‘No substantive progress’ in talks as CN Rail workers strike enters fourth day
The strike at the country’s biggest railway has entered its fourth day with no resolution in sight as round-the-clock negotiations continue under the watch of federal mediators. The Teamsters union says that “no substantive progress has been made” since 3,200 workers hit the picket lines early Tuesday morning. The union claims Quebec’s propane shortage “appears […]
Conservative Party faces calls for greater clarity on LBGTQ rights
Former interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose is joining a chorus of Conservatives saying the party needs to take a clearer stand on LGBTQ rights after the federal election. Ms. Ambrose, who led the party between 2015 and 2017, took to Twitter to say she was proud to have been the first Tory leader to march […]
Seamus O’Regan arrives in Calgary with the tough task of winning over the oilpatch
For decades, Newfoundlanders have traversed the country to work in the oilpatch. It’s a long commute, but there was often a lucrative reward. They used to come by the thousands, often on chartered flights, to work on the rigs and fill the many jobs around Fort McMurray. Newfoundland and Labrador MP Seamus O’Regan is on […]
Justin Trudeau’s new cabinet might not be an accurate representation of the country, but it does reflect the Liberal caucus that Canadians sent to Ottawa last month — including the remarkably large number of Liberal MPs from the two provinces that kept the party in power. That MPs from Ontario and Quebec are taking up […]
Read MoreHow Western democracies deal with the conundrum that is China is expected to be a major focus of the annual Halifax International Security Forum, which convenes for the eleventh time this weekend in the Nova Scotia capital. Several on the record — as well as off the record — sessions involving some of the world’s […]
Read MorePrime Minister Justin Trudeau’s second gender-parity cabinet might be putting the party’s best feminist foot forward but, away from the spotlight, the makeup of Parliament is still tilted heavily in favour of men. Female candidates were once again underrepresented and more likely than men to find themselves running in hard-to-win ridings, a new CBC data […]
Read MoreThe watchdog for Canada’s spy agency warned about “insider threats” years ago — and flagged gaps in the way top secret information is accessed — in a report that is gaining new relevance as the case against the RCMP’s Cameron Ortis moves through the courts. National security experts are now calling for a wider review […]
Read MoreGlobal Affairs Canada says it has found no credible evidence linking Canadian exports of military equipment to human rights violations by the government of Saudi Arabia — and it has another 48 applications for permits to export military equipment to the kingdom ready for government approval — a newly released document shows. These revelations are […]
Read MoreFormer prime minister Jean Chretien is advising Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to remember that he is “prime minister for all Canadians” in the face of western Canadian alienation. Chretien made an appearance at Parliament Hill Thursday as Trudeau’s new cabinet met for the first time.
Read MoreFeatured Ink
Maybe It’s Us Who Lack Political Courage
So, it’s over – for now at least. Thursday was the last day of Congressional public hearings on the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Some things are now clear: Whether rising to impeachment levels or not, Donald Trump is in a lot of trouble The professional intelligence and diplomatic presentations were something of a […]
Why would Jason Kenney fire the man investigating his party? Because he can
A warm welcome back to the conservative government of Alberta’s past. It’s been four years and change. We’ve missed you. Hopefully, absence has made the heart grow fonder for the traditional comforts of a conservative dynasty in Alberta: Cozy sole-sourced contracts, politicians who preach austerity and spend lavishly on themselves, that general aura of shamelessness […]
For Trudeau and Ford, what a difference a month can make
A little more than a month ago, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals dropped $14,000 on a Twitter ad campaign in Ontario, warning voters in roughly two dozen of the province’s ridings not to elect another Doug Ford. On Friday, Trudeau and Ford will be having what’s widely expected to be a cordial meeting in Ottawa, to talk […]
Freeland wins a waiver from PMO contro
If the new crop of cabinet ministers appear a little lost for words, beyond gushing thanks for their $85,000 pay raise, it’s because they don’t yet know what to think. Their marching orders haven’t arrived. The Mandate Letters, still being penned by the Prime Minister’s Office, will soon come down from on high as commandments […]
Let’s move on from the federal election and get back to work
The rest of Canada needs to know not all Westerners feel alienated from Ottawa. Not by a long shot. Here in Vancouver, we want a strengthened relationship, not a divorce. We need help with housing, drug overdoses, and public transit and are ready right now to move forward together. On housing, we are stretching our […]
Has Justin Trudeau set up Chrystia Freeland to fail?
Justin Trudeau frittered away a full month after the election to come up with a new cabinet. During that month, Premiers Jason Kenney and Scott Moe mobilized their anti-Liberal supporters, amplified the animosity that was left behind by the Liberals in the election campaign and deftly set an agenda for the prime minister that now […]
How Alberta’s proposed ‘fair deal’ plan could cut separatism off at the knees
A key to our future, found in our past. In recent days, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney struck a committee that will study a number of provocative ideas in his self-avowed quest for a “fair deal” for Alberta. These ideas will not only deliver the deal Kenney seeks, but hold the potential to do much more. […]
Who cares what Canada’s two-seat PM has to say about Alberta?
Well, if nothing else, you have to admire her sheer nerve. Here’s a person who led a major Canadian political party holding the reigns of power in a majority government into an election campaign that proved the most disastrous in our country’s entire history. But that was so many yesterdays ago. So today we’re supposed […]
Trudeau 2.0: Je ne regrette rien
Today we have naming of parts. If you have a minister of middle-class prosperity and a minister of economic development and an entirely separate minister of rural economic development and a minister of workforce development—remember when the workforce was part of the economy? Ok, boomer—and a minister of small business and a minister of finance […]
To succeed, Trudeau 2.0 will need quick action — an attribute missing from Trudeau 1.0
If it wishes to be successful, Trudeau 2.0 will have to move move much faster than Trudeau 1.0. To accomplish the ambitious agenda encapsulated in the Liberal election platform — an agenda its parliamentary partners, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois, will push it on — Prime Minister Justin’s Trudeau’s new cabinet must slough off […]
In the game of dominoes that is behind the making of Justin Trudeau’s second term cabinet, Chrystia Freeland’s shift from the global scene to the domestic stage is the defining move. Her appointment as deputy prime minister solidifies her first place in the Liberal line of succession to Trudeau. But her lead position on the […]
Read MoreJustin Trudeau has appointed his new cabinet. These days, cabinets are an excuse to hire 30-some chauffeurs and offer a bump in pay to the gilded few, not a vehicle for collaborative government. If that’s too much cynicism for your morning coffee, go back through the records from 2015 to 2019 and list out all […]
Read MoreJust over four years ago, Justin Trudeau strode in late fall sunshine toward Rideau Hall like a conquering Roman general, flanked by his gender-balanced cabinet. By contrast, there was nothing triumphant about the way Trudeau’s ministers trudged toward the Governor-General’s residence to be sworn in on a chilly winter’s afternoon on Wednesday, their leader nowhere […]
Read MoreNew cabinets are closely analyzed for what governments intend to do next. They are also filled with revelations about what governments won’t do again. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, like George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” has been given a second chance to appreciate his good fortune and all the people he has around him. […]
Read More1) Pick up the phone and call your counterparts in other parties and in provincial offices. Call just to say “hi, I’m looking forward to working with you.” Also, invite them out for a coffee (when you’re in the same town). At that informal meeting, be the kind of person they will want to have […]
Read MoreIt’s been a hell of a ride, but Bill Blair’s redemption story is complete. The former Toronto police chief, pushed out of the job just four years ago, is now Canada’s minister of public safety. It’s a nearly-unfathomable return to form for Blair, who faced criticism from all sides for his handling of the infamous […]
Read MoreIt’s no secret why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has, suddenly and without prior notice, reversed Stephen Harper’s policy of refusing to support the never-ending deluge of Israel-bashing resolutions passed by the United Nations General Assembly. Canada under Harper and his Conservative government was Israel’s strongest ally in the world, more than even the U.S. under […]
Read MoreLast year at this time everyone was talking about populism, the Alt-Right movement, authoritarianism and what seemed like the slide towards global anarchy. These were, and remain, significant enough to undo more enfeebled democracies around the world. While the outsized dealings of Donald Trump continue to sow confusion and alarm, other developed nations face their […]
Read MoreThe Liberal government committed to more than half a billion dollars in unbudgeted spending during the two months leading up to the federal election campaign, documents reveal — and the money was promised at a time when the opposition parties faced new restraints on what they were allowed to spend before the writ was dropped. […]
Read MoreIt is incongruous that Justin Trudeau’s inner circle has too few Westerners, while Andrew Scheer’s has too many. Perhaps they should swap staff for a few days. All eyes will be on the Liberal leader’s cabinet shuffle at Rideau Hall on Wednesday afternoon. But, to many observers, the confederacy arraigned around the cabinet table is […]
Read MoreEntertainment Plus
Shatner, Obomsawin among 39 inductees to Order of Canada today
OTTAWA — Gov. Gen. Julie Payette is honouring 39 people with the Order of Canada this morning, including actor William Shatner, writer Ann-Marie MacDonald and lawyer James Lockyer. Shatner is being given one of Canada's highest civilian honours for his 60-year career in theatre, television and film; MacDonald for her art and advocacy for women […]
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