Has Jagmeet Singh As NDP Leader Been A Total Flop?
When Jagmeet Singh won the federal party’s leadership back in 2017, there was a wave of optimism when people thought of the possibility that Canada could elect its first non-white, Sikh-Canadian prime minister. The then-Brampton MPP defeated more established, experienced NDP veterans to win the leadership decisively with 54 per cent of the vote. For […]
Former Speaker paid just $370 for ‘truckloads’ of taxpayer-funded booze: new Plecas report
The former Speaker of the B.C. Legislature paid just $370 for two truckloads of alcohol that were loaded into the clerk’s truck and delivered to him, alleges a new report from current Speaker Darryl Plecas. And there’s no good reason why the most senior and highest paid officer of the Legislature, Clerk Craig James, should […]
Union official tells employment minister she doesn’t look fat in her pants during press conference exchange
A senior Canadian union official joked about the appearance of federal cabinet minister Patty Hajdu’s buttocks during a Thursday announcement in Winnipeg about federal assistance for women who want to work in building trades. Hajdu, Canada’s minister of employment, workforce development and labour, was in Winnipeg Thursday morning to announce $3.1 million worth of funding […]
Canada’s top public servant says he is worried someone will be assassinated during the coming federal election campaign given the disturbing tenor of recent public discussion. Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick is telling the House of Commons justice committee today he is deeply concerned about Canada’s politics and where things are headed. Wernick has been […]
Read MoreOntario’s Progressive Conservative Party has asked registered lobbyists to help sell tickets to Premier Doug Ford’s upcoming fundraising dinner, an event that companies and industry groups say they feel pressure to attend to maintain high-level access to the government. The $1,250-per-person dinner is being billed as the largest fundraiser in party history and marks the […]
Read MoreA tour the suspended B.C. legislature clerk organized to learn about “earthquake preparedness” was actually a whale watching trip, and a seminar about emergency evacuations was actually a Seattle Mariners baseball game, according to a scathing new report by Speaker Darryl Plecas. Taxpayers paid thousands for “official-sounding” meetings around the world that were actually opportunities […]
Read MoreCanada’s top civil servant has refuted a bombshell media report that alleged political interference in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, claiming it included “errors” and “unfounded speculation” and was “defamatory.” Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick, testifying at the justice committee today, was referring to a Feb. 7 Globe and Mail report that touched […]
Read MoreOne week after losing his right-hand man Gerald Butts, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s top political aide — chief of staff Katie Telford — faces allegations she intentionally inflicted mental suffering on an ex-ambassador. The allegation is contained in a lawsuit filed by Vivian Bercovici, a former Canadian ambassador to Israel, who was appointed by the […]
Read MoreAn Ontario man who travelled to Syria to join an al-Qaida faction is being released from prison less than two years after pleading guilty, even though the Parole Board of Canada is concerned he might continue to engage in terrorism.
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Liberals will get to the bottom of the SNC-Lavalin affair — once the Liberals get out of the way
The Liberal government, according to the Liberal government, absolutely wants to get to the bottom of the SNC-Lavalin affair. The problem is the Liberal government is standing in the way. What’s a government to do? The question at the centre of this saga is whether former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould was pressured by anyone in […]
The pressure is now on Wilson-Raybould in the SNC-Lavalin scandal
If Jody Wilson-Raybould felt she was suffering “undue pressure” before in her spat with the Prime Minister’s Office, it is looking like a walk in the park compared to what the former minister in Justin Trudeau’s government must be feeling now. Thanks to an extraordinary intervention on Thursday by Michael Wernick, Canada’s top civil servant, […]
In appreciation of the magnificent Michael Wernick
Into what sometimes seems the lair of the mealy-mouthed, there came Michael Wernick, the plain-talking Clerk of the Privy Council and the top civil servant in the country. The 37-year career public servant was the third witness to testify Thursday at the justice committee allegedly examining the SNC-Lavalin affair and whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, […]
We now know Wilson-Raybould was pressured. They just didn’t call it that
First she was not directed. Then she was not pressured. Now, courtesy of the clerk of the privy council, we learn she was not “inappropriately” pressured. The progression is familiar: when you cannot deny a thing is true, deny that it matters. As we have been discovering in recent days, in fact all sorts of […]
Tough talk from a man with nothing to lose
Michael Wernick wandered into the justice committee like a sun-struck madman and gave real answers to the questions he was asked by MPs not used to such transparency. After two weeks of politicians citing “solicitor-client privilege” in the SNC Lavalin case, we finally got somewhere. The public service generally operates on the principle that if […]
The Liberals’ curiouser and curiouser efforts won’t make the SNC-Lavalin affair go away
We are just two weeks into the SNC-Lavalin affair, and already this scandal has exhausted a country’s goodwill, its credulity – and its store of metaphors for political ritual-suicide and murder. A weary nation can tolerate no more references to the bullet, the sword or the bus under which one is thrown. A column attempting […]
For Trudeau, the SNC-Lavalin scandal solution could rest with Jody Wilson-Raybould
Ever since allegations of high-level political interference in the federal prosecution of engineering firm SNC-Lavalin surfaced, it has been assumed that from the government’s perspective former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould’s silence was a better alternative than having her speak out about her exchanges with the prime minister and his staff. Given her refusal to sanction […]
Jody Wilson-Raybould can talk, lawyers say
Many smart lawyers say former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould isn’t bound by solicitor-client privilege regarding her discussions with the Prime Minister’s Office in the SNC-Lavalin scandal. Brian R.D. Smith of Gowlings, former attorney general of British Columbia, told thelawyersdaily.ca last week: “I think she can tell the world. I hope she does. First of all, […]
The SNC-Lavalin scandal and the politics of prosecution
The ongoing controversy regarding the prosecution of Canadian engineering company SNC-Lavalin raises fundamental questions about how decisions to prosecute are made and what role elected politicians should have in that process. The scandal has resulted in the resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s principal secretary, Gerald Butts, amid allegations the Prime Minister’s Office pressured its […]
Gerald Butts is clearly blind to his own hypocrisy
Gerald Butts, in the statement he issued upon resigning as principal secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, spoke in righteous terms. He said that in his experience, Canadian politicians and government employees put service of country beyond self … not just sometimes, but every single day. “The Prime Minister of Canada’s Office is much larger […]
Gerald Butts has resigned and Ottawa is awash with speculation about the next chapter in the SNC-Lavalin affair. My take on it is simple — I have absolutely no idea. And in the interests of full disclosure, I worked with Gerald at Queen’s Park and found him to be a capable and honourable fellow. What I do know, however, is that as the dust settles on this […]
Read MoreTo quote the late William Goldman, nobody knows anything. The last twenty-four hours are proof enough of that. Whatever is going on behind the scenes between Jody Wilson-Raybould, Justin Trudeau and Gerald Butts is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside a clown car. We can attempt, however, to draw reasoned inferences from the known […]
Read MoreThe self-preservation instinct has kicked in for members of the governing Liberal party. Prior to the regular caucus meeting Wednesday, MPs warned darkly of a potential riot by unhappy backbenchers. But after former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould addressed the weekly gathering, MPs emerged to proclaim themselves satisfied with the situation. “It was immensely respectful,” said […]
Read MoreSurprising things don’t tend to happen outside cabinet meetings on Parliament Hill. So the appearance of Jody Wilson-Raybould at cabinet on Tuesday — a mere week after she quit her job as veterans’ affairs minister — was stunning not just for how it happened, but for where it happened.
Read MoreLike a lot of Canadians, I’ve been closely following the coverage of SNC-Lavalin stories coming out of Ottawa over the past week. There’s a debate playing out in op-ed pages across the country on whether or not SNC-Lavalin should be prosecuted for alleged fraud and corruption charges, or whether it would be preferable to reach […]
Read MorePity Justin Trudeau. Resigning your best friend to the political scrap heap can’t have been an easy day at the office. Especially when that best friend has been the best brain at your disposal during your meteoric rise to the leadership of the Liberal Party, and then Canada. Losing Gerry Butts, as Trudeau did yesterday, […]
Read MoreA good headline, like Varsol, cuts through the grease and varnish applied to any story by political or corporate message-crafters. So, my suggestion for the big political headline of the day: “Nothing Happened, So I’m Quitting” — Gerald Butts Now, Gerry Butts — until Monday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s principal secretary — is a smart […]
Read MoreThe second act of l’affaire SNC-Lavalin could be devastating for Trudeau, and it’s not clear he’ll be better off without his trusted advisor. Last week, I wrote here that Justin Trudeau needed a fall guy to take the blame in l’affaire SNC-Lavalin. Today, we learned who that fall guy is: principal secretary Gerald Butts, a […]
Read MoreAt any other time it’d be interesting to entertain a few notions of comparative PMO staffing. Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper shook up their senior staff regularly: Mulroney’s principal secretaries included Peter White, Tom Trbovich, Michel Roy and Hugh Segal; Harper made more frequent changes to his chiefs of staff but when Ray Novak moved […]
Read MoreIn a past political life, working for a long-ago premier of Ontario, Gerald Butts helped usher in a new provincial holiday called Family Day. Little did Butts know that he’d be marking Family Day in 2019 stepping down from a job at the very top of a government led by his old university friend, Justin […]
Read MoreEntertainment Plus
Here’s What’s Playing On Netflix Canada In March 2019
With spring in the air, Netflix Canada unveils new titles landing on the streaming service through the month of March 2019.
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