Montreal may have less influence after October provincial election
When Coalition Avenir Quebec Leader Francois Legault recently dismissed the Montreal mayor’s popular plan for a new subway line, he didn’t feel it necessary to even pay lip service to the idea. Valerie Plante’s “pink line” helped her win the 2017 municipal election as Montrealers dreamed of a shiny new transit project with stations to […]
Sign vandalized after MP Maxime Bernier calls out Winnipeg park for ‘extreme multiculturalism’
Days after Conservative MP Maxime Bernier singled out a Winnipeg park named after a Pakistani leader in an attempt to demonstrate that multiculturalism has gone too far, the park’s new sign was vandalized. Masroor Khan, who helped campaign to have the park renamed, was told Friday that the sign bearing the new park’s name, Jinnah […]
RCMP commissioner ‘not sure’ handgun ban is the answer to gun violence
A recent spate of shootings is driving a swelling chorus of calls for a handgun ban — but the nation’s top Mountie says she isn’t convinced it’s the answer. On Monday, Montreal’s city council will debate whether to push for a federal ban on handguns. The motion before council calls on Montreal to demand the […]
Melissa Robichaud says she wants her sons to know their father is just as important as the two police officers who were killed in last week’s Fredericton shooting. The grieving widow made headlines this week after she admitted she called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “piece of s–t” for not reaching out to her family […]
Read MoreConservative Sen. Linda Frum says she isn’t satisfied with Liberal MP Iqra Khalid’s apology for giving an award to an alleged anti-Semite — saying Khalid’s professed ignorance of the man’s association with anti-Jewish causes is disingenuous given she’s called him her “rock” and “brother” in the past. Khalid has been chided in the past for […]
Read MoreFormer United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan was remembered by Canadian politicians on Saturday as a friend of Canada and tireless advocate for peace around the world. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former prime minister Paul Martin were among the Canadians who added their voices to the tributes pouring from around the globe following the death […]
Read MoreMaxime Bernier may be causing headaches for his fellow Conservative MPs, but his latest musings on “extreme multiculturalism” have been a boon for the federal Liberal party. The Liberals say a fundraising campaign based on Bernier’s controversial comments has raised 77 per cent more money than any of their previous issue-based efforts. Party spokesperson Braeden […]
Read MoreA U.S. national security review has given a green light to the Canadian government’s planned purchase of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline project, moving the transaction one step closer to completion. In July, CBC News reported that the deal was contingent in part on getting clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United […]
Read MoreJustin Trudeau will huddle with his cabinet ministers this week to craft the political narrative they will take to Canadians ahead of next year’s federal election. But the reality is that heading into an election year, the Liberals face political risks beyond their control — the uptick in asylum seekers coming across the border, a […]
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Maxime Bernier offers a disappointing and distracting diversity diatribe
As someone who has previously suggested that the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) ought to embrace the ideas of Maxime Bernier, I should add that this advice does not necessarily apply to everything that comes out of his mouth — or his Twitter feed.
Canada’s Conservatives are having a mini-meltdown
Tracking the recent antics of members of the Conservative Party of Canada, you’d be forgiven for thinking that someone had spiked the water in their caucus. And not with the sort of substance that changes who you are but the sort that amplifies who you are — the sort that makes you more of yourself. […]
Those finger-wagging know-it-alls who are sticking up for the Saudis
In 2012, in one of his last posts before he was locked up, Saudi blogger Raif Badawi quoted Albert Camus: “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” Badawi, a brave man standing up against tyrants, was convicted of […]
Can the drifting Liberals find a future in their past?
When politicians start talking a lot about their old promises, it’s safe to bet that they’re in the midst of making new ones. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been hauling out some of his greatest hits lately, or at least what he views as signature achievements of a government that just passed its 1,000-days-in-office milestone.
Philippe Couillard picks a bad time to break a promise
The provincial riding of Marquette, in Montreal’s West Island, is one of the safest Liberal seats in Quebec. It has been a party fortress since its creation in 1980. Its current MNA, François Ouimet, first ran in 1994. Since then, in bad times as in good, his re-election has been little more than a formality. […]
So what if Justin Trudeau cries at work? That makes him human
We’ve come a long way, the Canadian people. Women can vote, gays can get married, Ontarians can buy beer at select supermarkets and marijuana will soon be legal and, God willing, available at a store near you. However, some of us are still eons behind schedule in one significant area. We cannot abide a man […]
How One City’s Rally Becomes Our Own
Along with many other Londoners shocked by the events in Charlottesville, Virginia a year ago, our family joined the rally in our city’s central park to speak out against the racist and neo-Nazi behaviour that had so troubled that American city. But we came away feeling that it wasn’t enough. And, so, this past week, […]
Who’s playing identity politics? Everyone
Maxime Bernier’s controversial tweets are stirring up a storm. Just a few days before the Conservative Party policy convention begins next week, he wants everyone to pay attention to him. He’s trying to remind people that they should have made him leader of the party, instead of that nebbish, Andrew Scheer. In Mr. Bernier’s view, […]
Conservative eruptions are a gift for Justin Trudeau’s Liberals
Andrew Scheer is clearly facing a challenge to his leadership. So far, his response reminds us the Conservative Party leader made a fine Speaker of the House of Commons. The problem for Scheer is that a Speaker could take his time and make a sage ruling based on arcane rules and precedent, but a leader […]
Maxime Bernier keeps the headaches coming for Andrew Scheer
One week before the first Conservative national convention on Andrew Scheer’s leadership watch — and the last such gathering before the next federal election — one would not normally expect Conservative MPs to be debating each other on social media about whether to draw a line on Canada’s diversity.
How poor has Justin Trudeau’s delivery been on Indigenous files? Well, let’s just say it wasn’t from a position of strength that the Liberals this week floated the creation of a new holiday to commemorate the shocking history of Canada’s residential schools. By giving their tentative backing to an opposition bill. Anonymously. With the date […]
Read MoreThat’s why the president revoked my security clearance: to try to silence anyone who would dare challenge him. When Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s internal security service, told me during an early August 2016 phone call that Russia wasn’t interfering in our presidential election, I knew he was lying. Over the previous several years […]
Read MoreHere’s a proposed Canadian reply to the escalating Saudi temper tantrum. Call in the kingdom’s ambassador and tell him: Sorry, Mr. Ambassador, but Canadian universities will never again accept Saudi medical residents. The government could explain that cancelling orders for relatively piddling amounts of wheat and maple syrup is the kingdom’s perfect right, subject of […]
Read MoreAfter watching a video of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau giving a speech in which he reiterated one of his favourite statements about “diversity being what makes Canada strong,” Conservative MP Maxime Bernier lost his marbles and went on a Trump-like Twitter rant about diversity and the dangers of promoting it too much.
Read MoreIs Canada a national security threat to the United States? President Donald Trump’s administration says it is. In June, it invoked a seldom used national security provision in the 1962 Trade Expansion Act to impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum imported from Canada, contending that rising imports could endanger […]
Read MoreMaxime Bernier probably wasn’t trying to make life easier for Justin Trudeau when he put his fellow Conservatives on the hot seat by speaking out against the prime minister’s alleged “radical multiculturalism.” And NDP leader Jagmeet Singh likely wasn’t thinking too much about boosting Liberal fortunes when he decided to shoot back at some insults […]
Read MoreThis is the time in the life of a majority government when minds usually turn to the drafting of a final throne speech. For a ruling party going into its last year before a general election, the occasion is an opportunity to try to articulate an auspicious ballot-box question but also, if need be, to […]
Read MoreThe Trudeau Liberals are reportedly giving serious thought to a speech from the throne to launch a new session of Parliament in the fall. That is a discussion for next Tuesday’s summer meeting of the Liberal caucus in British Columbia, after which a decision will be made. Whether they choose to prorogue or move ahead […]
Read MoreIs the West falling apart? Although news of the West’s demise may be premature, the increasingly erratic policies of US President Donald Trump are placing enormous pressure on the military and nonmilitary ties that bind us. And it’s not just the United States. Britain’s exit from the European Union, no matter how amicable the eventual […]
Read MoreIn the world according to Conservative MP Maxime Bernier, there’s nothing wrong with diversity. There is something wrong, however, with “ever more diversity.” Confused? Me too, but I’ll try to break it down for you. Bernier made a series of ill-advised tweets around 8:30 on Sunday night. When many Canadians were presumably relaxing and spending […]
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‘Queen of Soul’ Aretha Franklin has died
Aretha Franklin, the long-reigning “Queen of Soul” who sang with matchless style on such classics as “Think” and her signature song, “Respect,” died Thursday at age 76, said her representative, Gwendolyn Quinn. The cause was advanced pancreatic cancer.
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