triple threat of Big Tech, AI and corporate monopolies that dominate every sector of our economy.” During a press conference in Ottawa flanked...

A worrying sign of tech blindness as USMCA talks approach

A worrying sign of tech blindness as USMCA talks approach

Among the former politicians and CEOs of a mining giant, a paper company, a steel company, a potash producer, a railway, a bank, and lobby groups for small business and the auto and aluminum sectors, there was a glaring omission: experts from the tech sector. The 24 people on the Advisory Committee on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations announced by Prime Minister...

The Tories say the Carney majority is illegitimate. Their reasoning speaks to a larger issue

The Tories say the Carney majority is illegitimate. Their reasoning speaks to a larger issue

Opinion on Canada’s New! Liberal! Majority! Government! has tended to divide into two camps. On one hand are those, mostly to be found on the Conservative end of things, who denounce the process by which the Liberals attained their majority – five opposition MPs, crossing the floor one after the other, like baby ducks – as illegitimate, even undemocratic. Canadians...

Washington’s set to eat Canada’s digital sovereignty for lunch in the CUSMA talks

Washington’s set to eat Canada’s digital sovereignty for lunch in the CUSMA talks

Jim Balsillie said Canada was ‘hijacked’ last time around and is likely to be further disadvantaged in the pending negotiations

Insults and fake outrage won’t help Donald Trump win his trade war

Insults and fake outrage won’t help Donald Trump win his trade war

For one shining moment in Washington on Wednesday, a Democratic senator stared down Donald Trump’s administration with some words that many Canadians have been wanting to hurl in the president’s direction. It was during a Senate subcommittee hearing when U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — the same one who said “they suck” when referring to Canada last week — was...

Danielle Smith is already turning Alberta into America’s 51st state

Danielle Smith is already turning Alberta into America’s 51st state

Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party never mentioned the prospect of an independence referendum in the last election campaign, and voters never gave them a mandate to pursue one. But that hasn’t stopped her from pushing the province into a polarizing separatist debate, one that’s already attracting attention — and almost certainly interference — from foreign powers. Worse, it might all...

Big tent politics is back, and Canada may be better for it

Big tent politics is back, and Canada may be better for it

The recent defection of longtime Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal caucus — followed swiftly by a string of federal byelection wins that secured a governing majority — has reignited a familiar debate in Canadian politics: the merits and risks of “big tent” political parties.

Canada’s rupture with the U.S. is temporary

Canada’s rupture with the U.S. is temporary

Prime Minister Mark Carney wants us to believe the rupture with the United States will be long-lasting, maybe here to stay. He suggested it again in his weekend video posted on YouTube. “Some ... believe that we should wait in the hope that the United States will return to normal,” he said. “But hope isn’t a plan and nostalgia is...

"Judge me by my enemies?" Mark Carney ditches that rule book. Today's Trade Council is the latest example of the PM's instinct to find allies, not opponents.

"Judge me by my enemies?" Mark Carney ditches that rule book. Today's Trade Council is the latest example of the PM's instinct to find allies, not opponents.

While campaigning for the presidency in Portland, in 1932, Franklin Roosevelt told a crowd “my friends, judge me by the enemies I’ve made.”. In a 2015 Presidential debate, Anderson Cooper asked the candidates which enemy they were most proud of making. There’s a deep history of politics about picking your enemies as deliberately as you choose your friends.



Less forward guidance, Mr. Carney, and more accountability

Less forward guidance, Mr. Carney, and more accountability

“Thank you for your time,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said at the close of his recent direct-to-you vlog, titled Forward Guidance. “I know it’s precious.” That’s nice. He told Canadians he is going to want to talk with them again, but promised to do so sparingly. “I know you have busy lives and you don’t need busy lives from me,”...

Tracking Carney’s ever-changing positions on a trade deal with Trump

Tracking Carney’s ever-changing positions on a trade deal with Trump

If you’re confused about where Canada stands heading into negotiations with the U.S. on the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, it’s likely because Prime Minister Mark Carney keeps moving the goalposts.

Avi Lewis’s NDP senses the right spots to attack Carney’s left

Avi Lewis’s NDP senses the right spots to attack Carney’s left

Former prime minister Brian Mulroney once levelled the bizarre charge that the first thing then NDP leader Ed Broadbent would do if elected to replace him would be to nationalize high-end menswear retailer Harry Rosen. It was a personal shot at Broadbent, who was renowned for his ill-fitting brown tweed jackets, but also a reminder to voters that elements within...

The ‘gravy plane’ mess has sent a message: Doug Ford should retire

The ‘gravy plane’ mess has sent a message: Doug Ford should retire

The “gravy plane” mess lasted only a few days. But it sent a message. If Doug Ford hears that message, the Ontario Premier will soon retire. The public learned last week that the provincial government had acquired a preowned Bombardier Challenger 650 jet aircraft. On Sunday, in the wake of opposition howls, the Premier announced the government would sell the...

Hear me out: The plane was a good idea. Doug Ford’s mistake was giving in

Hear me out: The plane was a good idea. Doug Ford’s mistake was giving in

It seems odd to even suggest this right now, but … what if the plane was a good idea? Seriously. What if a private jet for the use of the premier and other key officials was actually worth considering?

The feds need a ‘dream team’ to counter the PQ

The feds need a ‘dream team’ to counter the PQ

The recent Liberal policy convention I attended in Montreal was more about convening than policy: the corridors of the Palais des Congrès were packed with 4,500 delegates networking away, while the policy sessions were sparsely attended. One session did impress me for its participants. It was the session on “Building Canada Strong,” featuring Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Industry Minister Mélanie...

Trump got his regime change in Canada. Now he may regret it.

Trump got his regime change in Canada. Now he may regret it.

Well, the Iranian case is up for debate, but there’s no question your commander in chief effected “regime change” here in Canada. After last week’s special elections, Mark Carney, the prime minister whose elevation Donald Trump helped bring about, has at last secured a parliamentary majority for Canada’s Liberal Party.

Here’s what Mark Carney was signalling on YouTube

Here’s what Mark Carney was signalling on YouTube

When a prime minister takes to YouTube for a 10-minute address to the nation, a perfectly reasonable question is: what’s the emergency? So when Mark Carney released a video on the weekend, titled “Forward Guidance,” there was a natural temptation to look for what alarms he was trying to raise.

Carney preparing to fail in Trump negotiations

Carney preparing to fail in Trump negotiations

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Sunday video was a masterclass in crisis communications. He reminded Canadians of his credentials managing tough times. He described the urgent challenges Canada faces. He explained what he is doing to tackle them. He promised not to “sugarcoat” anything. He appealed to Canadians’ patriotism. And he promised to keep us posted: bookmark this YouTube channel for...


Possible changes to Alberta’s electoral map put democracy at risk

Possible changes to Alberta’s electoral map put democracy at risk

In 2016, I appointed three of the five people on the Electoral Boundaries Commission. A year later, their final report hit my desk. I was disappointed. Very disappointed. Two strong NDP seats, held by my finance minister and my attorney-general, were made into one. The urban Medicine Hat seat occupied by the then-NDP speaker of the House was cut in...

When are Conservatives going to join the fight against Alberta separatism?

When are Conservatives going to join the fight against Alberta separatism?

It’s a mere six months until Albertans decide whether they want to separate from the rest of Canada. And yet there is no apparent all-inclusive campaign for those of us who want to vote No.

Carney’s feel-good video is weak medicine for our grave economic reality

Carney’s feel-good video is weak medicine for our grave economic reality

Was the timing of Mark Carney’s feel-good “fireside chat” video released Sunday mere coincidence, landing as it did the day before concerning inflation numbers? Or was it a deliberate calculation to point out that Canadian fur traders were all over the northern plains before the Americans had left St. Louis, a day ahead of confirmation that consumers are now paying...

Carney’s Liberals Are Governing like Conservatives—Just More Politely

Carney’s Liberals Are Governing like Conservatives—Just More Politely

FOR ALL OF MY adult life, I’ve been a Liberal believing in the defence of rights, the constraining of power, an equitable society, and an independent foreign policy. It’s been a narrative that many Canadians have strongly believed and supported.

Doug Ford gives up a gravy plane for his normal clown car

Doug Ford gives up a gravy plane for his normal clown car

The instant Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles blasted out the words “gravy plane,” it became obvious that the private jet purchased by Ontario Premier Doug Ford was not long for this province. It wasn’t simply that the act of spending $28.9-million of taxpayers’ money on a private aircraft for the Premier’s office was hideously off-brand, though that was a major...

Pierre Poilievre is picking a fight he can't win

Pierre Poilievre is picking a fight he can't win

The old Pierre Poilievre is back. After watching Mark Carney’s Liberals secure a majority government with a clean sweep in last Monday’s three byelections and with rumours of more floor crossers in the offing, the Conservative Party of Canada leader has decided to abandon his kinder and gentler personality reboot in favour of his more familiar brand of populist petulance...

Democracy Strikes Back in Hungary

Democracy Strikes Back in Hungary

Hungary has only 9.5 million people, but its election result is resonating across the democratic world. The resounding defeat of Viktor Orbán and his party Fidesz on April 12 brought an end to 16 years of governance by a prime minister who had established himself as a global icon of the populist far-right, the model to follow, the archetype of...

Can’t win? Don’t rewrite the rules

Can’t win? Don’t rewrite the rules

Let’s be clear: there is nothing improper about a government gaining a majority in Parliament between elections. Some have suggested otherwise, as if something outside the rules has taken place. It hasn’t. Canada operates under a Westminster parliamentary system. Voters don’t cast ballots for a Prime Minister. We don’t vote for or against a majority government. We vote for a...

Congratulations to Carney on securing a majority, now please, please, pick a fighter jet, already

Congratulations to Carney on securing a majority, now please, please, pick a fighter jet, already

Congratulations to Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberals on securing their majority. Now, please, please, pick a fighter jet already. No one can stop you! This isn’t the first time I’ve made this exact plea in these very pages. It was just last September that I begged the prime minister to get around to picking a jet to replace...

The Conservatives are spending $1 million advertising — to themselves

The Conservatives are spending $1 million advertising — to themselves

The Conservative Party of Canada launched two new ads recently, backed by what the party says is a million-dollar-plus media buy across television, radio, connected TV and digital platforms. They will be running through the end of June. The ads are well produced. One features Pierre Poilievre speaking of a country that stands on its own feet and bows before...

The Leadership Limbo of Pierre Poilievre

The Leadership Limbo of Pierre Poilievre

Nearly one year after the election that validated Mark Carney’s instincts about pursuing a career in elected politics, the principal casualty of that choice, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, finds himself in a peculiar position. Poilievre, whose party lost that election from a starting lead of 20 points, who lost his own seat, and who has witnessed a mini stampede of...

Mark Carney’s Fireside Chat, or a Brief History of Forward Guidance

Mark Carney’s Fireside Chat, or a Brief History of Forward Guidance

For someone relatively new to elected politics, Mark Carney has developed a habit of leaning into his pre-political past. When Carney unfurled his middle-power response to the geopolitical upheaval fronted by Donald Trump’s weaponized presidency, he didn’t do it at the Canadian Club, the United Nations, or Chatham House. He delivered his code-cracking economic GPS from the annual gathering of...

Captain Canada loses his plane in his latest pathetic wimp-out moment

Captain Canada loses his plane in his latest pathetic wimp-out moment

Not once have I ever thought that Doug Ford has much in common at all with U.S. President Donald Trump. Sure, the Ontario premier is a blustery, (in-theory) right-leaning politician who even has a passing physical resemblance to the U.S. president. But anyone actually making the comparison has always been, in my mind, confessing how superficial their understanding of either...

Mark Carney’s push toward realpolitik - His foreign-policy doctrine is a break with the preachiness of the past: Canada must take the world as it is

Mark Carney’s push toward realpolitik - His foreign-policy doctrine is a break with the preachiness of the past: Canada must take the world as it is

For two decades, Canada pursued a values-based foreign policy, although the values pursued by Liberal and Conservative governments were very different. Today, Canada is pursuing a more hardnosed foreign policy that puts Canada’s national interests front and centre. Putting Canada first, so to speak, has proved to be a far better approach. Of course, values and interests have always comingled...

Canada needs the Clean Electricity Regulations to cut emissions and invest in low-cost, clean power
Joining the EU would be a ridiculous response to Canada’s real problems

Joining the EU would be a ridiculous response to Canada’s real problems

Where did this idea come from, of Canada joining the European Union? I know the Prime Minister likes to say that Canada is “the most European of the non-European countries,” whatever that means. (More European than, say, Argentina? Uruguay? New Zealand?) And sure, we’ve all joked about it, at least once, in the heat of Donald Trump’s latest outrage (“that’s...

Pierre Poilievre helped make Mark Carney’s week a rousing success

Pierre Poilievre helped make Mark Carney’s week a rousing success

As political weeks go, Prime Minister Mark Carney couldn’t have asked for a better one. Fresh from the Liberals’ convention where he was fêted as the party’s new Messiah, his candidates won all three byelections Monday by larger percentage margins than in last spring’s general election.

How will Carney use his majority mandate?

How will Carney use his majority mandate?

The Political Pulse panel breaks down Week 1 of the Liberals' majority government, and how opposition parties are responding.