‘Maybe she’s wearing down?’: Senators react to Beyak apology, suspension
Non-affiliated Sen. Beyak (Ontario) said in the Red Chamber two days before she was suspended for the second time that she was “determined to comply willingly, completely, and in good faith” with the conditions laid out for overturning her recommended suspension by the Ethics Committee. Sen. Beyak was suspended by the Senate without pay for […]
Racist comments on Indigenous stories prompts outlets to turn them off
In a brief editorial that doesn’t pull punches, SooToday editor Mike Purvis announced this week that the site would be closing all comments on stories about Indigenous issues. “It’s not that we don’t think it’s a topic worthy of discussion,” Purvis wrote. Au contraire, he explained: “Canada’s relationship with Indigenous people is one of the […]
Feds ask shipyards to make their cases for building missing heavy icebreaker
There is a new lead in the case of the missing icebreaker, though exactly how the story will end remains to be seen. The fate of the Canadian Coast Guard’s next heavy icebreaker has been wrapped in mystery since the federal Liberal government quietly removed the $1.3-billion project from Vancouver shipyard Seaspan’s order book in […]
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he’s not committing to a provincial election in October. Moe says there’s more unrest in the country than usual. He cites ongoing rail blockades and the spread of the novel coronavirus that are affecting the economy. The government had set the next provincial election date for October.
Read MoreMinutes into a speech designed to rally Conservative voters to choose him to be the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Peter MacKay said his campaign is centred around respect and inclusion. Outside the Finlandia Club, in the heart of Thunder Bay’s Bay and Algoma district, Indigenous leaders politely disagreed. About 140 people […]
Read MoreSubway has been ordered to pay the CBC $500,000 in legal costs following its failed bid to sue the public broadcaster for defamation. In his decision, Ontario Superior Court Justice Ed Morgan attributed much of the length and complexity of the legal battle to the approach taken by the fast-food chain. Subway had sued the […]
Read MoreThe hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en are meeting for a second day with senior federal and provincial ministers as they try to break an impasse in a pipeline dispute that’s sparked national protests and led to disruptions in the economy. Federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett and British Columbia Indigenous Relations Minister Scott Fraser began […]
Read MoreThe federal government ran a deficit of $11.0 billion over the first nine months of its 2019-20 fiscal year. The result compared with a surplus of $324 million for the same period of its 2018–19 fiscal year. In its monthly fiscal monitor, the Finance Department says revenue for the April-to-December period totalled $246.0 billion, up […]
Read MoreStatistics Canada said Friday economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter to come in at an annualized rate of 0.3 per cent, its worst showing since the second quarter of 2016 when the economy contracted. The federal agency also revised its reading for the third quarter down to an annual rate of 1.1 per cent […]
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Expanding capital gains tax would be very short-sighted approach to fighting federal deficit
Bill Morneau is the kind of positive thinker who prefers to see opportunity in disaster. But even the finance minister’s optimism is being tested by a year that has offered little more than opportunity for fresh disaster. After he released the fall fiscal update before Christmas, Morneau made light of the pickle he is in […]
If Trudeau can strike a grand bargain on energy and environment, now’s the time
“Canadians want a government they can trust to protect the environment and grow the economy.” “We will renew the relationship between Canada and Indigenous Peoples.” “Our plan offers real help to Canada’s middle class and all those working hard to join it.” Oh, how Justin Trudeau must pine for 2015. His Liberals were triumphant, having […]
The Conservative leadership race limps off to an unpromising start 
Voters in the election for leader of the Liberal Party of Canada in 1968 had their choice between, among others, Pierre Trudeau, Robert Winters, Paul Martin Sr., John Turner and Allan MacEachen – cabinet ministers all, men of great accomplishment and/or promise. The previous year had seen a race for Progressive Conservative leader that included […]
Attacks on resource extraction strike at the heart of what built Canada
The end of oil? Only in Canada, eh. As the global demand for fossil fuels rises consistently, year over year, Canadians are told yet again, we should leave ours in the ground. This week, environmental activists celebrated the death of the Teck Frontier mine. Environmentalist David Suzuki promptly tweeted “AWESOME news! Teck has withdrawn its […]
Happy that Alberta’s oil-fuelled party is over? Think again.
My mother was in Calgary a few weeks ago to visit, and to look for a condo so she could spend more time with her astonishingly beautiful grandchildren. She had her pick of places. Cheap, too. Condos that were listed for $50, $60, $70,000 less than what they had been purchased for only three or […]
How Scheer can pave the way for next Conservative leader by undoing Canada’s climate Catch 22
“Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them.” Joseph Heller’s definition of Catch 22 has a Canadian political parallel in the apparently unsolvable dilemma facing Conservative leadership candidates. To win, they have to attract the support of party members who […]
To win the next election, Conservatives need a credible climate plan
If Conservatives want to win another national government they are going to have to find ways to win critical seats in the suburban belt around Toronto—the 905, encompassing cities like Ajax, Brampton and Burlington. Harper swept the 905 for his majority in 2011 and the party has been on the outs ever since.
Just because Justin Trudeau says you aren’t poor doesn’t mean you’ll feel like it
The news this week that one million people had moved out of poverty in Canada over the past four years doesn’t ring true for Saeed Vahid. The 51-year-old Richmond Hill man may be above the poverty line, but he’s well acquainted with hardship. For him, making ends meet is not getting any easier. Vahid has […]
Trash-talking Trump a no-fly-zone for snowbirds in Florida
Here are the rules for happy Canadian snowbird-roosting in southwest Florida. Do not discuss Donald Trump in public. If you absolutely must vent negative commentary about the U.S. president, make sure you’re talking to fellow Canadians. In restaurants you get shushed by local guests if you raise Trump’s controversial behaviour within earshot of other diners. […]
Justin Trudeau, marooned in a political no man’s land
Hope and fear are the most powerful emotions in politics. Unfortunately, Justin Trudeau hasn’t found himself in a position to dispense much of either through the past few crisis-laden weeks in Canada. If Canadians are feeling any slivers of hope right now about the state of federal politics, it’s mostly hope of the negative sort […]
When it comes to the blockades and protests, Conservative leaders are invoking the idea of the ‘outside agitator’ to delegitimize and break the bonds of activist solidarity. In recent days, public discourse around blockades in solidarity with the efforts of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs to halt the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline on the Nation’s […]
Read MoreAs Canada pursues its bid for a seat on the UN Security Council, we should all be rooting for its success. The Security Council’s primary purpose is to maintain world peace and security. It is the UN’s most powerful body, consisting of 15 member states. Canada hasn’t had a seat since 1999-2000. The country is […]
Read MoreCanada should prepare to confront a surge in white supremacist vigilantes. That there will in fact be such a surge isn’t certain; it’s even less certain the vigilantes would be violent. But as Canada copes with a rail system shut down by Indigenous protesters it faces a heightened risk that a band of racist bully-boys […]
Read MoreThere’s been copious amounts of expert commentary over the last couple of weeks about what Canadians think regarding Indigenous reconciliation and blockades. Unfortunately, little of it reflects what Canadians actually think, but mostly what editorialists and advocates want them to. What the polling Ipsos has done for Global News shows about public opinion on these […]
Read MoreJustin Trudeau came to power promising reconciliation, resource development and carbon pricing. On present form, he may leave having achieved none of the three. The past few days alone have seen deepening national divisions over the paralysis of the country’s rail system by protesters acting, so they claim, in the name of Indigenous rights; the […]
Read MoreFrom 1501 to 1867, 12.5 million Africans were snatched from their homes, and packed like cattle into ships headed for the Americas.1 Of that number, only 10.7 million people survived the hellish journey across the Atlantic Ocean to be sold into slavery. More than two centuries after the last British slave ship docked in North […]
Read MoreAs the world enters the third decade of the 21st century, it is waking up to a new reality, facing threats to international solidarity and human security that are not necessarily economic in nature. Climate change, inequality, populist movements, ethnic nationalism and global epidemics are posing major challenges to international development and human security. Disenchantment […]
Read MoreThe fallout from the Teck debacle now seems to be more a whimper than a bang. We’d been led to believe if the Teck Frontier super-size $20-billion oilsands mine was a no-go there would be a bang, a big bang, a crossing-the-line-in-the-sand bang, a Trudeau-watch-your-step-if-you-know-what’s-good-for-you bang. A few weeks ago, Jack Mintz, a local deep […]
Read MoreAs Canada suffers a series of blows from blockades to COVID-19 to the self-cancellation of the Teck Frontier mine, many people think the prime minister is AWOL. Why doesn’t he do something? Unfortunately, he thinks he already is. As a general rule, before complaining about some politician’s inactivity, excessive vacations, etc. you should consider whether […]
Read MoreReading the letter in which Teck Resources CEO Don Lindsay bids adieu to the Frontier oil sands mine project, it’s easy to imagine him getting a little wistful for the good old days as he (and team) wrote it. And not just the days of US$85 per barrel oil that existed when the company first […]
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A Tribe Called Red release song ‘Land Back’ in support of Wet’suwet’en nation
TORONTO — A Tribe Called Red have released a free song in support of the Indigenous-led protests involving the Costal GasLink pipeline. The electronic producer duo say their track "Land Back" is a testament to using music as a mechanism to encourage unity and help give others a voice. The collaboration with Boogey the Beat and Chippewa Travellers is […]
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